Thomas G. Bergin
Thomas G. Bergin | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas Goddard Bergin November 17, 1904 New Haven, Connecticut |
Died | October 30, 1987 Madison, Connecticut | (aged 82)
Occupation |
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Alma mater | La Divina Commedia translation |
Notable awards | Order of the British Empire, Bronze Star |
Spouse | Florence Bullen |
Thomas Goddard Bergin
Author, translator, editor
He is recognized as an authority on
Among his translations are
He published scholarly texts and monographs on authors and the literature of renaissance Italy, France, Spain and Provençal. His biography of the Italian author Boccaccio (1981) was considered a “notable book” of the year by the New York Times, and was a finalist in 1981 for the National Book Critics Circle Award.[11]
He edited The Taming of the Shrew for The Yale Shakespeare, and states in the introduction that his “basic principle was fidelity to the text” of the First Folio of 1623. This in part involved restoring many original wordings and punctuation that long editorial tradition had permitted to be altered.[12]
He was prolific; the bibliography of his works in Italian Literature: Roots and Branches (1976), lists thirty-seven books, fifteen contributions to books, fifty articles in periodicals, and almost 500 book reviews.[13]
His book Dante (1965) was published during the 700th anniversary year of the birth of the Italian poet,[2] a busy year for Bergin, during which he created a conference at Yale on Dante, he was the editor of the conference papers, which were published in book form as From Time to Eternity,[1] and he travelled extensively lecturing on Dante.
Julius A. Molinaro, writing in "Forum Italicum", the journal of Italian studies, states that there must be few "who are not acquainted with some aspect of his work, for it touches many fields ranging ... from the Provencal
The Divine Comedy
Thomas G. Bergin writes that The Divine Comedy "is everything: a personal confession, a vast love lyric, an encyclopedia of the knowledge of the Middle Ages ... and of course quite simply an absorbing narrative."[16] The Divine Comedy is made up of 14,233 lines, divided into three parts; Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.[17] Thomas G. Bergin's English translation casts Dante's poem into blank verse.[18] It begins with these lines:
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita |
Midway along the journey of our life |
—Inferno Canto I, lines 1-6 | —Translated by Thomas G. Bergin |
Yale
The chapter written by Bergin in the book, My Harvard, My Yale, recounts how from an early age, he had a deep and abiding appreciation for
Thomas G. Bergin wanted to make his mark at Yale, and recognized that academic achievement was a way open to him. He describes how he "came to enjoy learning" and by his senior year, he says, "it became for me an unadulterated rapture".[21]
At this point—twenty years old and approaching graduation— an opportunity was presented to him, that would be his life's journey, and it would begin with a required sojourn in Florence, Dante's home. But there was a parental figure who was determined to prevent him from taking this first step. The story of his escape from home, up until the gangplanks are drawn up and the ship sets sail, as he relates it in the essay, "Endings and Beginnings", is a tale of suspense.[22]
He earned his B.A. from Yale in 1925, traveled to Italy to study and live, and then returned to Yale to earn a Ph.D. in romance languages in 1929.[2] He taught at Yale College as a teacher of Italian from 1925 until 1930. In 1949, he became head of Yale's Spanish and Italian Department, and the Benjamin Barge Professor of Romance Languages and Literature.
When Bergin returned to Yale after the war, he "could see at once how greatly the college system had improved life under the elms." The college system that was introduced in the 1930s had the effect of solving the problem of social stratification by stirring up the social order and getting students from all backgrounds and experiences to live, study and be together—a richer social life became available to everyone. Another result was that the system of fraternities diminished.[21] Thomas G. Bergin was appointed master of Timothy Dwight College in 1953.[2] As Master, he presided over a community of young scholars who lived in the college.
As Master, he also hosted The Timothy Dwight Chubb Fellowship visits of notable people from various walks of life, including the
When the visit by the conservative Californian candidate, Ronald Reagan, was announced, it stirred up controversy in the political atmosphere of 1967[24]— there were those who wanted the invitation withdrawn.[25]
Bergin had a reputation as an impressive speaker with a striking wit. In 1957 he became the Sterling Professor of Romance Languages and Literature, and when he retired in 1973 he became Sterling Professor Emeritus.[2]
He was an unofficial historian of Yale in his book on Yale football, Gridiron Glory (1978),[2] and in his column, "Time and Change", which was published regularly for twenty years in the Yale Alumni Magazine. He wrote of the Harvard/Yale football rivalry in his book The Game (1984).
In 1989, Yale established the Thomas Bergin scholarships for Italian majors, and the dining room of Timothy Dwight College was named in his honor.
During the war, Major Bergin was assigned to the headquarters of the World War II
He was stationed in the hills that overlooked the Bay of Naples and the Isle of Capri where the sun would set every night. It was a time when the allied forces had arrived and were battling the enemy, from hill to hill, from the south to the north, leaving behind a bruised and traumatized country. His wartime experiences are expressed in verse in his book, Parco Grifeo.[29]
Poet
The New York Times referred to him as “a renowned Dante scholar and a wry poet in his own right”.[3] His poems are published in books, magazines and quarterlies.
His poem, "Space Prober", became, on November 15, 1961, the first poem sent to orbit in outer space. The poem was inscribed on an instrument panel, and launched on a Transit Research and Attitude Control (TRAAC) Satellite,[30] where it continues to orbit the Earth at an altitude of 600 miles, and is expected to continue orbiting for the next 800 years.[4][5]
Personal life
Thomas G. Bergin, or "TGB" as he was sometimes known, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 17, 1904,[2] a child of Thomas Joseph Bergin and Irvinea Jane Frances Goddard Bergin. Thomas Joseph Bergin graduated from Yale in 1896. Thomas G. Bergin attended New Haven High School, and then Yale, where he received a B.A. in 1925 and a Ph.D. in romance languages in 1929. He married Florence Bullen of Wallasey, England on December 30, 1929.[1]
He taught at Yale College from 1925 until 1930, and was a professor of Spanish and Italian at Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University from 1930 to 1935. He then moved to Albany and taught romance languages at the New York State Teachers College.
He then went on to Cornell University from 1941 to 1948 where he was a professor of romance languages.
In 1943, he received an appointment to teach at the United States School of Military Government at Charlottesville, Virginia.[1]
Thomas G. Bergin died on October 30, 1987, age 82, at home in Madison, Connecticut.[2] He was survived by his wife, who has since died; two daughters, Winifred Hart, of Lexington, Virginia and Jennifer von Mayrhauser of New York; six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Honors
Thomas G. Bergin's honors include the Dante and Petrarch Medals, the Yale Medal, the
He was a member of the American Association of Teachers of Italian (president in 1947), the Medieval Academy of America, the Dante Society of America, the American Association of University Professors (president of the Yale chapter from 1951 to 1952), and PEN International.[1]
Books
- Giovanni Verga (1931)
- Modern Italian Short Stories (1938), editor
- Luciano Zuccoli: ritratto umbertino (1940)
- Anthology of the Provençal Troubadours (1973), editor, with Raymond Thompson Hill
- Three French Plays (1941), editor with R.T. Hill
- Spanish Grammar (1943) textbook with G. Dale
- The Autobiography of Giambattista Vico, by Vico (1944), translator with Max Fisch
- Parco Grifeo (1946), verse wartime writings
- The Prince, Machiavelli (1947), translator and editor
- Dante's "Inferno" (1948) translator
- Dante's "Purgatorio" (1953) translator
- Dante's "Paradiso" (1954) translator
- Divine Comedy (1955) translator
- The Poems of William of Poitou (1955), translator
- Yale Shakespeare The Complete Works, The Taming of the Shrew (1954) editor
- The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri (1955), translator and editor
- Translations from Petrarch (1955), editor, and translator with others
- Procul Este a Gramine (1960)
- Almanac for Academics (1960)
- The New Science of Giambattista Vico, by Vico (1961), translator with Max Fisch
- Bertran de Born (1964) translator, editor
- Master Pieces (1964) edited by A. Bartlett Giamatti
- Italian Sampler (1964) translator, editor
- Dante (1965)
- Approach to Dante (1965)
- The Sonnets of Petrarch (1965) translator, editor
- Concordance to the Divine Comedy (1965) editor with E. H. Wilkins, et al
- Sonnets and Odes of Petrarch (1966) translator, editor
- Perspective on the Divine Comedy (1967)
- From Time to Eternity (1967) editor
- A Diversity of Dante (1969)
- The Divine Comedy (1969) translator, rev. trans.
- Dante: His Life, His Times, His Works (1970) translator, editor
- Cervantes: His Life, His Times, His Works (1970) translator, editor
- Petrarch (1970)
- Dante's Divine Comedy (1971)
- On Sepulchres (1971), translator and editor
- Anthology of the Provençal Troubadours (1973), editor, along with Raymond Thompson Hill
- Bucolicum Carmen, by Petrarch (1974), translator and editor
- Italian Literature, Roots and Branches (1976) ed. Kenneth Atchity Giose Rimanelli
- Africa (1977) translator with Alice S. Wilson
- Gridiron Glory (1978)
- Boccaccio (1981)
- My Harvard My Yale (1982) ed. Diana Dubois, TGB contributing author
- Under Scorpio (1982)
- Yale's Residential Colleges; the First Fifty Years (1982)
- The Game: The Harvard-Yale Football Rivalry, 1875-1983 (1984)
- Old Provençal Primer (1984) co-author with Nathaniel B. Smith
- Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (1987) co-author with Jennifer Speake
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Thomas Goddard Bergin Papers (MS 1629)". Archives at Yale.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Obituary: Thomas G. Bergin, 82, An Authority on Dante". New York Times. November 3, 1987.
- ^ a b "Bergin of Yale Quits as Dwight's Master". New York Times. July 8, 1968.
- ^ a b Giamatti, Bartlett; Swing, Thomas (1964). Master Pieces. Timothy Dwight College Press. p. 162.
- ^ ISBN 9780080568430.
- ^ Poitou, William of (1955). The Poems of William of Poitou. Translated by Bergin, Thomas Goddard. Yale University Press.
- ISBN 9780826263957.
- ^ JSTOR 44806706.
- ISBN 9780141936727.
- ISBN 9780312142520.
- ^ "The National Book Critics Circle Award: 1981 Winners & Finalists". National Book Critics Circle.
- ^ The Yale Shakespeare. Yale University Press. 1954.
- ^ Rimanelli, Giose; Atchity, Kenneth (1976). Italian Literature. Yale University Press. p. 421.
- S2CID 220946132.
- ISBN 9781400856602.
- ^ Bergin, Thomas, G. (1969). A Diversity of Dante. Rutgers University Press.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Le Opere". Dante Online (in Italian).
- ^ Bergin, Thomas G. (1965). Dante. The Orion Press. p. 213.
- ^ Alighieri, Dante. La Divina Commedia di Dante.
- ^ Bergin, Thomas G. (1969). The Divine Comedy. Grossman Publishers. p. 3.
- ^ ISBN 9780394519203.
- JSTOR 27545698.
- ^ "The Chubb Fellowship". Yale University.
- ^ a b Chamberlin, John (December 13, 1967). "Hostile Yale Students Meet Able Foe in Reagan". Milwaulkee Sentinel.
- ^ a b "Buckley Column Lampoons T. D.— Reagan Controversy". Yale Daily News. Vol. 89, no. 48. November 15, 1967. p. 3.
- ISBN 9780471758174.
- ^ a b Buckley, William F. (November 16, 1967). "Reagan Goes To Yale". Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
- ^ The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume 2. Translated by Norton, Charles Eliot. Houghton Mifflin. 1920.
- ^ Bergin, Thomas, G. (1946). Parco Grifeo. Privately published.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "TRAAC". Gunter's Space Pages. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
- ^ "List of Past Wilbur Cross Recipients". Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
- ^ "WO 373/152 - British awards to foreign: to USA (not gazetted)". British National Archive.
- ^ Trabka, Linda M., ed. (March 1984). Fairfield University 1984 Fact Book. Management Information Office.
- ^ "Yale Phi Beta Kappa: DeVane Medalists". Yale College.