Contrappunti Counterpoints

The Author: Giovanni Cecchetti is one of the most internationally visible Italian scholars in the United States today. Born in Tuscany and educated at the University of Florence, he has worked for almost 50 years to establish and develop Italian departments at major American universities: Berkeley, Tulane, Stanford, and UCLA. Among his many volumes of literary criticism, we should note at least Leopardi e Verga, Il Verga maggiore and Voci di poesia. He has published over 150 articles dealing with a considerable range of critical problems, as well as translations. The most intense area of his activity, however, is his own creative writing: his volumes of lyrical prose include Il villaggio degli inutili, Spuntature intermezzi and Danza nel deserto; and his books of poetry are Diario nomade, Impossibile scendere, Nel cammino dei monti and Favole spente. The Editor and Translator: Raymond Petrillo is an associate professor of Italian at Texas A & M University. He received his Ph.D. in Italian literature from Rutgers University. In addition to a critical monograph, Itinerario del primo Verga, he has published numerous articles on Verga, Svevo and Cecchetti. He has also translated into English a number of Italian writers.