Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents -- Bibliographical Note -- Acknowledgements -- List of Figures -- Introduction -- Part 1 Prelude (1925–1944) -- 1 The Reception of T.S. Eliot in Italy between the Two World Wars -- 1.1 From an “Appetizing Morsel” to a “Very Troubled Soul” -- 1.2 The Italian Debut of the “Young English Poet” -- 1.3 Praz as Mediator between Eliot and Montale -- 1.4 Montale as Translator of Eliot -- 2 Genesis and Critical Reception in the Anglo-American Context -- 2.1 Genesis of the Work -- 2.2 Critical Reception in the Anglophone Context -- Part 2 The Italian Reception in the Periodicals of the 194s -- 3 Elio Vittorini and the “Eliot Affair” in Il Politecnico and Sud -- 3.1 Il Politecnico and Sud: a Comparison of the Two Journals -- 3.2 Eliot and Anglo-American Poetry in the Two Journals -- 3.3 Little Gidding in Il Politecnico -- 3.4 East Coker in Sud -- 4 The London-Florence Axis: Montano, Cecchi, Guidacci and Traverso -- 4.1 East Coker: the Fragments Translated by Lorenzo Montano -- 4.2 East Coker: Other Fragments Translated by Emilio Cecchi -- 4.3 Little Gidding and The Dry Salvages: the Fragments Translated by Margherita Guidacci -- 4.4 The Dry Salvages: Leone Traverso’s Translation -- 4.5 Burnt Norton: Margherita Guidacci’s Translation -- 4.6 East Coker: Emilio Cecchi’s Translation -- 4.7 East Coker: Margherita Guidacci’s Translation -- 4.8 The Quartets, Cecchi and Mondadori: an Abandoned Edition -- Part 3 Complete Translations (1952–213) -- 5 The Translations of the 195s -- 5.1 The First Complete Translation by Alfredo Rizzardi in Fiera Letteraria -- 5.2 The “Canonized” Translation by Filippo Donini for Garzanti -- 6 Recent Translations -- 6.1 Angelo Tonelli’s Translation (Feltrinelli, 1995) -- 6.2 Elio Grasso’s and Roberto Sanesi’s Translations (Palomar, 2; Book, 22) -- 6.3 The La Capria-Muñoz Multimodal Edition (Enrico Damiani Editore, 213) -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

What happened to Four Quartets in Italy? How were they read by Italian intellectuals? This volume traces the history of the Italian reception of Eliot’s masterpiece, from the early struggle for appropriation in literary magazines – where the poems were alternately framed as expressions of resignation or hope, Hermetic grammar or intimate music – to their eventual canonization and illustration. While two Neapolitan translators, influenced by Elio Vittorini, offered an ideological reading, Florentine poets sought to make Eliot’s verses sound precious and obscure. It was a woman poet who first provided a religious interpretation of the poem, a diplomat who finally published it in book form and an Argentinian artist who translated its words into images.

English

Description based on print version record.