Nievo, Ippolito
Entry updated 29 May 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1831-1861) Italian soldier and author of a short Future History, "Storia filosofica dei secoli futuri fin all'anno E. V. 2222 ovvero fino alla vigilia incirca della fine del mondo" ["Philosophical History of Future Centuries until the year 2222, or, until circa the End of the World"] in Strenna dell'Uomo di Pietra per l'anno 1860 (anth 1860), which anticipates (in line with his involvement in the Italian Risorgimento) the unification of Italy, at least two planetary wars, Inventions galore including Androids, and (as its subtitle admonishes us to note) the End of the World. Nievo's larger fame arises from his vast historical novel, Le confessioni di un ottuagenario (1867 2vols; first five chapters trans Lovett F Edwards as The Castle of Fratta 1954) [for details of translations of nonfantastic portions of novel see Checklist below]. The beginning of the tale focuses on the experiences of its protagonist Carlino, immured until adulthood in the eponymous Gothic edifice, whose labyrinthine contours and grotesque inhabitants may have been understood by its publishers in 1954 to evoke the world of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast sequence.
Nievo died at sea during the Italian war for independence. [JC]
Ippolito Nievo
born Padua, Italy: 30 November 1831
died shipwrecked in the Tyrrhenian Sea: 4 March 1861
works (selected)
- "Storia filosofica dei secoli futuri fin all'anno E. V. 2222 ovvero fino alla vigilia incirca della fine del mondo" ["Philosophical History of Future Centuries until the year 2222, or, until circa the End of the World"] in Strenna dell'Uomo di Pietra per l'anno 1860 (Milan, Italy: Presso L'Ufficio del Giornale, 1860) [anth: pb/]
- Le confessioni di un ottuagenario (Florence, Italy: Successori Le Monnier, 1867) [published in two volumes: edited by Erminia Fuà Fusinator: binding unknown/]
- The Castle of Fratta (London: The Folio Society, 1954) [trans by Lovett F Edwards of the first five chapters of the above: illus/hb/Eric Fraser]
- The Castle of Fratta (London: Oxford University Press, 1957) [trans by Lovett F Edwards of the whole of the above: with extensive cuts: hb/Graham Oakley]
- Confessions of an Italian (London: Penguin Books, 2014) [uncut trans by Frederika Randall from critical editions of the above: title is direct translation of Nievo's manuscript choice: pb/]
links
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