Attilio Bertolucci
Attilio Bertolucci was an influential Italian poet and writer born in 1911 in the Emilia-Romagna region, near Parma. Growing up in a villa owned by his landowning parents, he began writing at a young age to cope with homesickness while attending boarding school. His literary influences included notable figures such as Charles Baudelaire, Walt Whitman, and Marcel Proust, whose focus on memory inspired Bertolucci to prioritize the details of daily life in his work. After a brief stint in law school, he shifted his focus to the arts at Bologna University, where he began teaching art history while gaining recognition for his poetry.
Bertolucci's major works include "La capanna indiana," which won the Premio Viareggio prize, and "Viaggio d'inverno," recognized for its literary distinction. He also published a unique autobiographical poem/novel, "La camera da letto," between 1984 and 1988, noted for its experimental form and plain diction. Despite facing personal struggles, including a period of depression after his father's death, Bertolucci's contributions to literature and his exploration of rural themes have left a lasting impact on Italian cultural heritage. His two sons, Bernardo and Giuseppe, also pursued successful careers in film, further extending the family's artistic legacy.
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Attilio Bertolucci
Poet
- Born: November 18, 1911
- Birthplace: San Lazzaro di Parma, Italy
- Died: June 14, 2000
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Attilio Bertolucci was born in 1911 near Parma, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, an area that became the focus of his literary imagination and his writing. His parents, Bernardo Bertolucci and Maria Rossetti Bertolucci, were land owners, and the poet spent his childhood in their villa. When he was sent to boarding school in Parma at age six, he began writing to distract himself from his homesickness.
In adolescence, he discovered the French poet Charles Baudelaire, the American poet Walt Whitman, and, most importantly, the French novelist Marcel Proust, whose exploration of memory aided Bertolucci in his decision to ignore the literary trends of his day and concentrate on using details of daily life as the means to evoke his treasured world. At the same time, thanks to his friend and teacher Cesare Zavattini, a founder of Italian cinema, Bertolucci discovered motion pictures, which became his lifetime interest. At the end of his high school education, Bertolucci published his first collection of poems, in which he used the rural world of his childhood to create a dream landscape of poetry.
After an unhappy experience with law school at the University of Parma, Bertolucci transferred to Bologna University to study the arts, leading to his early career teaching art history in high school. During this period, his poetry began to attract attention and win prizes. In 1938, he married Ninetta Giovanardi, an elementary school teacher, and he began to direct La fenice, a series of publications by foreign poets. The couple had two sons, Bernardo and Guiseppe, who became noted film directors.
The upheavals of World War II and postwar Italy sent Bertolucci (who had escaped military service because of health problems) and his family into seclusion; he published little until the 1950’s. In 1951, he and his family moved to Rome. In 1955, he published La capanna indiana, his third volume of poetry and the winner of the Premio Viareggio prize. In the title poem, an agricultural storage shed becomes the vehicle for calling up the rural world of his childhood.
In 1954, Bertolucci left teaching to work for the Italian Broadcasting Company and for other writing and editing. His father died that year, and his resulting depression was so severe that Bertolucci spent some time in a mental hospital His next book, Viaggio d’inverno, was published in 1971, and won the Etna-Taormina and Tarquina-Cardarelli literary prizes. Bertolucci’s two-volume autobiographical poem/novel, La camera da letto was published between 1984 and 1988. Its great variety of verse forms and prose made it unique in Italian literature, just as Bertolucci’s directness and plain diction set him apart from other writers of his time.