Giovanni Papini
Giovanni Papini was an influential Italian writer and thinker born on January 9, 1881, in Florence. He emerged as a prominent literary figure in the early 20th century, co-founding the literary journal *Leonardo*, which showcased progressive writers and philosophical ideas, particularly pragmatism. His literary career began with the publication of his collection of short stories and critiques of philosophy, leading to works that explored themes of isolation and the search for meaning, notably in his autobiographical novel *Un Uomo Finito*.
After a period of agnosticism, Papini converted to Catholicism in 1920, which profoundly influenced his subsequent writings, including the successful novel *Storia di Cristo*. His later works incorporated elements of magic realism and allegory, showcasing his evolution as a thinker. While he initially supported the Futurist movement, Papini also engaged with political ideologies, including a controversial alignment with Mussolini's regime during the 1930s.
Despite facing health challenges later in life, he continued to write until his death in 1956. Papini's prolific output, which included multiple genres and philosophical inquiries, reflects his lifelong quest for a cohesive understanding of humanity's purpose, making him a significant figure in literary and philosophical discourse.
On this Page
Giovanni Papini
Journalist
- Born: January 9, 1881
- Birthplace: Florence, Italy
- Died: July 8, 1956
- Place of death: Florence, Italy
Biography
Giovanni Papini was born in Florence, Italy, on January 9, 1881, to Luigi Papini, a craftsman, and Erminia Cardini. His mother was a Catholic, his father an atheist; although Giovanni was baptized, he rejected Christianity and took up his father’s interest in classical literature and culture. Papini had little formal schooling, but read through the family library in a manner he referred to as “encyclopedic.” He regularly attended university lectures, and by young adulthood, trying to satisfy what he called his “mad craving for knowledge,” Papini was well educated in philosophy and literature. Papini married Giacinta Giovagnoli in Florence in 1907, where he lived his entire life. The couple had two daughters, Viola and Gioconda.
In 1903, Papini cofounded the literary journal Leonardo, which published forward-thinking French, British, and American writers. In this journal, Papini exhorted authors to “write badly,” based on his belief in the primacy of the idea over artistic expression. By 1907, he had published a collection of short stories and a critique of traditional philosophical ideas, Il crepuscolo dei filosofi (the twilight of the philosophers). He studied pragmatism, a philosophical doctrine that tests truth through action, and met William James and Charles Sanders Peirce; Leonardo soon became known as the official pragmatist journal of Italy. The journal ran until 1907, during which time Papini began a series of essays on avant-garde aesthetics. In 1913, he founded the cultural review Lacerba, which put forward a Futurist vision. Lacerba became a political journal at the start of World War I, promoting an interventionist position that advanced Papini’s (and many other Futurists’) idea of war as humanity’s great “cleanser.”
In 1912, at age thirty, Papini published Un Uomo Finito (A Man—Finished, 1924), an autobiographical novel based on his lonely, psychologically isolated childhood in which he discusses “reaching out for the Whole. . . only to fall back to Nothing.” The book is both a novel and a philosophical treatise on pragmatism, which served as an antidote to Papini’s oppressive nihilism. The novel also critiques the “encyclopedic” approach to culture he had embraced while editing Leonardo.
In 1920, having written for years as an agnostic, Papini reconverted to Catholicism. He published the religious novel Storia di Cristo (1921; Life of Christ, 1923), an international best seller, and from this point forward Catholicism influenced all his writing. In his 1923 novel La seconda nascita (the second birth), a sequel to Un uomo finito, the narrator defends both Christianity and Roman Catholicism. His 1931 novel Gog and the 1951 Il libro nero: Nuovo diario di Gog (the black book: Gog’s new diary) employ magic realism and feature an allegorical character who keeps a travel diary and uses the name Gog, a reference to the biblical King Gog.
Papini supported Mussolini in the 1930’s, and became a leader of the Return to Order movement. He dedicated his 1937 literary history Storia della literatura italiana to “Il Duce, a friend of poetry and poets.” In 1943, he became a Franciscan friar, taking the name Fra’ Bonaventura. Papini began experiencing paralysis in 1952 and went blind, but dictated his writing to his secretary and granddaughter. When unable to speak, he wrote for daily newspapers until shortly before his death in 1956. Papini was appointed to the Accademia d’Italia in 1937, and in 1944, Mussolini asked him to serve as president, which he declined. In 1942, he was elected vice-president of the European Writers Union.
One of the most productive writers of the early twentieth century, Papini left a body of writing that blends disciplines and genres within a single work. His writing shows a lifelong obsession with finding a philosophy that could save both himself and modern humanity, moving from pragmatism to Futurism to Christianity, always a self-described “mystic.” He founded more than a half-dozen journals and reviews, contributed to major newspapers, and was a leading intellectual voice in each belief system he embraced.