RAPISARDI, MARIO. - Poet, b. in Catania on 25 Feb. 1844, d. there on 4 Jan. 1912. He taught Italian literature at the university of his native city.
A solitary and sullen temperament, after a beginning of superficial optimism, in which, with the poem La palingenesi (1868), he looked forward to a religious renewal conceived in the secular terms of the anticlericalism and positivism then in fashion, he set himself up, in harmony with Carducci's Satanism, as a celebrator of Lucifer, as the symbol of progress and the vanquisher of superstition, in the poem of the same name (1877), saturated with mockery of Catholic dogma (notable is his polemic with Carducci provoked by certain satirical tercets of the poem). In Giobbe (1884) the biblical figure is degraded into a kind of positivist Faust, amid blasphemous details and sacrilegiously sensual deliriums. Inspired by socialist ideas is the lyric collection entitled Giustizia (1883), while the little volume of Poesie religiose (1887), if it represents the artistically happiest section of Rapisardi's ponderous oeuvre, nevertheless does not transcend the limits of a religion of nature, conceived as the haven of human anguish before the mystery; and pervaded by intimate sadness are also the Poemetti (1885-1907), while the poem l'Atlantide (1894) marks a socialist revival.
The islander's exuberance very often dragged R. into verbal sonorities and cumbersome architectures, in the attempt to transfigure concepts into poetic phantoms; yet there is no lack, in his poetry, of oases of classical measure, and his versions from Lucretius, Catullus, Horace and Shelley were appreciated.
Bibliography7 worksR. himself edited the complete edition of his works (Poemi liriche e traduzioni), Palermo 1912; the Epistolario edited by A. Tomaselli, Cata
BIBL.: R. himself edited the complete edition of his works (Poemi liriche e traduzioni), Palermo 1912; the Epistolario edited by A. Tomaselli, Catania 1922. Studies: C. Pascal, La vita e l'opera poetica di M. R., ibid. 1914; F. Tauro de Tintis, L'arte e il pensiero dei M. R., Recanati 1920; A. Tomaselli, Commentario rapisardiano (with extensive bibl.), Catania 1932; E. Bevilacqua, Rapisardiana, ibid. 1932; N. Cappellani, M. R., 2nd ed., ibid. 1938; C. Musmarrs, Il carteggio fra M. R. e G. A. Cottanzo, ibid. 1947.
Navarra, Enzo. “Rapisardi, mario.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, col. 526. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/rapisardi-mario.
MLA
Navarra, Enzo. “Rapisardi, mario.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, col. 526. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/rapisardi-mario.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec10_rapisardi_mario,
author = {Navarra, Enzo},
title = {Rapisardi, mario},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {X},
pages = {526},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/rapisardi-mario}
}
One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.
Click or scroll to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
