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II’s book on falconry, written in 1229.
The research is conducted in meticulous fashion with the result that this volume is indispensable as a resource for scholars interested in translation issues as
well as the reception of texts. It is also a significant testament to the ongoing international interest in Italian literature. Healey himself recognizes the fact that an
electronic version of this work would be desirable inasmuch as a digitized text
would facilitate an annual update or ‘aggiornamento’ and greater possibilities for
accessing the information. He concludes with these words: “It is hoped that this
bibliography too will contribute to the growth of the English-speaking readership
for Italian writings of all eras” (p. xxi). Robin Healey has certainly devoted a substantial portion of the last twenty years or so on the research for this project, for
which he is to be commended. His heroic efforts will surely be appreciated by
Italianists the world over.
CORRADO FEDERICI
Brock University
Beniamo dal Fabbro, scrittore. Atti della giornata di studi, Belluno, 20 0ttobre 2010.
Ed. Rodolfo Zucco. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 2011. Pp. 161. ISBN
9788822260895. € 25.
This volume contains the proceedings from a conference that took place on
October 20, 2010 in Belluno to honor Beniamino Dal Fabbro on the centennial
anniversary of his birth. According to the list compiled by of one of its contributors, Catia Cantini, Beniamo dal Fabbro was a poet, a writer, an essayist, a translator, a literary and musical critic, a journalist as well as an accomplished pianist
and artist (VIII). Born in Belluno on August 14 in 1910, he spent part of his
childhood in Florence where his family sought refuge during World War I. After
obtaining a law degree at the University of Pavia he moved to Milan where he lived
until his death on August 25, 1989. His literary career spanning over fifty years
(1937-1989) culminated in a substantial corpus of writings: six poetry collections,
four prose narratives, five works of music criticism, three collections of literary
criticism, two travel reportages, numerous translations of both poetry and prose
and articles on literature and music that appeared in a variety of journals such as
Corrente, Campo di Marte, Avvenire, Milano-Sera, Il Gazzettino, L’Illustrazione italiana, Tempo and Il Giorno. He was the recipient of three prestigious literary prizes:
in 1966 the Prize for International Poetry “Riviera dei Marmi” (ex equo with
Giuseppe Ungaretti) for his collection of translations La sera armoniosa, in 1969
the Prize “Carducci” for the collection of poetry Catabasi and in 1979 “Il
Premiolino.” An active participant in the cultural life of Italy during the most turbulent years of the twentieth century he belonged to its intellectual elite that
included, among others, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Eugenio Montale, Leonardo
Sinisgalli, Salvatore Quasimodo, Alfonso Gatto and Vittorio Sereni.
Despite his impressive achievements in the fields of literature and music, Dal
Fabbro had never received the critical attention he merited, relegated until recent— 267 —
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ly to the category of writers “almost completely forgotten” (5). A long-time overdue “Dal Fabbro-Renaissance” began with Carla Cantini’s thesis at the University
of Florence in 1999/2000 entitled Per una biografia di Beniamo Dal Fabbro (5). In
2004, his companion and heiress Gigiola Beratto donated Dal Fabbro’s entire
library-archive to the Comune of Belluno. This precious collection, which reflects
the personal interests of the author and his relationships with the contemporary
representatives of the cultural milieu, contained books, magazines, press cuttings,
manuscripts, letters, documents, diaries, pictures, recordings, librettos, piano
scores, paintings and drawings as well as personal notes, dedications, ticket stubs,
etc. The task of ordering, cataloging and finally transforming this wealth of material into a digital format took five years to accomplish and resulted in a userfriendly virtual “biblioteca d’autore,” granting an easy access to over 10, 000 documents (6). Giovanni Grazioli’s essay “Il fondo Beniamo Dal Fabbro presso la
Biblioteca Civica di Belluno” provides not only an interesting insight into the
actual process that led to realizing this ambitious project but also practical usage
guidelines for its readers/browsers.
The model of a library, where a collection of diverse written and visual documents serves to illuminate the whole figure of the writer not just dispersed or
seemingly disconnected fragments, aptly captures the task of re-introducing Dal
Fabbro to scholars and to the reading public. Each of the contributors in this volume focuses on a specific aspect of his writings (Matilde Biondi on epistolary
exchanges, Fabio Magro on the fictional prose, Rodolfo Zocco on poetry, Anna
Nozzoli on the travel reportages, Silvia Contarini on the prose translations) while
seeking correspondences between his texts and his life to explore the rich unity
that underlies Dal Fabbro’s Weltanschauung. Catia Cantini examines this unity in
“Beniamo Dal Fabbro: arte e vita di un maudit,” noting that “La sua scrittura,
puntualmente scandita da motivi d’ispirazione autobiografica, trova la sua cifra
dominante nel superamento del tradizionale diaframma tra le diverse forme
espressive, approdando per questa via a un felice connubio di creatività e acume
critico; una scrittura che appare insomma governata dal paradigma della contaminazione, come attesta l’occulta impronta che lega in limine tutte le opere dell’autore” (21). The concept of maudit, a writer in a perpetual conflict with society, and
the paradigm of genre contamination constitute two key traits that characterize
Dal Fabbro “scrittore.” His fierce anti-conformism and uncompromising intellectual honesty dominated the way he lived and wrote. He gained notoriety as a merciless critic who ventured critical assaults on such cultural icons as Eugenio
Montale and Maria Callas, fighting for uncensored freedom of thought and press.
Matilde Biondi reports an epistolary skirmish between Dal Fabbro and the editor
of Poesia satirica nell’Italia d’oggi who considered Dal Fabbro’s wittily irreverent
epigram inspired by Mondale too harsh to publish in his collection (48).
On a narrative level, his anti-conformism was manifested in challenging and
crossing boundaries traditionally imposed on genres and registers. Another editorial battle, this time concerning a clear-cut generic definition, revolved around the
publication of his manuscript La cravatta bianca which Dal Fabbro himself describes as an intermingling of genres and themes that eludes easy classification: “Il
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libro, inoltre, memorialistico nei suoi aspetti formali, è sostanzialmente narrativo,
e mi meraviglio che non ve ne siate accorti; il racconto va dai modi saggistici a
quelli del poema in prosa, dalle storielle di poche righe a quelle più lunghe, ai
frammenti d’un presumibile romanzo” (69). Thus the figure of Dal Fabbro as anticonformist, reflected both in the autobiographical and literary dimensions, comes
to life in this perceptive and eminently readable volume. It provides excellent critical analyses of his writings, enriched by a vivid depiction of their cultural context.
It adds a valuable contribution to his Renaissance and will, hopefully, lead not
only to further critical studies devoted to Dal Fabbro’s works but also to their
revival in publishing.
BARBARA ZACZEK
Clemson University
Meris Nicoletto. Valerio Zurlini. Il rifiuto del compromesso. Alessandria: Falsopiano, 2011. Pp. 383, ill. ISBN 9788889782163. € 22.
Best known for Il deserto dei Tartari (1976), the multi-awarded film adaptation of
the eponymous novel by Dino Buzzati, Valerio Zurlini (1926-1982) is defined by
Nicoletto “regista appartato” (15), absent from the list of the best maestri of Italian
cinema of the Fifties and Sixties. Zurlini is grouped with Maselli, Petri, Brusati
etc., but deserves to be considered beside the big names in filmmaking like
Pasolini, Bertolucci and Bellocchio. In this monograph Meris Nicoletto follows
chronologically Zurlini’s career from the early days of documentary in the Fifties,
to his feature films (1955 to 1976) and does justice to the neglected Bolognese
director.
Nicoletto engages in a reappraisal of Zurlini’s cinema and explains the reason
for the little critical recognition and his fall into relative obscurity: “Il suo cinema,
in apparenza ‘superato’ per le tematiche affrontate, è di fatto ‘in anticipo,’ per la
capacità di captare le trasformazioni sociali e i mutamenti del pensiero del suo
tempo.” (12) Nicoletto finds in Zurlini’s “poetica dei sentimenti” the fil rouge that
unifies his cinema, the stories of young individuals, particularly women, facing all
sorts of life difficulties. The scholar also documents Zurlini’s problems in finishing his movies, often delayed, underfunded, rejected, precisely because they did
not conform to the popular genres of the time.
The book in twelve chapters, examines Zurlini’s entire oeuvre, his documentary production, his penchant for literary adaptations, his friendship and collaboration with Vasco Pratolini, his interest in painting. Ample space is given to the
eight feature films (to each is devoted one chapter): Le ragazze di Sanfrediano
(1954) from Pratolini’s eponymous novel, Estate violenta (1959) a passionate love
story set in 1943 at the end of World War II, La ragazza con la valigia (1961) a
melancholy description of the tormented love story between two young people
from different backgrounds, Cronaca familiare (1962), another adaptation from
Pratolini, centering around the dramatic vicissitudes of two brothers, Le soldatesse
(1965), Seduto alla sulla destra (1968), La prima notte di quiete (1972), and Il deser— 269 —