Bontempelli, Massimo

▪ Italian poet

born May 12, 1878, Como, Italy

died July 21, 1960, Rome

      Italian poet, novelist, dramatist, and critic whose “magic realism” developed from Futurism.

      First a teacher, Bontempelli wrote some traditional poetry, later adopted the antitraditional, anarchic literary doctrine of the Futurists, and ultimately developed his own point of view, which he expressed particularly in his review 900 (founded 1926). European in outlook (one foreign editor was James Joyce), 900 sought a middle ground between the extremes of traditionalism and the literary avant-garde.

      Bontempelli followed his early poetry with novels and plays noted for their intelligence and quixotic humour. La vita intensa (1920; “The Intense Life”), an early Futuristic novel, was followed by more independent works, such as Gente nel tempo (1937; “People in Time”) and Giro del sole (1941; “Revolution of the Sun”). His L'amante fedele (1953; “The Faithful Lover”), a collection of surrealistic stories, won Italy's highest literary award, the Strega Prize.

      Bontempelli's best dramas are Siepe a nord-ovest (published 1919, performed 1923; “Barrier to the Northwest”) and Nostra dea (performed 1925; “Our Goddess”). A particularly striking play is La guardia alla luna (performed 1916; “Watching for the Moon”), the story of a woman who blames the moon for her child's death and climbs a mountain to try to kill it.

      Notable among Bontempelli's critical works are L'avventura novecentista (1939; “The 20th-Century Adventure”) and Introduzioni e discorsi (1945; “Introductions and Discourses”), which treats the work of many major 19th- and 20th-century Italian writers. He also wrote music criticism, collected in Passione incompiuta: scritti sulla musica, 1910–1950 (1958; “Unfulfilled Passion: Writings on Music”).

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