Bio-bibliography

Italy

Giovanni Macchia

1992 Balzan Prize for History and Criticism of Literature

For his masterly historical and critical work in literature. He has succeeded in reconciling knowledge, subtle psychological insight, and the writer’s art. His love for research and discovery became pleasure in literature for a wide readership. Comparative historian of Italian and French literature and the arts, he has brought, through his books, the proof that intelligence, culture, and sensitivity have the power to highlight the joys and anxieties of the human spirit.

GiOVANNI MACCHIA was born in Trani (Bari) on the I8th November 1912; he is an Italian citizen;

since 1938 professor of French language and literature at the Faculty of Literature and at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa;

since 1949 fuIl Professor at Rome University where he founded and has been leading for many years the Istituto del Teatro e dello Spettacolo;

now Professor Emeritus of Rome University;

member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei;

goldmedal of the “Benemeriti della Cultura, della Scuola, dell’Arte”; honorary member of the “Arcadia”; member of the “Académie Européerine des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts”; the French govemment decorated him with the “Légion d’honneur et Officier dans l’ordre des Lettres et des Arts”.

Some of his major works are:

– Baudelaire critico, Florence, Sansoni, 1939; new edition, Milarì, Rizzoli, 1988;

– Baudelaire e la poetica della malinconia, Naples, ESI, 1946, new editions 1965 and 1992;

– Il paradiso della ragione, Studi letterari sulla Francia, Bari, Laterza, 1960, 1963;

– Storia della letteratura francese, I, Dalle origini a Montaigne, Turin, Eri, 1961;

– I moralisti classici. Da Machiavelli a La Bruyère, Milan, Garzanti, 1961; new edition 1978, III and IV edition Milan, Adelphi, 1988;

– La scuola dei sentimenti, Caftanisetta-Rome, Salvatore Sciascia editore, 1963, new edition

1992;

– Il mito di Parigi, Saggi e motivi francesi, Turin, Einaudi, 1965, 1981;

– Vita, avventure e morte di Don Giovanni, con tre scenari della Commedia dell’Arte, Bari, Laterza, 1966; Turin, Einaudi, 1978; Milan, Adelphi, 1991 (transiation into French and German);

— I fantasmi dell’opera, Idea e forme del mito romantico, Milan, Mondadori, 1971;

– Il paradiso della ragione, L’ordine e l’avventura nella tradizione letteraria francese, Turin, Einaudi, 1972. 1982;

– La letteratura francese del Medioevo, Turin, Einaudi, PBE, 1973, 1988;

– La caduta della luna, Milan, Mondadori, 1973;

– il silenzio di Molière, Milan, Mondadori, 1975, 1987 (trarislation into French);

– Baudelaire, Milan, Rizzoli, 1975;

– Il principe di Patagonia, Mostri, sogni, prodigi nelle Metamorfosi di un personaggio, Milan, Mondadori, 1978 (translation into French and German), 1979;

– L’angelo della notte, Milan, Rizzoli, 1979, 1988; new edition. BUR, 1990 (translation into French);

– Pirandello o la stanza della tortura, Milari, Mondadori, 1981, 1992;

– Breviario dei politici, secondo il Card. Mazzarino, Milan, Rizzoli, 1981; new edition, BUR, 1989 (transaltion into French):

– Saggi italiani, Milan, Mondadori, 1983;

– Le rovine di Parigi, Milan, Mondadori, 1985 (translation into French and Spanish);

– La letteratura francese. Dal Medioevo al Settecento, coll. “I Meridiani”, Milan, Mondadori, 1987, 1988;

– Gli anni dell’attesa, Milan, Adelphi, 1987;

– Tra Don Giovanni e Don Rodrigo, Scenari Secenteschi, Milan, Adelphi, 1989 (translation into French);

– Proust e dintorni, Milan, Mondadori, 1989; Club degli Editori, 1991 (translation into French);

– Elogio della luce, Milan, Adelphi, 1990 (translation into French and Spanish).