Ugo Foscolo Criticism
Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827), born Niccolò Foscolo on the island of Zante, was a distinguished figure in Italian literature, credited with influencing the Romantic movement. His works reflect a deep yearning for a unified Italy and a love for classical mythology. Despite his extensive travels and the constant rewriting of his pieces, Foscolo's literary contributions remain significant, particularly his novel Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis and the poem I sepolcri.
Foscolo's life was deeply influenced by the political upheavals of his time. Originally supportive of Napoleon, he felt betrayed when Venice was ceded to the Austrians, prompting themes of political disillusionment in his works. His novel, The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis, is a semi-autobiographical account reflecting his personal and political disappointments, drawing comparisons to Goethe’s Werther, as discussed by Glauco Cambon. The use of emotional imagery in this work, and others like The Sepulchres, showcases Foscolo's skill in blending personal and mythological elements, as mentioned by Victor Santi.
Foscolo's poems, especially I sepolcri, are celebrated for their complex interplay of myth and history, evoking a call to remember past heroes, a technique praised by Franco Ferrucci. His unfinished work, The Graces, illustrates his views on art and mythology, as analyzed by Douglas Radcliff-Umstead. Foscolo's exile from Italy, as he refused to pledge allegiance to Austrian rule, fueled his poetic themes of nostalgia and transcendence, a sentiment explored by Glauco Cambon.
In England, Foscolo continued his literary endeavors through essays influencing the British reception of Dante and participated in broader literary discussions, including those in The Edinburgh Review. Despite ending his life in financial distress, his remains were ceremoniously returned to Florence, symbolizing the posthumous recognition of his dream for a united Italy. Foscolo's linguistic versatility and cross-cultural influences mark him as a pivotal figure in the transition to Italian Romanticism.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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The Poetry of Ugo Foscolo
(summary)
In the following essay originally presented in 1924, Cippico provides an overview of Foscolo's life and examines how his various poetic works were affected by—and sometimes stand in contrast to—the historical events and romantic interludes of his life.
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Creator of Poetic Myths
(summary)
In the following essay, Radcliff-Umstead traces the various evolutionary stages of Foscolo's unfinished poem The Graces, and discusses how the fragments illustrate the poet's views on artistic expression and contemporary events and figures, as well as how it fuses modern and mythic elements.
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Ugo Foscolo and the Poetry of Exile
(summary)
In the following essay, Cambon explains how Foscolo's increasing distance from his original homeland of Greece created a strong mythos in his poetry that reflects not just nostalgia but an urge to transcend the present.
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The Demon of Suicide and the Demon of Fiction
(summary)
In the following essay, Cambon compares and contrasts Foscolo's Letters of Ortis with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's thematically similar The Sorrows of Young Werther. The critic also discusses the input provided by the Countess Antonietta Fagnani Arese, who had translated Goethe's work, and with whom Foscolo was in love.
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The Image of the Sun in the Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis, the Sepolcri, and the Grazie of Ugo Foscolo
(summary)
In the following essay, Santi explains how Foscolo uses images of sun and night, and light and dark to reflect the state of mind of Jacopo in The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis. The critic further discusses Foscolo's use of this imagery in his poetic works, including The Sepulchres and The Graces.
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Italian Romanticism: Myth vs. History
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In the following essay, Ferrucci compares Foscolo's ideas on history—which Foscolo felt could be recreated as a human mythology and thus be made more culturally significant—with those of two other Italian authors of the romantic period: Leopardi and Manzoni.
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Ugo Foscolo's Europe: A Journey from the Sublime to Romantic Humor
(summary)
In the following essay, Costa reflects on how Foscolo's travels from Italy to England, his readings, and the politics of the time affected the tone of his fragmentary work Lettere scritte dall'Inghilterra, which was written between 1817 and 1818.
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From Gray's Elegy to Foscolo's Carme: Highlighting the Mediation and Sublimation of the ‘Sepulchral’
(summary)
In the following essay, Illiano examines Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which was known to Foscolo, for the influence it had on Foscolo's Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis and The Sepulchres. The critic also discusses Ippolito Pindemonte's I Cimiteri and its effect on The Sepulchres.
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The Poetry of Ugo Foscolo
(summary)
- Further Reading