Special Collections

Carlo Bo

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 Library 

Biblioteca della Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo per la Letteratura Europea Moderna e Contemporanea

1.2 Collection name  

Carlo Bo

1.3 Biographical notes 

Carlo Bo was born on January 25, 1911, in Sestri Levante (GE). He was the son of Angelo Bo, a notary of liberal-Mazzinian tradition and antifascist, and Ada Sanguineti, of a deep Catholic tradition. He attended elementary school in Sestri and then, in Genoa, Liceo of the Istituto Arecco managed by the Jesuit Fathers. He became passionate about literature and reading thanks to his Ancient Greek teacher Camillo Sbarbaro. In 1929, he enrolled in Classics Studies at the University of Florence but, after a short time, chose to switch to modern literatures, particularly French literature.

In Florence, he met Giovanni Papini, thanks to whom he joined the group of the magazine “Il Frontespizio”, managed by Piero Bargellini, Nicola Lisi, and Carlo Betocchi. And from 1930, he contributed to the magazine. His relationship with the entourage of “Il Frontespizio” remained close until 1938. That year he read his programmatic contribution “Literature as Life” at the Conference of Catholic Writers in San Miniato al Monte. This is considered a key text of hermetic criticism, that was published in the September issue of “Il Frontespizio”. He also contributed in main cultural magazines like “Corrente”, “Campo di Marte”, and “Letteratura”.

In 1934, he graduated in Modern Literature with Professor Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, with a thseis in French Language and Literature on Joris-Karl Huysmans. From 1934 to 1936, he attended an advanced course at the Catholic University of Milan. He wrote a second thesis, supervised by Professor Luigi Sorrento, on Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve. This work was published by Parenti (Florence) in 1938 with the title “The Youthful Images of Sainte-Beuve”. 

During his years of study in Florence, he became friend with Renato Poggioli, a Slavist and translator of the new Russian poetry. And also with Tommaso Landolfi, Leone Traverso, and Elio Vittorini. And later on with Oreste Macrì, Mario Luzi, Piero Bigongiari, Alessandro Bonsanti, and Eugenio Montale, that at the time was the director of Gabinetto Letterario Vieusseux. They were all poets or scholars of modern and contemporary European literatures and all translators of 20th-century poets. 

During this period, he dedicated himself to the most important Italian poets of the early 20th century, French authors such as Proust, Rivière, Mallarmé, Gide, Bernanos, to surrealist poets, like Apollinaire, Aragon, and Éluard, to Spanish authors as Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Antonio Machado, And also to some English authors, like Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and German authors. He was one of the first Italian critics to deal with Franz Kafka.

In 1938, he also began his teaching career. The University of Urbino gave him the French Language and Literature and Spanish Language and Literature courses for the Degree Course in Materie letterarie of the newly founded Facoltà di Magistero. In 1939, he won the chair of French Language and Literature at Istituto Orientale di Napoli. In the academic year 1941/42 he was appointed associate professor of French Language and Literature at the University of Urbino and then in 1944/45 became full professor. He did not give up the assignment of Spanish Language and Literature though, he maintained both teachings until 1981, the year of his retirement.

In 1941, he met the writer and journalist Marise Ferro, still married to the writer Guido Piovene, from whom she had separated. From 1942, they lived together in Milan, but during the years of World War II, to escape the bombings they moved to Sestri Levante, then to Rivanazzano, and finally to Valbrona, near Lake Como. In 1944, they got to Milan but could only get married in 1961.

In 1944, after the war Carlo Bo was able to return to the University of Urbino and get back his activity as professor. In 1947, he was elected Rector and he was re-elected without interruption  until the year of his death, in 2001. 

He was very active and collaborative with colleagues and competent people trying to do everything possible to transform the University of Urbino from a small university into bigger institution, and the city of Urbino into a place of study and research. 

In the academic year 1946/47, the course in Lingue e letterature straniere was activated. In 1956, the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia was established, then in 1959 the Facoltà di Economia e Commercio (located in Ancona, later transferred to Urbino when, in 1982, the Ancona founded its own university) and, in 1971, the Facoltà di Scienze matematiche, fisiche e naturali. At the end of 1965, a complex of four university accommodation for students was opened, designed by the architect Giancarlo De Carlo, and in the following years, some restored palaces in Urbino by De Carlo were assigned to the University. In 1991, Facoltà di Sociologia and the Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere were established, and finally, in 1992, Facoltà di Scienze Ambientali and Facoltà di Scienze Politiche; in addition, the Istituto Superiore di Educazione Fisica (ISEF), founded in 1963, was converted into Facoltà di Scienze Motorie. Thanks to Carlo Bo's university policy, Urbino’s small university grew from just three Iìinstitutes and 3,000 students to eleven institutes and 22,000 students, with renowned research centers like Centro Internazionale di Semiotica e di Linguistica, Centro Internazionale di Studi sulla Cultura Greca, Centro per la Storia del Modernismo and Istituto di Scienze Religiose.

But he also had commitments outside of the University of Urbino. He taught French Language and Literature at Bocconi University in Milan from the academic year 1961/1962 until the closure of the Degree course in Foreign Languages and Literatures in 1972. Together with Professor Silvio Baridon, he founded the Scuola Superiore per Interpreti e Traduttori di Milano, from the Libero Istituto Universitario di Lingue Moderne which originated. This, in 1998, was  converted into the Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM), with campuses in Milan and Feltre.

He never put his activity as a literary critic for various cultural magazines and numerous newspapers on hold. He collaborated with “La Stampa”, and later for the “Corriere della Sera” and for weekly magazines such as “La Fiera Letteraria”," “L’Europeo”, “Il Sabato”, and “Gente”.

He received many honors during his career as the Honorary Citizenship of the City of Urbino in 1956, the appointment as “Senator for life” by President Sandro Pertini in 1984, and the honorary degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Verona in 1996. In 1997, the University of Urbino dedicated a celebration ceremony, in the presence of President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, to commemorate his election as rector’s 50th anniversary. In 2001, the City of Genoa gave him honorary citizenship, and the City of Sestri Levante solemnly celebrated his ninetieth birthday. 

Carlo Bo never abandoned literature and literary criticism, although honouring his commitments as a professor and rector. He keeps writing as a militant critic, studing the contemporary authors of European literatures, discussing literature and Christian faith, also addressing urgent problems of Italian society, such as divorce, abortion, human rights, the suffering of the weak and the violence of the powerful. A long series of publications regarding this topics, most of them unavailable today, can be found in the volume “Letteratura come vita” where Sergio Pautasso, in 1994, tries present the key parts of Carlo Bo’s essays, articles, and speeches.

A few months after his ninetieth birthday, on July 21, 2001, Carlo Bo died in Genoa due to an accident at his home in Sestri Levante and he was buried in the Bo family chapel in the cemetery of Sestri Levante. The volume “Carlo Bo. Bibliografia degli scritti (1929-2001). Bibliografia degli scritti su Carlo Bo (1932-2015)” published in 2015 and edited by Marta Bruscia and Ursula Vogt with the collaboration of Laura Toppan, contains a first and key mapping of Carlo Bo's vast and varied career.

(biography by Ursula Vogt)


Carlo Bo's main works

1935

Jacques Rivière. Morcelliana, Brescia.

1938

Delle immagini giovanili di Sainte-Beuve. Fratelli Parenti, Firenze.

1939

Otto Studi. Vallecchi, Firenze (essays about D’Annunzio, Boine, Jahier, Serra, Campana, Sbarbaro, Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo).

1940

Federico García Lorca: Poesie. Translation by di Carlo Bo. Guanda, Parma.

1940

Saggi di letteratura francese. Morcelliana, Brescia.

1941

Lirici del Cinquecento. Garzanti, Milano.

1941

Lirici spagnoli. Tradotti da Carlo Bo. Edizioni di Corrente, Milano.

1941

Narratori spagnoli. Raccolta di romanzi e racconti. Dalle origini ai nostri giorni. Edited by Carlo Bo. Bompiani, Milano.

1941

La poesia con Juan Ramón. Edizioni di Rivoluzione, Milano.

1942

Della lettura. CEDAM, Padova.

1943

Bontempelli. CEDAM, Padova.

1944

Bilancio del Surrealismo. CEDAM, Padova.

1944

Antologia del Surrealismo. Edizioni di Uomo, Milano.

1945

Diario (aperto e chiuso): 1932-1944. Edizioni di Uomo, Milano.

1945

In margine a un vecchio libro. Bompiani, Milano.

1945

L’assenza, la poesia. Edizioni di Uomo, Milano.

1945

Mallarmé. Rosa e Ballo Editori, Milano.

1946

Nuovi studi. Prima serie. Vallecchi, Firenze.

1946

Saggi per una letteratura. Con una lunga appendice. Morcelliana, Brescia.

1946

Antologia della poesia francese. Da Baudelaire a Valéry. Argalìa, Urbino.

1948

Carte spagnole. Marzocco, Firenze.

1951

Inchiesta sul neorealismo. A cura di Carlo Bo. ERI, Torino.

1952

Nuova poesia francese. Antologia. Guanda, Parma.

1953

Riflessioni critiche. Sansoni, Firenze.

1954

Antologia dei poeti negri. Traduzione italiana con testi originali a fronte. Preface by Carlo Bo. Parenti, Firenze.

1957

Scandalo della speranza. Vallecchi, Firenze.

1964

L’eredità di Leopardi e altri saggi. (Opere di Carlo Bo, 1) Vallecchi, Firenze.

1967

La religione di Serra. Saggi e note di lettura. (Opere di Carlo Bo, 2). Vallecchi, Firenze.

1973

Discorsi rettorali. Argalìa, Urbino.

1973

Altre riflessioni critiche. Istituto Statale d’Arte, Urbino.

1976

Aspettando il vento. Introduction by Mario Luzi. Edizioni L’Astrogallo, Ancona.

1979

Don Mazzolari e altri preti. Edited by R. Colla e G. Mosci. La Locusta, Vicenza.

1981

Lo stile di Maritain. Edited by G. Galeazzi. La Locusta, Vicenza.

1982

Se tornasse San Francesco. A casa del Duca. Il Nuovo Leopardi 1 e 4. Urbino.

1983

Raffaello, bellezza e verità. Il Nuovo Leropardi 10. Urbino.

1984

Sulle tracce del Dio nascosto. A cura di M. Beck. Mondadori, Milano.

1985

Solitudine e carità. A cura di G. Mosci. Camunia, Brescia.

1993

Letteratura come vita. Antologia critica. Edited by S. Pautasso. Preface by J. Starobinski. Testimonianza di G. Vigorelli. Rizzoli, Milano. The volume presents a selected collection of critic essays by Carlo Bo.

1998

Intorno a Serra. Essays collected, annotated and presented by V. Gueglio. Greco & Greco Editori, Milano.

2001

Città dell’anima. Scritti sulle Marche e i marchigiani 1937-2000. Edited by U. Vogt. La Banca delle Marche/il lavoro editoriale, Ancona.

1.4 Date and methods of acquisition

The University of Urbino accepted the donation of his library made by Carlo Bo on March 31, 2000, with a specific resolution of the Board of Directors. The clauses imposed the obligation to inventory and catalog the volumes for public use and to update and preserve the library heritage, according to the scientific indications of the “Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo per la letteratura europea moderna e contemporanea”, founded on February 3, 2000.

1.5 Collection history

The collection materials were located in different houses owned by Carlo Bo (Milan, Sestri Levante, and Urbino). The collection is now housed, as requested in the deed of donation, at Palazzo Passionei-Paciotti, the location of Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo .

1.6 Collection increase

Even though the collection is closed, Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo continues to increas the library's collection with acquisitions of documents relevant to Carlo Bo's areas of interest and, in general, to contemporary poetry and fiction. Volumes with the inventory series BO belong to the collection, while volumes with the inventory series ABO are subsequent acquisitions. Journals are identified with the inventory series BOS: the issues included in the collection are those dated up to 2011, the year of Carlo Bo's death.

1.7 Collection indexing

The collection was given to the University without any kind of documentation. 

Now the catalogue is available for consultation:

1.8 Collection accessibility 

The collection, catalogued and made available to the public, can be accessed online and on open shelves.


2. DESCRIPTION

2.1 Extent

The collection holds of over 100,000 bibliographic units that include monographs, periodicals, pamphlets, and extracts. The largest sections are the French and Italian literature ones, holding approximately 20,000 and 18,000 monographs respectively, including literary works and essays. However, significant numbers can be also referred to other literatures (around 9,000 titles), literary theory (approximately 3,000 titles), humanities (13,000 titles), arts (over 3,000 titles), and social sciences (almost 3,500 titles). There are over 2,300 periodical titles, more than half of them are regarding literature. Regarding the same topic more than 1,500 extracts can be found. Moreover, the antique collection holding eighteenth and nineteenth-century editions of French writers and philosophers, comprises around 500 units, including around ten works from the sixteenth century and twenty from the seventeenth century.

2.2 Description identifier, organization, and placement

The collection’s arrangement system was created by Giovanni Di Domenico. There is separate section for the periodicals; monographs and journals are located in the same disciplinary areas, but in distinct sequences. s. Materials are located based on their content rather than document types.

The collections are organized by research fields, with six areas created to suggest various pathways. The first five areas have an interdisciplinary background: general consultation, languages and literatures, arts, humanities, and social sciences. 

Each area is divided into sections and subsections, with different levels of articulation depending on the collection coverage and its future development. The first section of each field holds multidisciplinary consultation materials. Internal sections within literature are organized by nation, genre, period, and author. 

Arrangements are made to facilitate the sequential location of an author's works and essays related to its work. The sixth area, named “FTB. Figure e temi della vita, del pensiero e dell’opera di Carlo Bo”, collects over 5,000 material and is organized so that it conects to the others. Here Bo’s production can be found together with a collection of texts and essays aimed at reflecting his sources, interests, and influences (Hermeticism, Surrealism, Spanish lyricism, French novels of Christian inspiration, and works that reflect his moral and religious thoughts). Materials outside these six areas are collected in a storage location.

2.3 Stato di conservazione

Well preserved.


3. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DOCUMENTATION

3.1 Bibliography and documentation

About the collection:

- Giovanni Di Domenico, “Non omnes legi sed omnes dilexi”: La biblioteca della Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo per la letteratura europea moderna e contemporanea, in Biblioteche d’autore, pubblico, identità, istituzioni, atti del convegno (Roma, 30 ottobre 2003), a cura di Giuliana Zagra, Roma, Associazione italiana biblioteche, 2004., pp. 23-37.

- Elena Baldoni, Tra biblioteca d'autore e biblioteca di ricerca: i libri di Carlo Bo a Urbino, tesi di laurea, relatore Giovanni Di Domenico, Urbino, Università degli studi, 2012 


About Carlo Bo:

From the online catalogue of Biblioteca della Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo  it is possible to find the writings about Carlo Bo to date.


4. NOTES

4.1 Special notes and reports

ITEMS DESCRIPTION

The analytical cataloguiing description practiced in Biblioteca della Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo has two purposes. It highlights the features that make each copy unique from an archival perspective; and it meticulously describes the editorial characteristics of each copy.

The first purpose is achieved by a detailed description of ownership marks, signs of reading, and the indication of any personal inserts preserved between the pages. These inserts can be treated in two different ways. Printed materials are preserved together with the volume in which they were found. Letters and other private documents are separated from the volume and kept in the correspondence archive. The second one aims to indicate the presence of the original paratextual accompaniment: dust jackets, editorial bands, bookstore coupons, editorial reviews, bio-bibliographic cards, bookmarks, advertising sheets, and so on.


INSCRIPTIONS TO CARLO BO

Around 6,000 items held in the collection contain handwritten dedications to Carlo Bo, signed by authors, publishers, professors, friends, and other people, for a total of over 2,600 dedicators. 

These handwritten dedications (that sometimes can be regarded as literary texts themselves) offer the opportunity to map Bo’s significant relationships with other figures of Italian and European culture. To preserve the originals and give value to these important traces, a project was developed to digitally reproduce the incriptions and attach them to the item’s record in the online catalogue.

Moreover, a digitization project regarding the handwritten dedications is ongoing on the Sanzio Digital Heritage platform. Here the dedications are digitized along with the preliminary and final pages of the books themselves. This way we can map the relationships Bo had with the personalities who dedicated the book to him through the dedication, while the paratextual pages provide information on the bibliographic and editorial aspects of the publication.


PERMALINK TO THE CATALOGUE

Access the catalogue


COMPLIER'S NAME

Elena Baldoni