BiblioVault - Books about 1896-1981

Eugenio Montale

Poet on the Edge

Rebecca J. West

Harvard University Press, 1981

Here is a comprehensive study of one of the giants among contemporary European poets. Rebecca West analyzes the dominant themes and underlying poetics of Eugenio Montale's verse, offering insight into individual poems and into his work as a whole. West finds that Montale's poetic voice frequently speaks in terms of marginality: geographic edge spaces, psychological margins, potentiality and emergence. Her reading of his work emphasizes both its organic unity and the stylistic and thematic innovations from collection to collection. Examining his generally understated language, she explores the implications of the shift, in verse published in the past decade, toward poetry of a more quotidian nature, a more conversational tone. Her clear commentary will guide everyone reading Montale, whether in Italian or in translation.

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Three Modern Italian Poets

Saba, Ungaretti, Montale

Joseph Cary

University of Chicago Press, 1993

Focusing on the most recent triad of Italian poetic genius—Umberto Saba, Giuseppe Ungaretti, and Eugenio Montale—Joseph Cary not only presents striking biographical portraits as he facilitates our understanding of their poetry; he also guides us through the first few decades of twentieth-century Italy, a most difficult period in its literary and cultural development.

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Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz?

Yip Harburg, Lyricist

Harold Meyerson and Ernie Harburg

University of Michigan Press, 1995

". . . required reading for anyone interested in the great American songs."-New York Times Book Review
Many of us can sing along with Dorothy when she imagines a place "Over the Rainbow." And we all remember the Depression-era classic "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" But very few can name the man who put the words to these celebrated hallmarks of American music- Yip Harburg. Five hundred songs spanning a fifty-year career bear witness to the brilliance of this until-now obscure figure.
Plunge into this scrupulously documented volume and discover how Harburg, once a poet of light verse, played a major role in the transformation of the Broadway revue into the sophisticated musical of the 1940s and 1950s. With extensive and exclusive interviews and lyrical analysis, the authors capture Harburg's wit, distinctive voice, and creative and collaborative methods.
Inquiry into Harburg's Jewish, New York City roots, apprenticeship in his craft, and involvement in the radical politics of the 1930s- he was blacklisted in the 1950s- puts into context the seemingly irreconcilable skepticism and optimism that contoured this lyrical genius's life and work.
Harold Meyerson is Executive Editor and chief political columnist, L.A. Weekly, and is on the editorial board of Dissent. Ernie Harburg is a social psychologist and epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, coauthor (with Bernard Rosenberg) of The Broadway Musical: Collaboration in Commerce and Art, and Yip Harburg's son.

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