Massimo Bacigalupo (born 1947 in Rapallo, Italy) is an experimental filmmaker, scholar, and translator of poetry, essayist and literary critic. He was a founding member of the Cooperative of Independent Filmmakers in Rome. As a filmmaker of the Italian Independent Cinema (Cinema Indipendente Italiano), he was influenced by the New American Cinema.
Bacigalupo is also a scholar, specializing in Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, W. B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and other American, English and Irish writers, whom he has edited and translated.Peter Makin,”Ideogram, ‘Right Naming’ and the Authoritarian Streak”, in: Zhaoming Qian (ed.), Ezra Pound and China, Ann Arbor, Michigan, (Univ. of Michigan Press) 2003, pp.120-142.Alfredo Giuliani, “Per Confucio eia eia alala”, in: La Repubblica, July 7, 1985, p.17. Stefano Giovanardi refers to the exhibition "Ezra Pound: un poeta a Rapallo," curated by Bacigalupo and praises Bacigalupo’s annotated translation of Pound’s Homage to Sextus Propertius. See A. Giuliani, “Era un simpatico vecchio satiro” [He (Pound) was a dear old satyr], in: La Repubblica, July 7, 1985, p.16. From 1990 to 2007 he was Professor of American Literature at the University of Genoa.Cf. “Bacigalupo, Massimo Andrea”, in: Who’s Who in the World, 10th ed., 1991-1992. Stefano Verdino, "I 70 anni di Bacigalupo, intellettuale a tutto campo", in: Il Secolo XIX, 20 April 2017. He is a member of the Ligurian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Genoa.
Biography Bacigalupo grew up in Rapallo, the son of Giuseppe Bacigalupo and Frieda Bacigalupo (née Natali).“Bacigalupo”, in: Who’s Who in the World, 10th ed., 1991-1992, ibidem, p.49. His parents’ house was a centre of cultural life in Rapallo.“The history of post-war Rapallo is largely a history of the Bacigalupos. No writer who has lived in Rapallo has been able to resist the temptation to write about them.” This is what Geoffrey Bocca writes, in: Réalités, Jan./Feb. 1981 Writers, poets and composers like Robert Lowell, Czeslaw Milosz, Ezra Pound, and Isaiah Berlin met there.Bocca mentions such visitors as “Gerhart Hauptmann, Max Beerbohm, Ezra Pound, Rex Harrison, Isaiah Berlin, the Herberts of Portofino, Alberto Pescetto, Enrico Paulucci” and “the Gish sisters.” See also "Robert Lowell in a New Century", ed. Thomas Austenfeld, New York, Camden House, 2019, pp. 95-104.
Giuseppe Bacigalupo was Pound's doctor.Marcello Ciccuto / Alexandra Zingone (eds.), I segni incrociati: Letteratura Italiana dell 900 e Arte Figurativa. Part 1.Viareggio; Lucca (M. Baroni) 1998 - . - Riewald refers to Giuseppe Bacigalupo as “his Italian doctor”. Cf. J. G.Riewald, Max Beerbohm’s Mischievous Wit: A Literary Entertainment. Assen NL (Van Gorcum) 2000, p.79. Massimo Bacigalupo often encountered Ezra Pound as an adolescent and young man.Guy Davenport’s story titled ‘Ithaca,’ in: Guy Davenport, Da Vinci’s Bicycle. Ten Stories by Guy Davenport, Baltimore (Johns Hopkins University Press) 1979, pp. 114ff. - published first in Arion (Boston), Vol.1, Issue 2, 1973. Knowing Pound at a young age furthered his contacts and later literary exchange with Guy Davenport, Eva Hesse, Olga Rudge, Dorothy Shakespear, Pound’s daughter Mary de Rachewiltz, Donald Davie, James Laughlin and others.
Work
Poetry In Genoa, Bacigalupo helped to initiate the International Poetry Festival in the late 1970s when this event was known as "Poetry in public" (Poesia in pubblico).Massimo Bacigalupo (ed.), Poesia in pubblico: incontro internazionale di poesia; Genova, 21-27 maggio 1979: I testi [=Poetry in public: international poetry encounter: The texts. Genoa, May 21–27, 1979]. Genoa (Comune di Genova, Assessorato alle Attività Culturali) 1979. – The second festival, the following year, was called “Parole per musica”. The organizing committee consisted of “Massimo Bacigalupo, Luciano Berio, Nicola Costa, Edoardo Sanguineti”. See: Massimo Bacigalupo (ed.), "Parole per musica. 2º incontro internazionale di poesia. Genova, Palazzo Ducale 5-11 maggio 1980. Letture, Concerti, Dibattiti. Genova" (Comune di Genova, 1980, p.4. At the time, Bacigalupo motivated poets Denise Levertov and Adrian Mitchell to come to Genoa, .M.Bacigalupo (ed.), Parole per musica. 2º incontro internazionale di poesia; Bacigalupo is still involved in the Genoa poetry festival.Bloomsday, below.
Film Bacigalupo was a founding member of the Cooperative of Independent Filmmakers in Rome. As a filmmaker of the Italian Independent Cinema (Cinema Indipendente Italiano), he was influenced by the New American Cinema. His films have been screened and acquired by the Beaubourg Museum, Paris; the Tate Gallery, London; the Cinémathèque Nationale du Belgique; the Vienna Filmmuseum; the Cineteca Nazionale, Rome, Italy; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Marlborough Gallery, London, and the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf."Bacigalupo, Massimo Andrea", in: Who’s Who in the World, 10th ed., 1991-1992. Wilmette Illinois (Marquis Who's Who, Macmillan Directory Division ) 1990, p.49.
He made his debut in short films with the 1966 Quasi una tangente, which received first prize at the Festival of Montecatini.The film critic Bruno Di Marino writes, "Bacigalupo (…) realizza in 8mm Quasi una tangente, premiato al festival del passo ridotto di Montecatini di quello stesso anno. Girato interamente in soggettiva, dal punto di vista del protagonista, Paul, il film ci mostra la giornata di questo liceale, i suoi incontri, i suoi vagabondaggi, le interferenze dell’immaginario audiovisivo, fino al suicidio con il gas (…)" (B. Di Marino, Sguardo inconscio azione: cinema sperimentale e underground a Roma : 1965-1975. Roma (Lithos) 1999, p.73) He also says, "Nel '66, (…) con Quasi una tangente, vince il festival di Montecatini [In 1966, … with Quasi una tangente, he won at the festival in Montecatini]." (B. Di Marino, ibidem, p.130) – The festival, previously catering to amateurs, was becoming a festival for underground or experimental art films. ("Cineamatorismo verso nuovi impegni (Montecatini)"[=From to cine-amateurism to new commitments (Montecatini )], Bianco e nero, Vol.28, no. 11. "The achievement of Bacigalupo is valued highly"(p.62). The new importance of the festival for experimental cinema is also recognized by Giampaolo Bernagozzi, L'altro occhio (=The other eye). Bologna (Patron Editore)1981. There followed a series of short films, such as 60 metri per il 31 marzo (1968), The last summer (1969), Migrazione (1970).60 metri was shown in at the international film festival dedicated to experimental film in Knokke, together with films by other Italian underground film-makers. See: E. Ungari, “Cinema sperimentale: Knokke festival”, in: Giovane cinema, no.1, 1968. In these films, experimentation with a stream of consciousness approach gave rise to visual phantasmagoria, sometimes inspired by travels and encounters with other cultures (such as the Afghan and Indian or the North American).
Bacigalupo was also actively involved in a so-called "little mag" (Touch, published in Philadelphia, PA and Bochum, Germany). As co-editor of this magazine, Steven Diamant convinced Stan Brakhage, P. Adams Sitney, Ken Kelman, Bob Lamberton, and George Stanley that they should contribute poems or articles about film, which they did.Issue 2, Feb. 1968 included poems by P.Adams Sitney, George Stanley and Steven Diamant. The Spring issue of 1969 included a poetic text about film by Bacigalupo, an interview of Stan Brakhage by P. Adams Sitney, etc. See also Oxford University (UK), library catalogue: http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=OXVU1&docId=oxfaleph017266028 - Touch. - Aleph System Number: 017266028 Bacigalupo contributed a statement, "Toward Film," and motivated a number of Italian underground filmmakers to contribute texts.
In 1970, Bacigalupo translated a programmatic statement of Brakhage, Metaphors of vision into Italian. It was an effort that made the importance he attached to the work of this filmmaker apparent.Stan Brakhage, Metafore della visione e manuale per riprendere e ridare il film. Transl. by Massimo Bacigalupo. Milano (Feltrinelli) 1970. 207pp. (English title: Metaphors on vision.) – The reception of the New America Cinema was a major factor that had contributed to the emergence of the Independent Italian Cinema. Regarding the New America Cinema see: R. Tomasino, “Dal romanticismo del NAC alla critica gestaltica”, in: Filmcritica, no. 181,1967. In 1969, Bacigalupo participated in the 1st European Meeting of Independent Filmmakers in Munich, together with Peter Kubelka, Kurt Kren, Valie Export, Gregory Markopoulos, the Heins, Werner Nekes and Dore O.A special issue of Supervisuell, ed. by D. Schönherr in Zurich, documented the meeting at the time (1969). The library of the German Cinemateque in Berlin holds only a copy of Supervisuell # 1 (published by Zurich Film Forum, 1968).
In addition to creating numerous films, Bacigalupo wrote pieces of film criticism on the underground cinema for such magazines as Filmcritica, Bianco & Nero, and the New York-based journal Film Culture.Most noteworthy is perhaps the special issue of Bianco e Nero, “Il film sperimentale.” It was edited by Massimo Bacigalupo and also contained contributions by him. It appeared in 1974. Although a special issue of this renowned journal, it is also listed as a book (or monographic publication).
In 1973-75 Bacigalupo lived in New York. It was here that he completed the short film Warming Up, which was shown immediately after its completion at the Anthology Film Archives directed by Jonas Mekas. He also shot another short film, Postcard from America (Cartoline dall'America).
After 1975, Massimo Bacigalupo produced numerous videos documenting aspects of the work and life of various artist friends. In 2010, the 28th Turin Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to him and his work.Cf. Renato Venturelli, “Bacigalupo, prof a due volti, Regista cult dell’underground”, in: La Repubblica, Nov.27, 2010, p.23. – Similarly, the film commission of the Province of Apulia noted the “Omaggio a Massimo Bacigalupo al Torino Film Festival (26 novembre – 4 dicembre 2010)”(homage paid to Massimo Bacigalupo at the TFF), see: Apulia Film Commission (Regione Puglia), News, Dec. 2010, p.66. Simultaneously, the Modern Art Museum of Turin, GAM, hosted the exhibition "Apparitions: Images and Texts from the Archive of Massimo Bacigalupo."Cf. Franca Cassine, “Alla GAM: Lettere, immagini e ricordi del ragazzo che girava filmini” (=At the GAM: Letters, images and documents of the young man who made films), in: La Stampa, Dec.3, 2010 (print edition). In 2004 Paolo Brunatto, an experimental filmmaker, included Bacigalupo in a series of twelve portraits for television of fellow film artists, Schegge di Utopia.
Criticism and scholarship In the 1970s in New York City, he met poets like Barbara Guest, Ron Padgett, and Nick Piombino. He also pursued advanced studies at Columbia University in New York, writing a Ph.D. thesis about the post-war Cantos of Ezra Pound.Cf. “BACIGALUPO, MASSIMO ANDREA”, in: Who’s Who in the World, 10th ed., 1991-1992, ibidem.
While still involved in the arts, Bacigalupo is also engaged in a series of studies and translations of American and British authors. For many years, he has concentrated on the work of Ezra Pound, and has also written about other poets, including Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Seamus Heaney, and Louise Glück.