Niccolò Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) is one of the most celebrated and complex figures in Italian literary history. He is equally renowned for his prose and poetry, and he has also been championed as one of the greatest patriotic Italians of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His prolific and diverse corpus of work clearly demonstrates his prowess as a novelist, lyric poet, translator, tragedian, literary critic and historian. His literary complexity is trumped only by his complicated and iconic personality that has for centuries intrigued readers and scholars who yearn to discover more about the poet-exile, the patriot, and even the tormented lover.
Foscolo was born on February 6th, 1778, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, which was under Venetian rule at the time. He was the
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Citation: Walsh, Rachel A.. "Ugo Foscolo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1596, accessed 21 November 2024.]