American Literature: Essays and Opinions

Cesare Pavese (1908-1950) was the leading Italian scholarof American literature of the generation that came tomaturity under Mussolini. He was not only an acute andwide-ranging literary critic, but also a sensitive poet andnovelist. In addition, he was a prodigious translator. Incollaboration with Elio Vittorini, he translated and broughtto the attention of the Italian public the works of manyimportant American writers. American literature helped togive direction to Pavese’s creative work and was a resourcefor his personal literary campaign against Fascism.Pavese was a non-academic critic, though far less anti -academic than D. H. Lawrence. His first purpose was to useAmerican literature to subvert Italian literature, but beyondthat there were a number of issues on which he disagreedwith standard American criticism. When he does, his wild,original energy of discovery can trigger a welcome changeof focus for our views of American writing.Pavese never visited or lived in America; it was for hima foreign country, although a shifting and sliding specialcase. He had no stake in its sectional chauvinisms. Hehad a vital stake in its whole literature because, as hiscommunications to Vittorini make clear, he had a stakein the literature of the whole world. For a while, Americaseemed to him the probable center of that whole. This wasthe center where things were happening in the world ofthe mind, and where the future was being born and lickedinto shape. Paveses’s writings about American literaturestill off er original and unsparing insights.

Cesare Pavese (1908-1950), was educated in Turin. In 1930 he began to contribute essays on American literature to La Cultura, of which he later became editor. In 1935 he was imprisoned for anti-fascist activities. This experience formed the basis of The Political Prisoner. Between 1936 and 1940 nine of his books were published in Italy, these included novels, short stories, poetry, and essays. His books have been filmed and dramatized and translated into many languages. Edwin Fussell was professor emeritus of American Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Some of his books include Edwin Arlington Robinson, Frontier: American Literature and the American West, and The Purgatory Poems.