Count Angelo De Gubernatis (1840–26 February 1913),

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

man of letters, was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and educated there and at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

fourteen times.

Life

In 1862 he was appointed professor of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, but having married a cousin of the Socialist

Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...

and become interested in his views he resigned his appointment and spent some years in travel. He was reappointed, however, in 1867; and in 1891 he was transferred to the

University of Rome La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

. He became prominent both as an orientalist, a publicist and a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. He maintained close ties with Romanian orientalists. At International Congress of Orientalists from Florence in 1878 he invited Bogdan Petriceicu Haşdeu, a prominent Romanian writer and philologist. He was a good friend with the Romanian Princess

Dora d'Istria Dora d'Istria, pen-name of duchess Helena Koltsova-Massalskaya, born Elena Ghica (Gjika) (22 January 1828, Bucharest – 17 November 1888, Florence), was a Romanian Romantic writer and feminist, most notable for having emblematized the Albani ...

(Elena Ghica) who collaborated with him at Rivista Orientale. He founded the ' (1862), the ' (1867), the ' and ' (1869), the ' (1876) and the ' (1883), and in 1887 became director of the '. In 1878 he started the '. He also published a similar anthology for the visual arts and architecture. His Oriental and mythological works include the ' (1867), the ' (1868), a famous work on zoological

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

(1872), and another on plant mythology (1878). Between 1881 and 1884 he conceived and directed a magazine for young women titled ''Cordelia'', and in the first issue he invited readers to send in something to be published. One very early contributor, who later became the magazine's director, was

Maria Majocchi Maria Majocchi, also spelled Maiocchi (23 April 1864 – 8 August 1917), was an Italian writer, journalist, and publisher. She wrote under several Pseudonyms, the most common being Jolanda, Viola d'Alba, and Margheritina di Cento. Biography ...

who, at that time, preferred the pseudonym Margheritina di Cento and later became widely known as

Jolanda Jolanda or Jolande is a feminine given name. It is a Dutch, Italian, and Swiss German cognate of Yolanda. Notable people with the name include: ;Jolanda Jolanda Adams, Actress *Jolanda Benvenuti, Italian film editor * Jolanda Čeplak (born 197 ...

. De Gubernatis also edited the encyclopaedic ' (1882–1885). His work in verse includes the dramas ', ', ', ', ', etc. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1886. In later years he published a series of lectures on Italian poetry (1907), and a ' (1905–6). He died in Rome.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gubernatis 1840 births 1913 deaths Italian male writers Sapienza University of Rome faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society