Dossi, Carlo

DOSSI, CARLO. - Pseudonym of Pisani Dossi Alberto, writer, b. at Zenevredo (Pavia) on 27 March 1849, d. at Cardina (Como) on 16 Nov. 1910.

At the age of 19 he printed his first book, the Altrieri (Milan 1868), and in 1871 the Vita di Alberto Pisani: two autobiographical works rich in intimate poetry, but affected and arbitrary in expression and syntax to the point of earning D. the label of "bizarre." He succeeded better with the utopian novel La colonia felice (ibid. 1874), which he later disavowed and in which is narrated the gradual formation of a complete human society born from a group of escaped deportees in distant regions. Having passed from art to diplomacy, D. was secretary to F. Crispi, minister plenipotentiary at Bogotá and then at Athens, where he became passionate about archaeological research. The Note azzurre (ibid. 1912) were published posthumously, a vast diary written continuously for almost 40 years, which revealed a D. as thinker, often acute and suggestive. But the most genuine D. is in the sketches and narratives of Gocce d'inchiostro (Rome 1880), where he shows himself a subtle observer of exquisite sensibility. Some of his erotic and irreligious pages appear more a concession to the fashion of the time than the expression of a sincere conviction. D.'s work is placed in relation to late Lombard Romanticism.

Silvio Pasquazzi