David M. Hertz

Eugenio Montale, the Fascist Storm, and the Jewish Sunflower - Toronto Italian Studies David M. Hertz

Commendation Quotes: "Eugenio Montale, the Fascist Storm, and the Jewish Sunflower is the first book that deals extensively in English with the myth of Clizia, the central figure in Montale's mature poetry, and a kind of ironic modern Beatrice to the poet's Modernist, agnostic Dante. This is a compelling story, both biographically and artistically, and Hertz artfully interweaves the poet's personal and aesthetic themes. His book is an original and important addition to Montale criticism in our language and will help readers read Montale in a more complex and holistic way." - Jonathan Galassi, translator of Collected Poems, 1920-1954: Eugenio Montale, Otherwise: Last and First Poems of Eugenio Montale, and The Second Life of Art: Selected Essays of Eugenio MontaleCommendation Quotes: Eugenio Montale, the Fascist Storm, and the Jewish Sunflower is the first book that deals extensively in English with the myth of Clizia, the central figure in Montale s mature poetry, and a kind of ironic modern Beatrice to the poet s Modernist, agnostic Dante. This is a compelling story, both biographically and artistically, and Hertz artfully interweaves the poet s personal and aesthetic themes. His book is an original and important addition to Montale criticism in our language and will help readers read Montale in a more complex and holistic way. - Jonathan Galassi, translator of Collected Poems, 1920 1954: Eugenio Montale, Otherwise: Last and First Poems of Eugenio Montale, and The Second Life of Art: Selected Essays of Eugenio Montale"Table of Contents: List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments1. Introduzione: The Clizia Myth and the Secret Cycle2. Murder, Manifestoes, and the Poems of the Cinque Terre3. Love in Fascist Florence4. The Woman of The Occasions5. Hitler and Mussolini at the Opera6. The Storm and the Sun Goddess7. The Poet and the Modern Beatrice Spread Their Myth around the World8. Clizia Becomes a Woman AgainCoda: Montale, Brandeis, the I and the You The ItalianNotesWorks Cited and Additional BibliographyIndex of Poems and Translations from the CycleGeneral Index"Publisher Marketing: Eugenio Montale, the Fascist Storm, and the Jewish Sunflower uncovers one of the great hidden sagas of modern literature. During Italy s fascist period, Eugenio Montale winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature and one of the greatest modern poets in any language fell in love with Irma Brandeis, a glamorous and beautiful Dante scholar and an American Jew. While their romance would fall apart, it would have literary repercussions that extended throughout the poet s career: Montale s works abound with secret codes that speak to a lost lover and muse. This study is the first to completely unlock the cryptic thematic link that connects many of Montale s most important poems, which, taken together, form the most significant hidden poetic cycle of modernism. David Michael Hertz explores the intersecting poetic myth and background biography, with precision made possible through recently published archival materials. Bringing the reader into an intense experience of great poetry while telling an engaging story, Hertz vividly shows that close reading in conjunction with biographical and historical materials can be an unforgettable and rewarding experience."

Contributor Bio:  Hertz, David M David Michael Hertz is a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington.