← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 19471 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2005-08-07
2005-08-07 03:42 | User Profile
GABRIELE D' ANNUNZIO
Gabriele d' Annunzio was born on March 12, 1863 in Pescara, Abruzzi the son of a politically prominent and wealthy Pescara landowner. He was educated in Florence and at the University of Rome. In 1881 he left his native Abruzzi for Rome to begin his literary career, writing essays for the newspaper Tribuna. A year later he won fame with Canto nuovo (New Song, 1882), a volume of poems that dealt with the joy of living. His early work shows the influence of naturalism and Italian verism.
During the next decade his reputation grew steadily, if controversially, with volumes of poems then considered outspoken in their sensuality and naturalistic stories about his native Abruzzi (collected as Novelle della Pescara, 1902; translated as Tales of My Native Town, 1920). His novel Il piacere (1891; translated as The Child of Pleasure, 1898) reflects his flamboyant life at this time.
In the 1890s D'Annunzio separated from his wife (he had married in 1883), left Rome, and gradually came under the influence of Nietzsche's work, especially the glorification of the instinctive and pagan, the inspiration of his best early novel, Il trionfo della morte (1894; translated as The Triumph of Death, 1896), which has colorful descriptions of Abruzzi life. With it D'Annunzio turned to the novel.
The following year he entered a long, passionate and highly publicized relationship with the actress Eleonora Duse (1859-1924), which lasted from 1897 to 1902, during which he wrote a number of plays, including Gioconda (1898; trans. 1902), Francesca da Rimini (1902; trans. 1902) and his best dramatic work, La figlia di Iorio (1904; translated as The Daughter of Iorio, 1907) , widely regarded as his most vital play, was drawn from Abruzzi peasant life. He also published his best verse, Alcyone (1903), during this period. The novel "Il Fuoco" (1900, translated as "The Flame of Life") is a candid and cruel account of their relationship. It created a scandal because of clear references to this affair.
D'Annunzio lived like a dandy and was a symbol of decadence. In 1912 d'Annunzio was left bankrupt and fled to France to escape his creditors. While in France he wrote several works in French; the most famous is Le martyre de Saint SÃËbastien (The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, 1911), a play in verse, to which the French composer Claude Debussy set incidental music. In this play his mistress Ida Rubinstein was playing an androgenous Saint Sebastian. Naturally, it was placed on the Index of forbidden works by the Catholic church. In Paris he frequented Natalie Barney's salon and he knew Sarah Bernhardt, who played in his "Francesca da Rimini" in 1902. At Barney's he met Romaine Brooks, who painted his portrait in 1912 and with whom he reportedly had a platonic relationship.
The outbreak of World War I found him in France. He returned to Italy, where his oratory had much to do with persuading Italy to join the Allies. D'Annunzio fought with with distinction and spectacular daring in the air force. D'Annunzio returned a national hero from World War I. He immediately started a campaign for Italyââ¬â¢s seizure of the Dalmatian port of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia), a second-rate port which had belonged to the Austrian empire and had been given to new Yugoslav state following the war. Its importance was indicated by the fact that Italy ignored it when negotiationg the Treaty of London, but this decision bitterly disappointed Italian nationalists. In Venice d'Annunzio organized an agitational group, whose motto was "Either Fiume or Death." Many patriots and army officers joined him. In September 1919, he led an armed expedition (known as the March on Ronchi) against Fiume, where he established an illegal rule with the complicity of the Italian army stationed in Istria, opposed by both the Italian government and the rest of Europe, which lasted until January 1921, when it could be transferred to Yugoslavia. His troops, or legionaries, in the Fiume raid introduced the black shirt that was to become the uniform of the Fascists. Many of the legionaries were members of the radical Left in the Fasci di Combattimento, many were ex-Arditi - specially trained units of Italian shock troops that had been formed during the war. There was also a very strong element of Futurist activists present led initially by Filipo Tomaso Marinetti, a key figure of futurism. When Marinetti was ejected from Fiume for aggravating the command of the occupying forces, Mino Somenzi and Mario Carli took over leadership of the Futurist element there. This episode was important in demonstrating the weakness of the Italian government and the depths of dissatisfaction by extreme nationalists with the results of the peace treaties.
D'Annunzio, one of the few writers to be courted by Mussolini, became the leading Italian literary figure of the early twentieth century and an outspoken supporter of Italian fascism. Mussolini benefitted from Dââ¬â¢Annunzioââ¬â¢s fall. He inherited from him not only much of the theatrical element of Dââ¬â¢Annunzioââ¬â¢s style, but also the money collected on his behalf and much of his political support besides.
He added little in later life to the long list of his works. In his later years he suffered from a nervous disorder and lived in solitude. His book Notturrno (1921) is a moving analysis of sensations and memories during weeks of blindness from which he partially recovered. Radclyffe Hall was among the few that were invited to visit him at his villa "Il Vittoriale" on Lake Garda, where he spent the rest of his life devoting himself to preparing an edition of his complete works, for which a national institute was eventually set up (1926). Mussolini appointed him (1937) president of the Royal Italian Academy, but d'Annunzio died on 1 March 1938 in Gardone Riviera before taking office. La Vittoriale and its extravagant collection of art and furnishings was left to the nation on his death. D'Annunzio's literary reputation has suffered severely since then. The charge of posturing and dilettantism was first levelled against his work by Benedetto Croce, though a careful selection of his writings, Poesie, Teatro, Prose (1966), has been compiled by Mario Praz and F. Gerra.
Although present-day critics find little of permanent value in his works, his extraordinary ability to translate sensations into language is undeniable. His florid style mirrored the romantic, flamboyant quality of his career and personality. The richly sensuous imagery of even his early poetry Le primavere della mala pianta [the springtime of the evil plant] (1880) and Canto nuovo [new song] (1882) displayed his unrivaled literary craftsmanship. His novels Il piacere (1889, tr. The Child of Pleasure, 1898), L'innocente (1892, tr. The Intruder, 1898, and The Victim, 1914), Giovanni Episcopo (1892, tr. Episcopo Company, 1896), and Il trionfo della morte (1894, tr. The Triumph of Death, 1896) show the same creative handling of the Italian language, but the works are shallow and theatrical.
Gabriele D'Annunzio is not only important in the history of literature but also in the history of Italian society in that for several decades he was a social model. He represents the most complete expression of the Decadence in Italy. Finally he is of great importance in the political history of Italy and Europe as a leading figure of early fascism.
He explored aesthetic mysticism and the irrational, linking them to his own naturalistic and sensual feeling. His charming influence was exerted both by his brilliant social life featuring love affairs, duels and scandals and his literary production. His novels, above all, incorporated a lot of his personal experience, creating characters and legends in which sensibilities and tastes of decadence were embodied. In his poetical works he deals with an enormous range of themes: sensuality, detached melancholy, the desire for purification, destiny of the nation, the celebration of adventure. He carried all this out through strenuous research into unusual and refined word forms.
[url]http://www.geocities.com/integral_tradition/dannunzio.html[/url]
Gabriele D'Annunzio (wikipedia) [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_d%27Annunzio[/url]
2005-08-07 04:25 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]GABRIELE D' ANNUNZIO
Although present-day critics find little of permanent value in his works... [/QUOTE]
Very interesting piece. There is one flaw however; Francesca da Rimini was made into an opera which is frequently performed to this date. In fact, I have the Renata Scotto video.
2005-08-07 04:37 | User Profile
Yes, d' Annunzio was certainly one of the most extraordinary men of his time or any time for that matter. He loomed over so many Italians of his day in Politics, Literature, Journalism. Military Heroism and so many other areas. This short, bald Italian dude bedded some of the most beautiful women of his time. He invented the nationalist use of the Roman Salute and the Blackshirt. Let me recommend a biography, "Gabriele d' annunzio: Defiant Archangel" by John Robert Woodhouse. A very sound book.
The only thing that ever troubled me about G.D. was that he was a Freemason. What was going on there!?
2005-08-07 04:54 | User Profile
OPERA96 and CornCod,
Thanks for your replies. More links.
[url]http://www.gabrieledannunzio.net/[/url]
[url]http://www.vittoriale.it/[/url]
2005-08-07 13:15 | User Profile
D' Annunzio was certainly interesting, though I never decided whether or not he was justified in taking Fiume. People can argue forever over who rightfully owns any particular piece of land in that part of the world. The Croatians have it today, it seems. Writers from Italy like d' Annunzio are not obscure, they just don't get much attention in the English speaking world. It's hard to say why, it probably isn't just a language issue as Anglos read a lot of French authors.