Claudio Magris | |
|---|---|
 Claudio Magris in 2009 | |
| Born | 10 April 1939 Trieste, Kingdom of Italy |
| Occupation | Scholar, translator and writer |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | University of Turin |
| Period | 1963–present |
| Notable works | Danubio Microcosmi |
Claudio Magris (Italian pronunciation: [ˈklaudjo ˈmaɡris]; born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996.
Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978.[1]
He is an essayist and columnist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and for other European journals and newspapers. His numerous studies have helped to promote an awareness in Italy of Central European culture and of the literature of the Habsburg Myth, a concept which he coined in 1963.[2]
Magris is a member of several European academies and served as a senator in the Italian Senate from 1994 to 1996.[1]
His first book on the Habsburg Myth in modern Austrian literature rediscovered central European literature. His journalistic writings have been collected in Dietro le parole ("Behind Words", 1978) and Itaca e oltre ("Ithaca and Beyond", 1982). He has written essays on E.T.A. Hoffmann, Henrik Ibsen, Italo Svevo, Robert Musil, Hermann Hesse and Jorge Luis Borges.[3] His novels and theatre productions, many translated into several languages, include Illazioni su una sciabola (1984), Danubio (1986), Stadelmann (1988), Un altro mare (1991), and Microcosmi (1997).
His breakthrough was Danubio (1986), which is a magnum opus.[4] In this book (said by the author to be a "drowned novel"), Magris tracks the course of the Danube from its sources to the sea. The whole trip evolves into a colourful, rich canvas of the multicultural European history.
