Roberto Calasso Dies Aged 80

 
Hello Gentle Reader,
 
Roberto Calasso was warmly declared a literary institution of one. He was a writer, editor, and publisher; though he is often warmly remembered as one of the most important Italian publishers of modern times, as well as an engrossing and approachable public intellectual. As a writer, Roberto Calasso’s worked concerned the relationship between myth and modern consciousness. A theme he often explored within his works. The Guardian quoted Calasso in their recent obituary: “A life in which the gods are not invited is not worth living. It will be quieter, but there won’t be any stories.” And so, Roberto Calasso worked to invite the gods back from their ancient realms. Roberto Calasso’s life was not quiet, nor small, nor quaint, or minuscule. Calasso’s life was engaged and engulfed with the pyrotechnic intellect, which was generously dispersed. His life was consumed with literature as a pursuit of passion, which was not just a pleasure for the reader to enjoy but provide scholarly support in understanding the anthropological perspective and understanding of human society from primitive state to the modern conscious creature that it is today. A life of intellect was in the pedigree of Roberto Calasso. His father was a legal scholar, his mother a scholar and translator of German literature. His grandfather was a professor of philosophy in Florence; while an uncle was a partisan fighter during the Second World War and became a politician and Minister of Education. The path of public intellectual pursuits was already formed for Roberto Calasso, who pursued the passion without complaint and with great interest, which was infectious in its propagation to others. After completing his doctoral dissertation on Thomas Browne’s theories of hieroglyphs, Calasso went to work for the prestigious Adelphi Edizioni, where he would become the chairman of the organization at the end of the 20^th Century. Throughout his career as both writer and publisher, Roberto Calasso maintained a strong devotion to literature as one of the noblest and highest pursuits of study. His literary oeuvre was maintained strict devotion to studying classical myths as a metaphorical understanding of our primitive germination of consciousness as it leads into our modern thought and its continued evolution; other critical analysis included an astute study of the works of Franz Kafka, among other writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Vladimir Nabokov.  Where other writers, publishers, intellectuals, and professors lamented on the state of literature or critical thinking in today’s world, Calasso never uttered a complaint to the decline, but worked tirelessly to find a new place to build an altar to the legendary greats of literature and inspire the future generations of great writers to come. His publishing style was as eclectic as his life, showing equal interest into all books and literature, not fixated on just classical narratives, but also books that held an important message or contemplated the conundrums of the modern age. Roberto Calasso was a champion of writers both established and still unknown. A successful connoisseur both of literary, intellect, cultural and aesthetic significance, Roberto Calasso will sadly be missed not only in Italy, but also the literary world, which surely quaked and shivered at the news of his passing.
 
Rest in Peace, Roberto Calasso.
 
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
 
M. Mary