Carlo Bo (25 January 1911 – 21 July 2001) was an

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

poet, literary critic, distinguished humanist, professor and senator for life from 1984.

Biography

Bo was born on January 25, 1911, in Sestri Levante,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. From 1929 to 1934, he attended the Faculty of Humanities at the

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

. Although he began studying classical literature, he soon switched to modern literature, in which he received his laurea in 1934. Bo wrote his first book in 1935, a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on Jacques Riviere. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in the year 1936, he published an

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

on the literary

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

'' Il Frontespizio'' which gathered together the most relevant poets like Mario Luzi, and contemporary artists from Ottone Rosai to Giorgio Morandi and Quinto Martini. His essay was titled "Letteratura come vita (Literature as a way of life)", containing the theoretical-methodological fundamentals of hermetic poetry. In 1939 he began teaching

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

at the

University of Urbino The University of Urbino Carlo Bo (, ''UniUrb'') is an Italian university located in Urbino, in the region of Marche, in north-eastern central Italy. The main campus occupies numerous buildings throughout the historic Urbino town center and the ...

. Bo was the rector of University of Urbino from 1947 until his death, for more than 50 years. Bo was appointed a senator for life on July 18, 1984, and has been a member of several parties. He served with the Christian Democrats from 1987 to 1994; the Italian People's Party from 1994 to 2001; and The Daisy from 2001 until his death later that year. Bo died in Genoa on July 21, 2001.

Legacy

His focus on hermetic poetry was to become a strong poetical movement comprising important poets, such as Salvatore Quasimodo and Eugenio Montale, both of whom would go on to receive the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

(1959, 1975). Carlo Bo himself, however, never did and, at the age of 86, was rendered incapable of understanding Dario Fo's 1997 receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature, saying "I must be too old to understand. What does this mean? That everything changes, even literature has changed." Bo is credited with writing roughly 40 books and would also found the national Gentile da Fabriano prize.

External links

Italian Senate Page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bo, Carlo 1911 births 2001 deaths Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Italian People's Party (1994) politicians Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Italian life senators People from the Metropolitan City of Genoa Senators of Legislature IX of Italy Senators of Legislature X of Italy Senators of Legislature XI of Italy Senators of Legislature XII of Italy Senators of Legislature XIII of Italy Senators of Legislature XIV of Italy Writers from Liguria Academic staff of the University of Urbino Politicians of Liguria