Fausto Cercignani (born 21 March 1941 in Milan ) is a philologist , literary critic, poet , anglicist and Germanist Italian.

Tuscan born to parents, Fausto Cercignani studied at Milan , where he received his MA in Foreign Languages and Literature with a dissertation on English in the Age of Shakespeare. His career as a university professor was characterized first by philological interest in the fields of anglicistique and Germanic Studies. In 1983, after teaching at the Universities of Bergamo (1971-1974), Parma (1974-1975) and Pisa (1975-1983), he returned to Milan to continue his activity at the Universit degli Studi, where he has stepped his research on German literature , a field he had cultivated for several years.

The anglicist

Cercignani philological interests are mainly aimed at the history of the English language, including the Elizabethan era. His essays on the pronunciation of English at the time of Shakespeare (published in "Studia Neophilologica", "Franais Studies" and other journals) announce his monograph, Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation, Oxford University Press ( Clarendon Press , 1981) which is considered "the best work currently available" on the subject. Cercignani is frequently cited for puns, rhymes and graphic variants in the latest editions of Shakespeare's works, in most of the works of Shakespeare consultation , and in several publications that relate to issues of language and literature in historical perspective.

The Germanist

As a philologist

Philological interests of Cercignani also go from the beginning to the phonological history of Germanic languages , which he deals - without neglecting other aspects of historical linguistics - in magazines such as "Zeitschrift fr vergleichende Sprachforschung", "Forschungen Indogermanische" , "Journal of Germanic Philology and Franais," "Language", "Beitrge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur" and "The Journal of Indo-European Studies.
Some of his work - for example Early 'umlaut' In The Germanic languages Phenomena, in "Language", 56 / 1, 1980 - are often cited alternative proposals to change the older language (eg the so-called " metaphony by / a / "or" a- Umlaut ").
His remarkable monograph The Consonant of German: Synchrony and Diachrony (Milan, 1979) "offers an original contribution to the German phonology as well as an excellent representation of the prior art."

As a literary critic

Interest Literary Cercignani turn first to the poetry of Karl Krolow , which handles about "Germanischer-Romanische Monatsschrift", "Jahrbuch Literaturwissenschaftliches" and other literary journals (1984-1986). In 1988 he published a monograph which shows the true essence of the novels by Christa Wolf , apart from the ups and downs of personal and political writer (Existenz und Heldentum bei Christa Wolf. "Der Himmel geteilt" und "Kassandra" Wrzburg, Knigshausen & Neumann, 1988).
Many other authors in their care then include: Jens Peter Jacobsen , Georg Trakl , Georg Buchner , Arthur Schnitzler , Wolfgang Goethe , Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Heinrich Wilhelm Wackenroder , Hugo von Hofmannsthal , Rainer Maria Rilke , Alban Berg , ETA Hoffmann , Robert Musil , Novalis , Joseph Roth , Richard Beer-Hofmann , Karl Kraus , Franz Kafka , Thomas Mann , August Stramm , Gerhart Hauptmann , Reinhard Jirgl , Friedrich Schiller ...
Since 1992 he directs, in collaboration with the Forum Austriaco di Cultura in Milano, the international journal "Studia austriaca (ISSN: 1593-2508), the only publication dedicated to Italian culture and literature of Austria to today and yesterday. Since 1994 he also directed "Studia theodisca (ISSN: 1593-2478), which publishes international contributions on the literature of German speaking countries.

The poet

Poetic production of Cercignani is collected in seven books and also includes poems published on "Almanacco dello Specchio", "Anterem" and other journals. In discussing his poetry, the critic Giorgio Barberi Squarotti , professor at the University of Turin , speaks of Orphic poetry, but "hard as steel lucid "and another wrote that the compositions of Cercignani" reach the maximum concentration with an acceleration of thought or feeling that reconstructs the physicality through abstraction . "

Fausto Cercignani took care also of self-translation of poetry.

An adagio

Adagio (2004)

If you talk with shadows,

at least you know who are they

and words, all words,

everything unfold slowly

daubed on the walls,

at dusk.

They do not narrate endless skies

short love like silver clouds,

but sorrowful cities

occurring

heather on music smothered.

And if you speak with them,

you find yourself

Gently rocked by all these notes,

as if the city was really

heather great scores.

Rustling,

at the touch of the breeze,

in the lazy stream of the adagio.

Works (selection)

Anglicistique

• F. Cercignani, Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation, Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 1981.
• F. Cercignani, Franais Rhymes and Pronunciation in the Mid-Seventeenth Century, in "Franais Studies, 56 / 6, 1975, pp. 513-518.
• F. Cercignani, The Development of * / k / and * / sk / in Old Franais, in "Journal of Germanic Philology Franais and" 82 / 3, 1983, pp. 313-323.

Germanic Studies (Philology)

• F. Cercignani, The Consonant of German: Synchrony and Diachrony. Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.
• F. Cercignani, The Development Of The Gothic Shorts / Lax Subsystem, in "Zeitschrift fr vergleichende Sprachforschung", 93 / 2, 1979, pp. 272-278.
• F. Cercignani, Early "Umlaut" Phenomena In The Germanic Languages, in "Language", 56 / 1, 1980, pp. 126-136.
• F. Cercignani, Zum hochdeutschen Konsonantismus. Analyse und Wandel Phonologische phonologischer, in "Beitrge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur," 105 / 1, 1983, pp. 1-13.
• F. Cercignani, The Development Of The Gothic Alphabet and Orthography, in "Indogermanische Forschungen", 93, 1988, pp. 168-185.
• F. Cercignani, Saggi e linguistici filologici. Germanico, gotico, inglese e tedesco, Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 1992.

Germanic Studies (Literature)

Books

• F. Cercignani - Mr. Giordano Lokrantz (edited by), In Danimarca e oltre. Per il centenario di Jens Peter Jacobsen, Milano, Cisalpino, 1987.
• F. Cercignani, Existenz und bei Christa Wolf Heldentum. "Der Himmel geteilt" und "Kassandra", Wrzburg, Knigshausen & Neumann, 1988.
• F. Cercignani, Memoria e Reminiscenza. Nietzsche, Bchner, Hlderlin ei poemetti in prosa di Trakl, Torino, Genesi Editrice, 1989.
• F. Cercignani (edited by), Studia trakliana. Georg Trakl 1887-1987, Milano, Cisalpino, 1989.
• F. Cercignani (edited by), Studia bchneriana. Georg Buchner 1988, Milano, Cisalpino, 1990.
• F. Cercignani (edited by), Studia schnitzleriana, Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 1991.
• F. Cercignani - E. Mariano (edited by), Vincenzo Errante. La traduzione poesia di ieri e oggi, Milano, Cisalpino, 1993.
• F. Cercignani (edited by), Novalis, Milano, CUE m, 2002.

Articles

• F. Cercignani, Dunkel Grn und Paradies. Karl Krolow Lyrisches in Anfnger "Hochgelobtes gutes Leben", in "Monatsschrift germanisch-Romanische", 36 / 1, 1986, pp. 59-78.
• F. Cercignani, Zwischen Nichts und irdischem machtlosem Himmel. Karl Krolow "Gedichte" 1948: Enttuschung und Verwirrung, in "Jahrbuch Literaturwissenschaftliches", 27, 1986, pp. 197-217.
• F. Cercignani, The Faust goethiano. Forma e sostanza, in it's "Faust" di Goethe. Antologia critica, edited by F. Cercignani and E. Ganni, Milano, LED, 1993, pp. 21-38.
• F. Cercignani, "Nathan he saggio" e il Settecento tedesco, in "ACME", 47 / 1, 1994, pp. 107-124.
• F. Cercignani, Sul "Wozzeck" di Alban Berg, in Studia austriaca V, Milano, Edizioni Minute, 1997, pp. 169-190.
• F. Cercignani, ETA Hoffmann, Italien und die Musik der Auffassung romantische, in Das Land der Sehnsucht. ETA Hoffmann und Italien, under the leadership of His Majesty Moraldo, Heidelberg, Winter 2002, pp. 191-201.
• F. Cercignani, Per una di rilettura "Salome." It dramma di Oscar Wilde e il libretto di Richard Strauss, in Studia theodisca IX, Milano, CUE m, 2002, pp. 171-192.
• F. Cercignani, Georg Buchner. EMPATHY e prospettivismo, in Il Cacciatore di Silenzi. Studi dedicata a Ferruccio Masini, edited by P. Chiarini, vol. II, Roma, Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanica, 2003, pp. 237-258.
• F. Cercignani, 'Poesia filosofica' o 'filosofia poetica'? (Osservazioni su alcune con Schiller), in La poesia filosofica, edited by A. Costazza, Milano, Cisalpino, 2007, pp. 163-170.
• F. Cercignani, inganno e autoinganno. It Campagnolo di Kafka, in Studia austriaca XVIII, Milano, PGreco, 2010, pp. 51-64.
• F. Cercignani, Hofmannsthal fra teatro e filosofia. Con particolare riguardo a "L'uomo difficult," La filosofia in a teatro, edited by A. Costazza, Milano, Cisalpino, 2010, pp. 369-385.

Poetry

• F. Cercignani, siglato Fiore, Firenze 1988.
• F. Cercignani, Fisicit svanite, Torino 1988 - First Prize for Poetry "Citt di Moncalieri 1989".
• F. Cercignani, Homage to Shakespeare, Ten Poems, introduction by R. Mussapi, in "Almanacco dello Specchio", n. 13 (1989).
• F. Cercignani, various texts on "Anterem," nn. 40 (1989), 42 (1991), 44 (1992), 46 (1993) e 47 (1993).
• F. Cercignani, Vene di Trasparenza, Verona 1990.
• F. Cercignani, di Nella Grafia un'ombra, Alessandria 1991.
• F. Cercignani, Pulviscoli rigati, Napoli 1992.
• F. Cercignani, Stelle di brina, Milano 1993.
• F. Cercignani, Reticoli svagati, Milano 1996.

Decorations

sterreichisches Ehrenkreuz fr Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse
( Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and Art. First Class )
Milan , 1996

References

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