Massimo Bontempelli (12 May 1878 – 21 July 1960) was an Italian poet, playwright, novelist and composer. He was influential in developing and promoting the literary style known as

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) Magical (foaled 18 May 2015) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over middle distances and was rated in the top twenty racehorses in the world in 2018 and ...

Life

Massimo Bontempelli was born in Como to Alfonso Bontempelli and Maria Cislaghi. His father was a

train engineer A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

on the State Railways and frequently moved with his family to other cities for work reasons. Massimo attended the R. Liceo Ginnasio Giuseppe Parini in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, where his literature teacher was

Alfredo Panzini Alfredo Panzini (31 December 1863 – 10 April 1939) was an Italian novelist and lexicographer. Born in Senigallia, Panzini was a student of Giosuè Carducci at the University of Bologna. Panzini worked as a secondary school teacher before becomi ...

, and in 1897 graduated in Alessandria. Bontempelli graduated from the University of Turin, where he was a pupil of Arturo Graf and Giuseppe Fraccaroli. He taught literature in

Cherasco Cherasco is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. As of 1-1-2017, it had a population of 9096 and an area of .All demographics and ot ...

and then in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

for seven years, doing his writing on the side. Starting from 1904 he published a series of collections of poems and short stories, as well as a tragedy in verse, ''Costanza'', and a comedy, ''Santa Teresa'', all works of a classicist character. He then abandoned teaching when he could not secure a position at a secondary school. After leaving teaching in 1910 and settling in Florence, Bontempelli worked as a journalist for ''Il Marzocco'', ''La Nazione'', the ''Nuova Antologia'', the weekly ''Le Cronache literarie'', ''Il Nuovo Giornale'', ''Il Fieramosca'' and '' Corriere della Sera'', as well as for the Sansoni publishing house. An adherent of

Giosuè Carducci Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (; 27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, h ...

in the debates with followers of Benedetto Croce, he published essays in the field of literary criticism as well as a volume of stories ''Sette Savi''. In 1915 he began as cultural manager of the Italian Publishing Institute and moved to Milan, overseeing the publication of classics of Italian literature. At the same time he was a collaborator of the Milanese newspaper ''Secolo'' and a war correspondent for the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero. A convinced interventionist, in 1917 he enlisted as an artillery officer, while also collaborating on the military newspaper ''Il Montello'' and obtaining two medals for valor and three war crosses. Discharged in 1919, he published a volume of poems written between 1916 and 1918, ''Il Purosangue''. He then published the novels ''La vita intense'' (1920), which he had already published in installments in ''Ardita'', the monthly supplement of ''Il Popolo d'Italia'', and ''La vita operosa'' in 1921. It was his time as a journalist in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in the years 1921 and 1922 that put him in contact with the new French avant-gardes and profoundly changed his image of the modern artist. In the short novels ''The chessboard in front of the mirror'' (1922) and ''Eva ultima'' (1923) he employed a style inspired by the irrational arbitrariness and the apparent randomness of dreams, a writing approach that largely coincides with the pronouncements of the Surrealist Manifesto by André Breton (1924). Alongside his friends Alberto Savinio and

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

, he pioneered surrealistic experiments in Italian art, which he defined as magical realism. Settling in Rome, he became part of the Teatro degli Undici, founded by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

's son Stefano and Orio Vergani, and made friends with Luigi Pirandello, who pushed him to write plays for his company. The results were ''Nostra Dea'' (1925) and ''Minnie la candida'' (1927), perhaps Bontempelli's theatrical masterpiece, a fairy-tale drama, albeit plausible, that takes place in an atmosphere that always oscillates between nightmare and play. On 8 August 1926, in the villa of Pirandello, near Sant'Agnese, he was challenged to a duel by Giuseppe Ungaretti, due to a controversy that arose in the Roman newspaper "Il Tevere". Ungaretti was slightly wounded in the right arm and the duel ended in a reconciliation. In 1926, he, along with

Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte (; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957), born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works ''Kaputt'' (1944) and ''La pelle'' (1949). The f ...

, founded the journal "900".

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

, and Rainer Maria Rilke sat on the editorial committee and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

and

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mo ...

were among the contributors. The magazine ceased publication in 1929. In March 1927 Bontempelli, who had separated from his wife, began a relationship with Paola Masino, who was thirty years younger. Masino worked with Bontempelli on "900" and together they wrote the unreleased drama, "The Sinking of the Titanic", then moved with him to

, where they encountered artists and intellectuals such as

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

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, André Maurois,

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, Alberto Savinio, and Pirandello. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Bontempelli had ties to fascism. In 1924 he joined the P.N.F., together with Luigi Pirandello. He served as a secretary of the fascist writers' union from 1928 and spent time abroad lecturing on Italian culture. A convinced supporter of fascism, which he saw as the most suitable political means to support the birth of a modern society in Italy, Bontempelli was made a member of the

Royal Academy of Italy The Royal Academy of Italy ( it, Reale Accademia d'Italia, italic=no) was a short-lived Italian academy of the Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by royal decree,See reference . but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929. It was e ...

on 23 October 1930. Back in Milan in 1931, he published ''My life, death and miracles''. The following year he moved to

Frascati Frascati () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated wit ...

and in 1933 he and Pier Maria Bardi founded the art magazine ''Quadrante''. He began to distance himself from fascism in the 1930s. On 23 August 1936 he published the critical article ''The usual cues'' in the ''Gazzetta del Popolo'' of

Turin Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. The ...

; on 29 June he published the article ''The frogs ask many kings'', which attacked the proposal to establish a national register of art critics. On November 27, 1938, at the commemoration speech for Gabriele d'Annunzio, he criticized the "military obedience" which had become a national custom. In 1938 he refused to accept a university post formerly held by Attilio Momigliano, a Jewish professor removed from the chair of Italian literature at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

, and was kicked out of the Fascist party, drifting towards

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. Prohibited by the authorities from writing for a year, he and Masino left Rome and resided in Venice, in a sort of "golden exile", at the villa of Baron Franchini. Through all this Bontempelli remained a member of the Royal Academy until 25 July 1943. After the fall of

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

he returned to Rome, but the death sentence issued by the

Republic of Salò The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, the new regime led by

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, forced him and Masino to hide in a friend's house. Upon the liberation of Rome, he founded the weekly ''Città'' with Masino,

Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his de ...

, Savinio and Guido Piovene. In 1945 he returned to Milan where he created, together with

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and other playwrights, the National Drama Writers Union, with the aim of safeguarding the work of playwrights and other theatrical authors. In 1948 Bontempelli won a Senate race on the Popular Democratic Front ticket but the results were voided in 1950 when his role editing an anthology of Italian literature for school children, which triggered the provisions barring anyone who had authored school texts from holding public office for five years after adoption of the new Constitution was discovered. In 1953, Bontempelli's "L'amante Fedele" won the

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

, Italy's most prestigious literary award.

Personal life

In 1909 he married Amelia Della Pergola (1886-1977), with whom he had a daughter, who died a few months later, and their son Massimo (1911-1962). After years of declining health that prevented him from continuing his work, Bontempelli died in Rome at the age of 82 on 21 July 1960. He is buried in the Verano cemetery in Rome. He was in a long-term relationship with Paola Masino that lasted from the late 1920's until his death. After his passing, she edited a two-volume edition of his works. Her book "Me, Massimo and the others-autobiography of a daughter of the century" was published posthumously in 1995.

Works

*1908 Socrate moderno *1912 I sette savi *1916 La guardia alla luna
Watching the Moon
*1919 Il purosangue; Siepe a nordovest *1920 La vita intensa - Romanzo dei romanzi *1921 La vita operosa; Nuovi racconti d'avventure *1922 Viaggi e scoperte; La scacchiera davanti allo specchio (The Chess Set in the Mirror); Ultime avventure *1923 Eva ultima (Last Eva) *1924 La donna del Nadir *1925 La donna dei miei sogni e altre avventure moderne; Nostra Dea *1926 L'eden della tartaruga *1928 Donna nel sole, e altri idilli; Minnie la candida *1929 Il figlio di due madri (The Boy with Two Mothers); Il neosofista *1930 Vita e morte di Adria e dei suoi figli (The Life and Death of Adria and Her Children) *1931 Mia vita, morte e miracoli; Stato d grazia *1932 La famiglia del fabbro; Racconto di una giornata; Valoria *1934 La fame *1935 Nembo

*1934 Galleria degli schiavi; Bassano padre geloso *1937 Gente nel tempo (People in Time) *1938 L'avventura novecentista *1941 Giro del sole *1942 Sette discorsi; Cenerentola

*1945 Le notti (The Nights); L'acqua (Water) *1946 L'ottuagenaria *1947 Venezia Salva *1949 L'innocenza di Camilla *1953 L'amante fedele (The Faithful Lover)

Works in English translation

— ''The Elevator Man.'' The Living Age, 1 October 1926, pp. 68–71.
— ''The Good Wind.' The Living Age, 1 July 1927, pp. 44–47.
— ''Foundations.'' The Living Age, 15 September 1927, pp. 549–551.
— ''Sweet Adeline.'' The Living Age, 15 April 1928, pp. 720–722.
— ''Meeting Batoletti — A Railway Station Extravaganza.'' The Living Age, 15 March 1930, pp. 115–120.
— ''Letters of Introduction'' Translated by W.L. Dale. The Cornhill Magazine, No. 1030, Winter 1961/62 pages 268-271.
— ''Dea by Dea.'' Translated by Anthony Oldcorn in ''Twentieth-Century Italian Drama: An Anthology, the First Fifty Years,'' ed. Jane House and Antonio Attisani (New York: Columbia UP, 1995).
—''Separations: Two Novels of Mothers and Children'' (''Figlio di due madri / The Boy with Two Mothers'' and ''Vita e morte di Adria e dei suoi figli / The Life and Death of Adria and Her Children''). Translated by Estelle Gilson. McPherson & Co, 2000.
— ''The Divine Miss D'' and ''Genuine Minnie'' in ''The Italian Theater of the Grotesque. A New Theater for the Twentieth Century: An Anthology,'' ed. and trans. Jack D. Street and Rod Umlas (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2003).
—''The Chess Set in the Mirror'' (''La scacchiera davanti allo specchio''). Translated by Estelle Gilson. Illustrated by

Sergio Tofano Sergio Tòfano (20 August 1886 – 28 October 1973) was an Italian actor, theatre director, director, playwright, scene designer and illustrator. Tofano was born in Rome. In 1909, he made his first appearance on stage with Ermete Novelli, t ...

. Paul Dry Books, 2006.
—''The Faithful Lover'' (''L'amante fedele''). Translated by Estelle Gilson with an introduction by Luigi Fontanella. Host Publications, 2007

br> —''On A Locomotive & Other Runaway Tales''. Translated by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert. Xenos Book, 2013.
—
Watching the Moon and Other Plays
'' Translation and introduction by Patricia Gaborik. Italica Press, 2013. Also includes ''Stormcloud'' and ''Cinderella''.

References

External links