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Salvatore
Quasimodo
Quasimodo,
Salvatore (1901-1968), Italian
poet and critic, born in Modica,
Sicily. He began to write while
working as a civil engineer. By
1938 he had published five books
of poems. From 1940 he was drama
critic of the journal Tempo.
He
founded the Hermetic school of
Italian poets, who, unable to
speak out openly against fascism,
had to write in veiled terms
using complex symbolism and a
sophisticated style.
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After
World War II his writing became
more socially committed,
reflecting his opposition to the
unjust fascist regime, the horror
of war, and the feeling of guilt
experienced by the Italians, as
in Giorno dopo giorna (1947, Day
After Day).
A
collection of his writings on the
theatre appeared in 1961.
Quasimodo also translated much
classical Greek and Latin
literature as well as works of
Shakespeare and modern British
and American poets. He was
awarded the
1959
Nobel Prize for
literature
for expressing "the tragic
experience of our time". The
Selected Writings of Salvatore
Quasimodo (1960) was the first
major collection of his work to
appear in English. Other works
include Il poeta e il politico e
altri saggi (1960, The Poet and
the Politician and Other Essays)
and Dare e avere (1966, To Give
and to Have and Other
Poems).
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