Ugo Foscolo

Japanese: フォスコロ - ふぉすころ（英語表記）Ugo Foscolo

A poet representing the Italian pre-Romantic period. Born on February 6, 1778, on the island of Zante (Zakynthos) in the Ionian Islands, then a Venetian territory, to a Venetian father and a Greek mother, he moved to Venice in 1792 after his father's death. He acquired a classical culture background and came into contact with the city's literary circles. He was also inspired by the liberal and republican ideas of the French Revolution, which had flowed in from beyond the Alps, and devoted himself to the fight for liberation from Austria. In 1797, his tragedy "Thieste" was performed and met with rave reviews. In the same year, after the Treaty of Campo Formio, he was forced to leave Venice and move to Milan. He fought in various parts of Italy with Napoleon's army, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He moved around between Milan and Florence, as well as Bologna and Genoa, and spent his days passionately filled with ups and downs, studying and literary activities, fulfilling political duties, unrequited love, and frequenting high society.

[Hiroto Koga]

A turbulent life

In 1802, he published the poem "Homage to Bonaparte the Liberator" and in the same year, he published the epistolary novel "The Last Letter of Jacopo Ortiz", a collection of his experiences in politics and love, and a heartfelt confession of his feelings. It was overwhelmingly well received by the young intellectuals. He then compiled a collection of poems (1803) including many famous sonnets, and in 1807 published Dei Sepolcri , a masterpiece of a long poem that he had written in one go the previous year. He briefly taught rhetoric at the University of Pavia, but was soon driven out of the teaching profession due to his revolutionary ideas. In 1812, he began the draft of the ode " Le Grazie" , which was never completed, and around this time he also staged the tragedies "Aiace" and "Ricciarda", which were unpopular. After the fall of Napoleon and the fall of the Kingdom of Italy, Foscolo refused to submit to the restored Austrian power in 1814 and chose to go into exile in Switzerland, but was pursued again and made his way to England. He then worked in London as a teacher of Italian language and wrote essays on Italian literature, but died on September 10, 1827 in Turnham Green, a suburb of the city.

As a man and as a poet, Foscolo struggled to break down the barriers of his time. His sincere and persevering way of life and his literature, full of freshness, were praised as a model by those who aspired to innovation during the Risorgimento period, such as Mazzini, and his remains were moved to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence in 1871. His criticism, collected today as the History of Italian Literature, attests to the innovative and modern intuition and judgment he possessed as a critic.

[Hiroto Koga]

[References] | Last letter of Jacopo Ortiz

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

イタリアの前ロマン主義期を代表する詩人。1778年2月6日、ベネチア領だったイオニア諸島のザンテ島（ザキントス島）でベネチア人の父親とギリシア人の母親の間に生まれ、父親の死後、92年にベネチアに移る。古典文化の素養を得、同市の文学界と接触するとともに、アルプスのかなたから流入したフランス革命の自由主義・共和主義思想に共鳴し、オーストリアからの解放のための戦いに挺身(ていしん)した。97年、彼の悲劇『ティエステ』が上演され好評を博した。同年、カンポ・フォルミオ条約ののち、やむなくベネチアを去りミラノに移る。ナポレオン軍に従ってイタリア各地を転戦、大尉まで昇進する。ミラノ、フィレンツェを中心にボローニャ、ジェノバと転々としながら、勉学と文芸活動、政治的責務の遂行、報われなかった恋、社交界への出入り等々、浮沈の激しい情熱的な日々を送った。

［古賀弘人］

波瀾の人生

1802年に詩『解放者ボナパルテ賛』を発表、また同年、政治と恋愛をめぐる自らの体験を要約し、心情を吐露した書簡体の小説『ヤーコポ・オルティスの最後の手紙』を刊行し、知識階級の青年層に圧倒的に迎えられた。ついで数々の名ソネットを含む『詩集』（1803）をまとめ、1807年には前年に一気に書き上げた傑作の長詩『墳墓』Dei Sepolcriを上梓(じょうし)した。一時、パビーア大学で修辞学の教鞭(きょうべん)をとったが、革新思想ゆえそうそうに教壇から追われた。12年、結局未完に終わった頌歌(しょうか)『三美神』Le Grazieの草稿に着手、またこのころ、悲劇『アイアーチェ』と『リッチャルダ』を上演したが、不評であった。ナポレオンが倒れてイタリア王国が失墜すると、14年、フォスコロは返り咲いたオーストリア権力への恭順を拒み、スイスへ亡命の途を選び、なおも追われてイギリスへ渡った。そしてロンドンでイタリア文学論の叙述とイタリア語学教師の労働に従ったが、27年9月10日、市郊外のターナム・グリーンで生涯を閉じた。

　人間として、詩人として、時代の壁を打ち破ろうと奮闘したフォスコロの、真摯(しんし)で堅忍不抜な生き方と清新な息吹に満ちたその文学は、マッツィーニらリソルジメント期の革新を志す人々によって模範として称揚され、1871年、彼の遺骸(いがい)はフィレンツェのサンタ・クローチェ聖堂に移された。なお、フォスコロが批評家として斬新(ざんしん)で近代的な直観と判断を備えていたことは、今日『イタリア文学史』として集成されている彼の批評が証明している。

［古賀弘人］

[参照項目] | ヤーコポ・オルティスの最後の手紙

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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