Amato ragazzo/Beloved Boy - Henry James

Amato ragazzo/Beloved Boy - Henry James

Letteratura universale Marsilio - Frecce - Italian Parallel Text

Edited by Rossella Mamoli Zorzi

With Elena di Majo

Paperback, 312 pages

Each volume in this series presents a classic of American literature with a new Italian translation on the facing page, as well as an extensive introduction, information about the text and the author, in-depth annotations, and a complete bibliography, all in Italian.

Already the subject of articles in the International Herald Tribune and the London Times, Beloved Boy is a remarkable collection of letters tracing Henry James's fascination with and enduring devotion to a young Norwegian-American artist. James was already fifty-six when, visiting Rome in 1899, he was introduced to the twenty-seven--year-old Hendrik Andersen. In an uncanny instance of life imitating art, Andersen bore an unmistakable resemblance to the title character of James's 1875 novel Roderick Hudson -- a figure who, like Andersen, was a young sculptor venturing into life as an expatriate in Italy. Although his initial meeting with Andersen was brief, James was deeply moved by the young man. He wrote to Andersen almost immediately after his return to his Sussex home, and remained a faithful correspondent until his own death in 1915.

The two men met on only seven occasions, and never for more than a few days, so their friendship was almost entirely epistolary. The letters assembled here, nearly half of which are previously unpublished, exhibit a voice decidedly more vulnerable than that which we usually associate with James. They also shed new light on the writer's homoerotic leanings, as he approaches Andersen with a passion, as well as a tenderness, typically reserved for a lover.

Even greater than his feelings for Andersen, however, was James's devotion to art. Despite an initially positive opinion, James was forced to reassess Andersen's work, which became increasingly grandiose-- exhibiting "megalomania," as James bluntly diagnosed it. The sculptor's tendency toward monumentality, including plans for a utopian "World City," were at odds with James's commitment to observing reality in all its complexity and imperfection. Despite this, James's affection for his friend never wavered; his letters remained occasions to celebrate the youth and beauty personified for him by Andersen.

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Ciascun volume di questa collana si presenta come una monografia completa composta da un saggio introduttivo, una nuova traduzione con testo a fronte, note informative sull'autore e sull'opera, un commento essenziale, una ricca bibliografia.

Una novità mondiale: le lettere d’amore di James

Henry James (1843-1916), il maturo scrittore che trasforma l’arte del romanzo alle soglie del Novecento; Hendrik Christian Andersen (1872-1940), un giovane scultore che vuole segnare il "nuovo" del secolo con la sua opera. Un uomo sulla sessantina, mondano e solitario, e un ragazzo, bello e vigoroso, si incontrano e la loro corrispondenza è testimonianza di un appassionato intreccio tra arte e vita, tra America ed Europa, tra maturità e giovinezza, tra attrazione fisica e comunanza intellettuale. Tocca al vecchio maestro guidare l’"amato ragazzo", ed Henry James non delude: fra trepidazioni erotiche e sorprendenti metafore, lucidamente espone la discrepanza nell’opera del più giovane artista tra la visione, il desiderio e la loro realizzazione, non cela l’ansia di fronte all’eccesso della grandiosità scultorea, vi intravvede la minaccia dell’"impietrimento" della vita, proprio là dove si vorrebbe celebrarne la festa. Questo epistolario si compone di settantasette lettere, cinquantotto delle quali pubblicate qui per la prima volta nel mondo.