Poet, translator, tragedian and prose writer, Walter Savage Landor (Warwick, 1785- Florence, 1864) spent twenty-six years of his life in Italy, mainly in Florence, and extensively wrote about Italian life and art. He was particularly interested in 14th-century Italian literature, namely Petrarca and Boccaccio, who feature in his Pentameron (1837), a series of dialogues between the two Italian writers whose title overtly refers to Boccaccio’s masterpiece. The main focus of the five-day conversations is Dante, in particular his Divine Comedy: the two speakers give voice to different opinions on Alighieri and his poem which reflect both their historically documented positions and Landor’s own ideas about Dante, considerably differing from those of his Romantic contemporaries. The Florentine poet is also the protagonist of two later conversations, “Dante and Beatrice” and “Dante and Gemma Donati”, respectively published in 1845 and 1846, where a thoroughly different portrait is provided by describing Dante in a private dimension, trying to picture the man beyond the artist. Last but not least is Landor’s interest in Dante as a political thinker, which emerges not only in Pentameron, but also in some occasional poems. As a result, Landor’s Dantesque portraits throw stimulating light on the controversial British attitude towards Italy’s bard even in an epoch, the 19th century, which is usually indicated as the heyday of English Dantism.
Poeta, traduttore, tragediografo e narratore, Walter Savage Landor (Warwick, 1785- Firenze, 1864) trascorse ventisei anni della sua vita in Italia, molti dei quali a Firenze, e scrisse copiosamente sull’arte e la letteratura italiane, sui costumi e la cultura del nostro paese. Fu particolarmente interessato alla letteratura italiana del Trecento, soprattutto Boccaccio e Petrarca, che sono i protagonisti del Pentameron (1837), cinque conversazioni raccolte in una cornice che ricorda manifestamente, come il titolo stesso suggerisce, il capolavoro di Boccaccio. Principale argomento dei dialoghi è il Dante autore della Divina Commedia, verso cui Boccaccio e Petrarca dimostrano sensibilità diverse. Per delineare i profili dei due dialoganti Landor attinge a posizioni storicamente documentate, ma allo stesso tempo dà voce anche a considerazioni ed atteggiamenti personali, che a volte differiscono sensibilmente da quelli dei suoi contemporanei romantici. Dante è pure protagonista di due conversazioni immaginarie pubblicate successivamente da Landor, “Dante and Beatrice” (1845) e “Dante and Gemma Donati” (1846), che descrivono il poeta fiorentino in una dimensione privata. Infine, Landor si occupa anche del pensiero politico di Dante e lo fa non soltanto nel Pentameron, ma anche in alcune poesie occasionali. Ne risulta un ritratto del poeta italiano estremamente sfaccettato, che può aiutare a gettare luce sul controverso atteggiamento della cultura inglese verso Dante, anche in un’età, come quella di Landor, in cui il Dantismo visse in Inghilterra una stagione senza precedenti per intensità ed entusiasmo.
Dantesque Conversations: Walter Savage Landor's Portraits of Dante
Ferrari R.
2017-01-01
Abstract
Poet, translator, tragedian and prose writer, Walter Savage Landor (Warwick, 1785- Florence, 1864) spent twenty-six years of his life in Italy, mainly in Florence, and extensively wrote about Italian life and art. He was particularly interested in 14th-century Italian literature, namely Petrarca and Boccaccio, who feature in his Pentameron (1837), a series of dialogues between the two Italian writers whose title overtly refers to Boccaccio’s masterpiece. The main focus of the five-day conversations is Dante, in particular his Divine Comedy: the two speakers give voice to different opinions on Alighieri and his poem which reflect both their historically documented positions and Landor’s own ideas about Dante, considerably differing from those of his Romantic contemporaries. The Florentine poet is also the protagonist of two later conversations, “Dante and Beatrice” and “Dante and Gemma Donati”, respectively published in 1845 and 1846, where a thoroughly different portrait is provided by describing Dante in a private dimension, trying to picture the man beyond the artist. Last but not least is Landor’s interest in Dante as a political thinker, which emerges not only in Pentameron, but also in some occasional poems. As a result, Landor’s Dantesque portraits throw stimulating light on the controversial British attitude towards Italy’s bard even in an epoch, the 19th century, which is usually indicated as the heyday of English Dantism.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
