“Sarà il mio congedo dagli studi russi...”. Materiali di russistica nel fondo Renato Poggioli: note preliminari

Abstract

“In these days, with an almost heroic act of will (during a ten-day leave), I have completed an old ‘torso’ of mine that I have wanted to rid myself of for years, as if it were a “specter”. With the forthcoming reissue of my anthology, now entitled ‘Il Fiore del Verso Russo’, this will be my farewell to Russian studies. It is a small volume of 150 pages, and will be published by my publishers in Florence, which I hope to present to you in a few months as a modest token ofhomage. The theme and title are ‘Il Genio della Letteratura Russa’”.This is how Poggioli wrote to Guillén in the 1940s, while still serving in the American army, declaring his intention to leave the field of Russian studies. However, it did not happen; the announced farewell never took place, and Poggioli continued to offer significant contributions to Russian studies, contributions for which there is, as yet, no complete overview. The Fondo Poggioli in Rome is a precious resource for reconstructing Poggioli’s interests and research lines, containing valuable documentation related to projects, translations, and correspondence, some of which are still unpublished. This article offers preliminary description of the archival material related to Russian studies in the Fondo Poggioli in Rome.