99: Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) Remarkable set Start Price EUR 3,000.00 Current Price EUR 3,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 1 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, December 10, 2008 End Time Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Location Turin, Italy See more about '99: Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) Remarkable set' Description Current Lot Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) Remarkable set of letters of historical and literary importance bearing witness to the correspondence between the Italian writer from Ferrara and Elio Vittorini in the period running from September 1942 to February 1943, according to the dates reported on the seven documents comprised in this series: three signed typed letters on paper, 4to; one signed typed letter on paper, 8vo; two autograph postcards 'Vinceremo' and a signed autograph letter, 8vo. (All five letters have holes on their left margins as the sheets have been perforated for archiving, although without affecting the text). To Vittorini, consultant and publishing director of Bombiani since 1938 (Americana dates back 1937), who had asked Bassani to translate A. Furetière's Romanzo Borghese, the young Italian writer writes: 'Non ho risposto alla tua prima lettera perché desideravo leggere il Furètiere. Ora ti posso assicurare che tradurrò senz'altro il libro. Ma tutto intero? O la prima parte solo, che mi pare possa stare benissimo a sé? Stabilisci tu, ed io eseguirò gli ordini . Mi è dispiaciuto moltissimo di non poter tradurre lo Fedro. Ma tradurla in martelliani italiani non me la sentivo dopo le chitarrate ciranesche di Mario Giobbe.'(22 September 1942). And, in his letter dated 3 November 1942, Bassani wrote that he could not send the translation of the first chapter ('Non posso mandarti disgraziatamente il primo capitolo perché entro domani in clinica per formi operare') because he was going to hospital to have the appendix surgery done because 'il noiosis­simo attacco appendicolare' had kept him in bed since September. Yet, he added 'Vuoi che ti mondi un saggio dello traduzione? Mi sembra che riesca abbastanza bene'. Although Bassani committed himself to delivering the translation within the end of 1942, his bad health forced him to delay his work: on 7 January 1943 he was able to deliver the first part only whilst the expected delivery of the remaining part is postponed to February 20th, 1943: 'Dirai che sono una pittima, ma tutto sta che, in seguito all'operazione, non posso stare applicato troppo tempo di seguito. E poi si tratto di un lavoro non facile per me: che mi lascio sempre scontento di ogni pagina {..j E intanto preparami un altro lavoro, magari una breve cosa, che ne diresti del "Diable au corps"' (Postcard dated 28 January 1843). Due to the tragic events occurred in the 1943-45 period and the suspension of Bompiani's publishing activity, Bassani's translation of Furètiere's novel was published many years later, 1951 (A. Furetière, Il romanzo borghese, in M. Drago ed. Romanzi francesi dei secoli XVII e XVII, pp.67-135). For further details on Bassani's literary activity in the years of this particular historical context, see G. Bassani, R. Cotroneo (ed.), Milano Opere, I Meridiani Mondadori, Milan 1998. Significant series of documents shedding light on the early literary activity of the great Italian writer, the author of Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini,and his relationship with Elio Vittorini Place a Bid!