If Cristina Campo is remembered at all outside her native Italy, it is usually because of her involvement with Una Voce, an organisation founded in 1964 to foster the cultural heritage of the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. But there is another side to Campo, who was also a distinguished poet and essayist. Neglected by the mainstream and untranslated into English until now, her work has languished in European literature’s dusty bottom drawer. Part of the reason for this neglect was that she published only two short books of prose in her lifetime: “I have written little,” she once said, “and would like to have written less.” Another reason is that she died young. Born in Bologna in 1923, Campo—or, to use her full name, Vittoria Maria Angelica Marcella Cristina Guerrini—died in Rome a mere 53 years later. We should, therefore, be grateful to NYRB for publishing this wonderful collection of her prose. It has certainly been worth the wait.
Cristina Campo: Cartographer of Sunken Continents
Cristina Campo: Cartographer of Sunken…
Cristina Campo: Cartographer of Sunken Continents
If Cristina Campo is remembered at all outside her native Italy, it is usually because of her involvement with Una Voce, an organisation founded in 1964 to foster the cultural heritage of the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. But there is another side to Campo, who was also a distinguished poet and essayist. Neglected by the mainstream and untranslated into English until now, her work has languished in European literature’s dusty bottom drawer. Part of the reason for this neglect was that she published only two short books of prose in her lifetime: “I have written little,” she once said, “and would like to have written less.” Another reason is that she died young. Born in Bologna in 1923, Campo—or, to use her full name, Vittoria Maria Angelica Marcella Cristina Guerrini—died in Rome a mere 53 years later. We should, therefore, be grateful to NYRB for publishing this wonderful collection of her prose. It has certainly been worth the wait.