Umberto Saba (1883-1957) is one of the great Italian poets of the twentieth century, as closely associated with his native city Trieste as Joyce is with Dublin. He received a sparse education but was writing distinctive poetry before he was twenty, ignoring the modernist groups which dominated the day. He came at personal themes in unexpected ways, using an unapologetically contemporary idiom. He acquired an antiquarian bookshop which prospered for a time, but his Jewish background placed him at risk with the rise of Fascism. When the Germans took northern Italy in 1943, he and his family went into hiding in Florence where they escaped detection until the Allied liberation. National fame came late in his life. 100 Poems is the most extensive selection of his work so far published in Great Britain. He emerges as one of the great European writers of his time. The book features writing from every period of his writing life. Patrick Worsnips translations honour the poets use of traditional Italian forms while using appropriately colloquial diction.
Umberto Saba was born in 1883 in what is now the Italian city of Trieste but at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He received little more than basic education, but began to write poetry before he was 20. He ignored the modernist groups of the period and drew inspiration from the classics of Italian literature in poems that nevertheless treated personal themes in a contemporary way. Saba supported himself by acquiring an antiquarian bookshop, but his Jewish heritage placed him in increasing danger with the rise of Fascism. Following the German takeover of northern Italy in 1943, he and his family were forced into hiding in Florence, where they escaped detection until the Allied liberation. Full-scale national recognition came only late in his life, but in his final decade he won several top Italian literary prizes. He died in 1957.
* The most extensive selection to be published in the UK of the poetry of one of the greatest Italian writers of the 20th Century. * Includes deeply autobiographical and reflective poems from all periods of Saba’s more than 50-year writing career. * This translation recognises the poet’s adherence to traditional Italian forms, while using contemporary colloquial English diction. * Includes an introduction and explanatory notes that provide background information on Saba’s life and clarify references in his poems.
