Antonio Baldini

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

1924–1943 During the early 1920s Baldini expanded his readership, writing for a number of mainstream middle-class newspapers and respected literary journals, such as the Corriere Italiano, Il Resto del Carlino, I Libri del giorno, and Galleria. In 1924 there was an abrupt change of strategy: from that year he wrote almost exclusively for Corriere della Sera. He had been recruited by managing editor Luigi Albertini, under whose direction Corriere della Sera had already become Italy's most widely read newspaper. Over the next few years Baldini was intensely busy, both as a reporter and as a literary journalist. His writing passed the so-called Elzeviro test, at once erudite, sharply to the point, rich and free in its use of vocabulary, at once elegant and derogatory, and yet never deviating very far from a conversational genre. To his admirers, Baldini's writing style was pleasingly impossible to replicate. Much of the inspiration for Baldini's writing was drawn from his own imagination, often operating in tandem with his much vaunted "love for Rome". He could seem almost proprietorial in sharing his affection for this ""fatto personale", the city of his birth. He also found ideas for his writing in his own reading – or…Citește mai mult

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

The writer Many of the friends and admirers who wrote about Baldini after his death were journalists and commentators: many sources focus on Baldini's activities as a journalist. His parallel career as a writer of books and short stories is nevertheless an important complementary part of the overall picture. He made his debut as a writer of short stories in 1914 with "Pazienze e impazienze del Maestro Pastoso" (loosely, "Patience and impatience of Mr. Pastry"), which was a slim compilation of stories he had already published individually in appropriate literary journals. More than many writers, Baldini displayed the essential elements of his personality in his writing from the outset. Some of the most joyous and powerful examples come in "Nostro Purgatorio", which remains one of the most important pieces of Italian war literature. It was not, however, Baldini's first published work. Almost certainly some of the "Vedute di Roma" ("vistas of Rome") were written earlier, and they display much of the same joyous idiosyncrasy for which Baldini would become known. Other early works, including "Maestro Pastoso", show the writer struggling to find his own voice, or more precisely trying to reconcile the tension between his lyrical-autobiographical leadings and the objective…Citește mai mult

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

Provenance and early years Antonio Baldini was born in Rome. Count Gabriele Baldini (1860–1916), his father, was a minor aristocrat, originally from Santarcangelo in Romagna, and employed for many years by the Ministry for Public Works, notably in connection with the administration of contracts for railway development. His mother, born Sofia Alkaique (1861-1929), came from Livorno (Tuscany), possibly having been born into an immigrant family. Baldini's father was a passionate admirer of Chancellor Bismarck, and the middle name "Bismarck" – subsequently abandoned – is included in the attribution in respect of several of Bandini's early magazine contributions, as well as being referenced with evident irony by subsequent commentators. He attended a number of schools in Rome, including the prestigious Ennio Quirino Visconti Liceo Ginnasio. He then enrolled to study literature at the Sapienza University of Rome, although he would not complete his studies there and graduate until 1916. By that time he already had become a journalist.

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

Literary scholar and journalist Baldini's graduation dissertation concerned Ariosto, whose work, along with that of Carducci, he had idolised since his school days. Meanwhile, he had become part of a circle of literary scholars including Emilio Cecchi, Vincenzo Cardarelli, Riccardo Bacchelli and Aldo Palazzeschi. During the early years of the twentieth century these men, together, formed the nucleus of a cultural revival, mainly centred around various avant-garde magazines and journals, of which probably the best known was and is "La Voce*, published in Florence between 1908 and 1916. Baldini's first published work appeared in 1912 in another literary journal, "Lirica", founded earlier that same year by Arturo Onofri and Umberto Fracchia. These early contributions combined semi-autobiographical confessional aspects ("fatto personale") with a mix of fantasy, reverie and humour. In 1914 they were combined into a single slim volume entitled "Pazienze e impazienze del Maestro Pastoso" (loosely, "Patience and impatience of Mr. Pastry"). In 1915 Baldini became a regular contributor to the Italian right-of-centre irridentist newspaper L'Idea Nazionale which had recently switched from weekly to daily publication. Baldini's articles appeared on the third page, which by tradition in Italian newspapers was less political than the outer pages and a more focused…Citește mai mult

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

War After Italy entered World War I in May 1915, Baldini joined the army during the summer of 1915, initially as a private soldier, but he was quickly promoted to the rank of an infantry officer. On 3 November 1915 he was badly wounded in the battle for Monte San Michele, in the mountains inland to the north-west of Trieste. His involvement earned him a Silver Medal for Military Valo(u)r. He was then sent back to Rome to recover. Towards the end of 1916 Baldini returned to the frontline. Still not physically able to fight, he instead served as an "inviato speciale" – in this case, in effect, a war correspondent. His contributions appeared, as before, in the Rome-based L'Idea Nazionale, and now also in L'Illustrazione Italiana, a weekly illustrated magazine produced in Milan. For L'Illustrazione Italiana he also sent back from the frontline a series of "dialoghetti" and "storielle" (short dialogues and stories) under the pseudonym "Gatto Lupesco" (loosely, "Wolf-Cat") which enabled him to pull together, in 1918, another book, "Nostro purgatorio", using his experiences as a war correspondent.

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

Peace? By the end of 1918 Antonio Baldini was back in Rome, newly married to Elvira Cecchi (1895–1970). They would become the parents of two children. Baldini teamed up in 1919 with a number of other journalist-critics, most of whom had been his university contemporaries, to found a new monthly literary review magazine, La Ronda, which was published in Rome between 1919 and 1923. His co-founders included Emilio Cecchi, Vincenzo Cardarelli, Riccardo Bacchelli and Bruno Barilli. In a period of post-war confusion and uncertainty, La Ronda was intended to promote a "return" to the classics. He continued, in addition, to work with L'Illustrazione Italiana, contributing more "vedute e chronache romane" ("vistas and chronicles of Rome"). Baldini's contributions also appeared, as they had before Italy became engaged in the war-time fighting, in L'Idea Nazionale, consisting of reviews, critical profiles and literary moralisings in varying proportions, but always crisp and razor sharp in their syntax and arguments. A compilation of some of these works was published in two volumes in 1920, entitled respectively "Umori di gioventù" and "Salti di gomitolo". Some selections from these works have also been issued in subsequent publications. There were also fictional pieces, such as the "Fables of…Citește mai mult

Antonio Baldini a publicat o actualizare

acum 8 ore

After fascism By January 1945 Baldini had resurfaced and was back at the "Nuova Antologia", where he now served as editor-in-chief and literary director nearly till the end of his life. He resumed his close collaboration with Corriere della Sera, notably with his "Tastiera" ("Keyboard") column, which alternated between the erudite and the whimsical. He also resurrected "Melafumo", using his alter ego to reprise a series of commentaries and confessions for radio audiences, switching back and forth between melancholy memories and contemporary ironies. He wrote more book as well: "Se rinasco..." (1944), "Fine Ottocento" (1947), "Melafumo" (1950), "Quel caro magon di Lucia" (1956). Meanwhile, during 1950 Baldini was appointed president of the team responsible for organising the 6th "Rome Quadriennale" (major art exhibition), to be held between December 1951 and March 1952 at the Exhibitions Palace in central Rome. It was a position which imposed certain unwelcome constraints in terms of his personal art purchases, and one which he would retain in respect of subsequent Quadrienali for more than a decade. In 1953 he accepted a corresponding membership of the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei. In 1954 he was involved, along with Enrico Gianeri, Mario Sertoli and Tem Agostini, in the…Citește mai mult

Antonio Baldini a adăugat o fotografie

acum 8 ore

R.I.P
Antonio

Antonio Baldini (10 October 1889 – 6 November 1962) was an Italian journalist, literary critic and writer. Institutions renamed in celebration and commemoration of Baldini include, slightly unusually, a large public library in Rome, the "Biblioteca statale Antonio Baldini".