Edoardo Sanguineti is one of the most influential theorists and writers of the Italian neo-avant-garde. First as a member of the rebellious, anti-traditional group known as the novissimi (newest ones) and later as a leading figure of the iconoclastic "Gruppo '63," he has contributed profoundly to the innovation and deprovincialization of Italian literature. A precocious writer with a strong intellectual background in European art and aesthetics, Sanguineti, especially in his poetry, represents a decisive turning point for postwar Italian literature.

Edoardo Sanguineti was born in Genoa on 9 December 1930 to Giovanni and Giuseppina Cocchi Sanguineti; he spent his formative years in Turin, where, in 1956, he graduated from the local university. His thesis was on Dante. Remaining at the University of Turin, he began his teaching career as a lecturer in Italian literature, later (in 1968) moving to the University of Salerno, where he taught until 1974. He then returned to his...