g~aTHE MICHIGAN DAILY
PROF. CAMBON ASSERTS
I
Italian Literature Wrongly Discounted
By SELMA SAWAYA
"There exists a cliche in the<
American mind that anything in,
Italian literature after the Renais-
sanlce can be dismissed lightly,"
Prof. G. Glauco Gambon, visiting'
lecturer in the English department '
said recently.
In a lecture on "Trends in Mod-
ern Italian Literature," Prof. Cam-
bon remarked that "despite the
good intentions of passionate
Italy-lovers, much of the basic
culture of the people has escaped
foreigners;-Italian literature has
been discounted.
"It has been taken for granted
that Italy has nothing to compare
with the splendid flourishing of
French poetry in the 19th century,
or with moderns like T. S. Eliot,
Ezra Pound, or W. H. Auden," he
continued.
Unexplored Field
Italian literature i an unex-
plored field, he said, worthy to be
discovered, because "no one who
cares for culture has anything to
gain by ignoring this field."
Language is a barrier, he ad-
mitted, and because of this, "one
of Italy's best poets, Ungaretti, has
only recently been translated into
the English."
Part of the effectiveness of thisj
literature is the "unmistakable
political accent" which one finds,
especially in the present day, he
continued.
Literature Effective
"Dante had been the 'truly Eu-
ropean spirit' which we gave to the
rest of European literature," Prof.
Cambon remarked. One critic has
said, he added, that with Petrarch,
Italian literature took a turn away
from the political awareness of
Dante - down a "more idyllic,
path."
It is mainly World War II and
Italy's defeat which has returned
Italian literature to the social and
political consciousness which'
Dante represented, Prof. Cambon
said, by causing these writers to
face their common problems to-
gether.
During the war the Fascist gov-
ernment tried to set up an arti-
ficial model for literature, he said,
which was followed by some writ-
ers, but shunned by others.
Semed Escapist
This is why, he remarked, that
Montale's poetry, which seemed
obscure and escapist at the time
it was written can be seen today,
in the light of our present histori-
cal knowledge to be poetry of pro-
test.
The protest was against Pthe
"hopelessness of existence," Prof.
Cambon continued. To read the
wartime poets today is to under- experimentation and French dis-
stand their works better than coveries worked to make Italian
when they were originally written, ideas ferment, and not to smother
he added. them."
This blossoming of contempor- t "Repaid in Kind .
ary literature is a return to the
But this debt was "repaid in
kind"-the Italian author, Zvevo.
in his relationship with James
Joyce, showed that national boun-
daries exist only in a provisional
sense, Prof. Cambon said.
The interest which each showed
in the other's work is an example
of the artistic cross-fertilization
which supersedes national boun-
daries, he said.
Vittorini, an Italian author
credited with helping to bridge the
gap between Italy and America,
has imitated to some extent Hem-
ingway and Faulkner, Prof. Cam-
bon commented.
"But this has not destroyed his
originality: the Americans have
been a liberating influence, have
taught him how to write," he said.-
"Because Italian literature re-j
entered history and grappled with
it, it has recaptured the old dream
of Dante and the other old masters
of literature," he concluded.
Engi~nneering
Department
Alters Name
The Regents approved changing
the name of the Department of
Aeronautical Engineering to the
Department of Aeronautical and
Astronautical Engineering at Fri-
day' s meeting.
Theaction was recommended to
the Regents by the Executive Com-
mittee of the College of Engineer-
ing, which based its recommenda-
tion upon the fact that the work
of the depar tment has been broad-{
ened considerably during the past
12 years, particularly in the area
of space flight.
The department at present gives
a series of courses dealing speci-
fally with space technology.
The is also a two-year program
in astronautics for a group of Air
Force officers in the graduate
program. Rocket exploration at
extreme altitudes is included in
the present research program, and
work with satellites is being con-
sidered for the near future.
NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE
PROGRAM
on
RELIGION AND THE STATE UNIVERSITY
sponsored by
The University of Michigan with the cooperation
of The National Conference of Christians and Jews
on
the Occasion of The Centennial of Student Religious
Work at The University of Michigan-1858-1958
THE MICHIGAN UNION
Sunday, November 16, 1958
PROF. G. GLAUCO CAMBON
... discusses literature
ancient models like Dante, a re-
turn to the older values, he said.
Possibility Unfilfilled.
"The undeveloped possibility at,
the dawn of the Renaissance was
never fulfilled," Prof. Cambon
continued. "After Dante, if was
Just forgotten; it is this possibility
which the modern Italian authors
and poets are going back for."
Contemporary Italian literature
owes a debt, in a manner of speak-
ing, to French literature, he con-
tinued. "It is an area where French
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Paul G. Kauper, Professor of Law,
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I