D'Annunzio (English spelling) Gabriele d'Annunzio

Italian poet and writer. Born on March 12th in Pescara on the Adriatic coast. His father was a wealthy shipping company owner. His first collection of poems, Early Spring (1879), was followed by New Songs (1882), which showed early signs of sensuality in an imitation of Carducci's style, and attracted attention. His success in Roman high society and his experiences of romantic escapades were reflected in his poetry collections, including Interludes (1883), Fantastic Beasts (1889), Roman Lamentations (1892), and Poems of Paradise (1893), in which he gradually came to express the delusions and frustration of sexual love in musical words and rich images. On the other hand, after the cold naturalism of his short story collection Virgin Soil (1882) and other works, he attempted to artistically justify the contradiction between his own sensual aestheticism and morality in his novels Pleasure (1889) and The Innocents (1892), modelled on the works of Huysmans and Tolstoy respectively, and then, in The Triumph of Death (1894) and The Virgin on the Cliff (1895), he sought to overcome the contradiction by borrowing from Nietzsche's supermanism. After that, he produced plays such as "The City of Death" (1898) and "La Gioconda" (1899), which were inspired by his love affair with the actress Eleonora Duse, as well as the novel "Flame" (1900), and three volumes of the poetry collection "Hymnesia of Heaven, Earth, Sea and Heroes" (planned to be a seven-volume set), namely "Maia" (1903), "Elettra" and "Archione" (both 1904). Among them, "Archione" contains many of the poet's best lyric poems and is still highly regarded today. Other works from this period include the tragic drama "Francesca da Rimini" (1902), the tragedy "Daughter of Yorio" (1904) based on the folklore of his native Abruzzi region, and the novel "To be able, to be unable" (1910), which features an aviator and deals with the theme of incest.

His exile due to debt problems and his adventurous actions during and after the First World War were expressions of aestheticism ("a life that does not allow imitation"), which brought art into real life, but his political actions paved the way for Fascism. During his exile, he wrote in French "The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian" (1911), which was famously performed with Debussy's composition. During the war, he lost his right eye in an airplane accident, and wrote the book of reminiscences and visions "Nocturnes" (1922) in the complete darkness while he was undergoing treatment. After the failure of the occupation of Fiume (1919-20), he retired to the shores of Lake Garda, and although he was honored as a "national hero" under the Fascist regime, he continued to write memoirs in a state of semi-despair, and these works, along with "Nocturnes," have been increasingly valued in recent years for their poetic truth and concise style. He died on March 1, 1938 in his retirement home of Gardona.

[Yoshio Yonekawa]

"Autumnal Dream" translated by Mori Ogai (included in "Ogai Complete Works 44", 1955, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian" translated by Yukio Mishima and Kotaro Ikeda (1966, Bijutsu Shuppansha)" ▽ "The Innocents" translated by Isao Watari (1979, Herald Enterprises)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イタリアの詩人、作家。3月12日アドリア海岸ペスカーラに生まれる。父親は富裕な船会社社主。処女詩集『早春』（1879）に続く『新しき歌』（1882）で、カルドゥッチ風の模倣のなかに、早くも官能性の特色を示し注目された。ローマ社交界での成功、恋愛遍歴の経験は、『間奏詩集』（1883）、『幻獣』（1889）を経て、『ローマ愁詠』（1892）、『楽園詩編』（1893）に至る詩集に反映され、音楽的なことばと豊かなイメージのなかにもしだいに性愛の妄執と鬱屈(うっくつ)が表現されるに至る。他方、短編集『処女地』（1882）ほかの冷酷な自然主義ののち、ユイスマンス、トルストイをそれぞれ範とする長編『快楽』（1889）、『罪なき者』（1892）により、自己の官能的耽美(たんび)主義とモラルの矛盾に芸術上の正当化が試みられ、ついで『死の勝利』（1894）、『巌頭(がんとう)の処女』（1895）において、ニーチェの超人主義を借り矛盾の超克が図られた。以後、女優エレオノラ・ドゥーゼとの恋愛を契機とする『死都』（1898）、『ジョコンダ』（1899）などの劇作や小説『炎』（1900）のほか、全七巻を予定した詩集『天と地と海と英雄たちの賛歌』のうちの三巻、すなわち『マイア』（1903）、『エレットラ』『アルチヨーネ』（ともに1904）などが、次々と発表された。なかでも『アルチヨーネ』は詩人最良の叙情詩を数多く収め、今日も評価は高い。同様に悲詩劇『フランチェスカ・ダ・リミニ』（1902）や、故郷アブルッツィ地方の伝承による悲劇『ヨーリオの娘』（1904）、飛行家を登場させ、近親相姦(そうかん)の主題を扱った小説『可なり哉(や)、不可なり哉(や)』（1910）なども、この時期に属する。

　借金苦による「亡命」や、第一次世界大戦中と戦後の冒険的行動は、実生活に芸術を持ち込む耽美主義（「模倣を許さぬ生活」）の表れだが、その政治的な言動はファシズムに道を開く結果になった。「亡命」中にフランス語で書いた『聖セバスティアンの殉教』（1911）は、ドビュッシーの作曲で上演され有名。大戦中、飛行機事故で右眼を失明、治療中の完全な暗黒のなかで回想的幻影の書『夜想譜』（1922）を著した。フィウーメ占領（1919～20）の挫折(ざせつ)ののち、ガルダ湖畔に隠棲(いんせい)し、ファシズム政権下に「国民的英雄」としての栄誉を贈られながら、なかば失意のうちに回想的著述を続け、これらは『夜想譜』とともにその詩的真実と簡潔な文体ゆえに近年ますます重視されている。1938年3月1日、隠棲地ガルドーナで永眠した。

［米川良夫］

『森鴎外訳『秋夕夢』（『鴎外全集44』所収・1955・岩波書店）』▽『三島由紀夫・池田弘太郎訳『聖セバスチャンの殉教』（1966・美術出版社）』▽『脇功訳『罪なき者』（1979・ヘラルド・エンタープライズ）』

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