Professor of Italian

Antonello Borra is a poet, a translator, and a scholar. He received his Laurea in Lingue e letterature straniere moderne (English and Spanish) from the Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy, in 1988, and both his M.A. (1993) and his Ph.D. (1998) in Italian Studies from Brown University.
 
His most recent scholarly book is Guittone d’Arezzo. Selected Poems and Prose, University of Toronto Press, 2017. He regularly contributes poems, translations, and critical articles to several journals and magazines both in Italy and the United States. His poems have been translated into English, Catalan, and German.
 
Languages spoken:
Italian (native speaker)
English (near native fluency)
French (fluent)
Spanish (fluent)
German (reasonably fluent)
Catalan (reading knowledge)
Old Provençal (reading knowledge)
Latin (reading knowledge)
Ancient Greek (basic reading knowledge)
 

Research and/or Creative Works

Recent Conference Papers

“Piedmontese Poetry Today: Preliminaries to an Anthological Collection” presented at the convention of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, May 25-28, 2022, Lucca, Italy.

“Echi di Guittone” presented at the Congresso Dantesco Internazionale / International Dante Congress, Alma Dante 2021, September 15-18, 2021, Ravenna, Italy.

“In the Tradition of Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica? UVM Ms. 2” presented at Interpreting the Handwritten Book: Medieval Manuscripts at UVM, November 9, 2019, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT.

“Sulla poesia di Giorgio Bárberi Squarotti” presented at the convention of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, June 20-23, 2018, Palermo, Italy.

“In coda al centenario gozzaniano. Rileggere le Epistole entomologiche” presented at the convention of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, June 28-July 3, 2017 Palermo, Italy.

“Notes on Gozzano’s Entomological Epistles: ‘Imitare le farfalle al volo’” presented at the Gozzano Conference, October 1, 2016 Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY.

“Consapevolezza ambientale nella poesia italiana di oggi” presented at the convention of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, June 22-25, 2016 Naples, Italy.

“Raboni, oggi” presented at the annual convention of the American Association of Italian Studies, June 22-25, 2015 Siena, Italy.

 “Guittone all’Inferno?” presented at the annual convention of the American Association of Italian Studies, May 22- 25, 2014, Zurich, Switzerland.

 

Publications

Books 

Criticism and translations

 J. Hoesle, Album aus/da Dietenbronn, Kern Verlag, Regensburg, 2019.

Guittone d’Arezzo. Selected Poems and Prose, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2017.

J. Hoesle, E adesso? (translated with Carla Gronda), Meridiano Zero, Padova, 2006.

J. Hoesle, Prima di tutti i secoli, (translated with Adriana Borra), Meridiano Zero, Padova, 2003.

Guittone d'Arezzo e le maschere del poeta. La lirica cortese tra ironia e palinodia, Longo Editore, Ravenna, 2000.

 

Language and culture pedagogy

Trame. A Contemporary Italian Reader (co-authored with Cristina Abbona-Sneider and Cristina Pausini), Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2009.

Italian Through Film: The Classics (co-authored with Cristina Pausini), Yale University Press,

New Haven and London, 2006.

Italian Through Film. A Text for Italian Courses, (co-authored with Cristina Pausini), Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2003.

 

Poetry

Fabbrica delle idee / Factory of ideas, Fomite Press, Burlington, 2019.

AlphabeTiere / Alfabestiario (Translated by Adriana Borra and Barbara Krohn), Kern Verlag, Regensburg, 2015.

Alfabestiario, Fomite Press, Burlington, 2013.

Alphabetabestiario, Fomite Press, Burlington, 2011.

Alfabestiario, Lietocolle, Parè (Como), 2009.

Frammenti di tormenti (seconda parte), Lietocolle, Parè (Como), 2006.

Frammenti di tormenti (prima parte), Longo Editore, Ravenna, 2000.

 

Refereed Articles 

“Echi di Guittone in Paradiso” in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian, Volume 98, Number 4, Winter 2021, pp. 904-923.

 “Qualche considerazione sulla poesia di Roberto Rossi Precerutti” in Studi italiani, XXXIII, n. 2 2021, pp. 89-94.

 “I modi e le forme del paesaggio delle Langhe nella poesia di Giorgio Bárberi Squarotti” in Campi Immaginabili, n. 60/61, 2019, pp. 333-339.

 “Saving the Wor(l)d: Environmentalism in Contemporary Italian Poetry” in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 56, Autumn 2019, pp. 41-49.

 “Consapevolezza ambientale nella poesia italiana contemporanea” in Studi in onore di Gino Tellini a cura di Simone Magherini. Società editrice fiorentina, Firenze, 2018, pp. 1019-1028.

  “Preliminari a una rilettura delle Epistole Entomologiche” in Forum Italicum, Volume 52(I), 2018, pp. 49-62.

  “Paesaggi del silenzio con figura”: note sulla recente poesia di Camillo Pennati” in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian,Volume 93, Number 4, Winter 2016, pp. 740-747.

  “Guittone all’Inferno?” in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian, Volume, 93, Number 1, Spring 2016, pp. 23-36.

 “Cinema e poesia: appunti su una scena da La stanza del figlio”, in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian, Volume, 91, Number 3, Fall 2014, pp. 400-406.

  “Poesia e democrazia: il caso dell’ultimo Raboni”, in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian, Volume 88, Number 4, Fall 2011, pp. 621-627.

 “Roman Piazzas: Civic Poetry in a Text by Patrizia Cavalli”, in Annali d’Italianistica Capital City: Rome 1870-2010, vol. 28, 2010, pp. 403-408.

 “Some Remarks on Piedmontese Proverbs”, in The Proverbial “Pied Piper”, Kevin S. McKenna (ed.), Peter Lang, New York, 2009, pp. 187-194.

 “La novità della tradizione nella poesia di Patrizia Valduga”, L’anello che non tiene. Journal of Modern Italian Literature, vol. 15, Spring-Fall 2003, pp. 9-15.

 “Fuori dal coro: il caso di Dario Villa (1953-1996)”, in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, nos. 23-24, Fall 2003, pp. 56-67.

 “Scommesse di Cavalli (Riflessioni e Spunti di Lettura)” in Northeast Modern Language Association Italian Studies, Volume XVIII, Selected Proceedings of the Pittsburgh Conference, April 8-9, 1994, pp. 149-156.

  

Recent Book Reviews, Translations of Poems, and Introductory Notes

 Translation of Djuna Barnes, Creatures in an Alphabet, in Nuovi Argomenti, 10, maggio-agosto 2022, pp. 108-115.

 Review of Marco Lettieri. Word and Image in Alfonso d’Aragona’s Manuscript Edition of the Divina Commedia, in Studi italiani, XXXIV, n. 1, gennaio-giugno 2022, pp. 159-160.

 Review of Giovanni Tesio. Vita dacant e da canté in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian,Volume 98, Number 2, Summer 2021, pp. 466-469.

 Review of Remigio Bertolino. Nìvole da prim / Nuvole di primavera in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian,Volume 97, Number 4, Winter 2020, pp. 946-948.

 Review of Taije Silverman with Marina della Putta Johnson (Ed. and Trans.) Selected Poems of Giovanni Pascoli in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 58, Fall 2020, pp. 232-233.

 Review of Massimo Mori Tai Chi. Poematica del principio in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 56, Autumn 2019, p. 163.

 Review of Giuseppe Gazzola (a cura di). Mallarmé. Versi e prose. Traduzione Italiana di F.T. Marinetti. Seconda stesura inedita in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian,Volume 96, Number 2, Summer 2019, pp. 368-369.

 Review of Giovanni Bussi. Senza colpa in questo inferno. Diario di un sarto di Langa alla Grande Guerra. A cura di Piercarlo Grimaldi in Italica. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Italian,Volume 96, Number 1, Spring 2019, p. 185.

“Un ricordo di Giorgio Bárberi Squarotti poeta” in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 53 Spring 2018, pp. 66-69.

 Review of Carlo Alberto Sitta I generi e il gesto. Annali di poesia totale e L’età del gesto. Catalogo di una generazione in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 53 Spring 2018, pp. 143-44.

 “Poesie di Tobias Roth” in Italian Poetry Review, vol. XII, 2017, pp. 166-181.

 “Nota a L’ultima poesia di Camillo Pennati” in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, 52 Fall 2017, p. 7.

 “Nota a Spostare l’ora” and “Michael Krüger, from Umstellung der Zeit” Introduction and translations in Italian Poetry Review, vol. X-XI, 2015-2016, pp. 179-193.

 

Selected Published Poems

5 poesie da Erbario lapidario in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 59, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2022.

 Autoscatti XXVII: Selene in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 59, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2022.

 Autoscatti XXVI: Elettra in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 58, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2021.

 Autoscatti XXV: Chirone in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 57, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2021.

 8 Cinquine su Torino in L’immaginazione, n. 322, Manni editori, S. Casario di Lecce, 2021.

 11 poems from Erbario in Italian Poetry Review, vol. XV, 2020.

 Autoscatti XXIV: Dedalo in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 56, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2020.

 Profitti e perdite in 05401, 10, Burlington, VT, 2020.

 37 Cinquine su Torino in Crocevia, n. 22 Besa Editrice, Nardò (LE), 2020.

 Proverbial man / Sprichwörtlicher Mensch - Zweisprachiges Gedicht / Bilingual Poem in Living by the Golden Rule. A Festschrift for Wolfgang Mieder. ed. A. Nolte and D. Mahoney, Peter Lang, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2019.

Autoscatti XXI: Atlante in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 53, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2019.

6 Bestie Recenti: L’asino, Il cavallo, Il cinghiale, Il colombo, Il coyote, Il formichiere in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 52, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2018.

 Voto Non Voto / I Vote I Vote Not in 05401 PLUS, October, Burlington, 2016

 Il formichiere, in Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, no. 50, Fall 2016.

 Autoscatti XVII: Europa in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 48, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2016.

 11 Monologhi dei matti in L’immaginazione, n. 293, Manni editori, S. Casario di Lecce, 2016.

 Quattro poesie inedite da Alfabestiario (terza parte) in Ecozon@. European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, Vol. 7, n. 1, Universitad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 2016.

 11 Monologhi dei matti in L’immaginazione, n. 291, Manni editori, S. Casario di Lecce, 2016.

(The texts are mistakenly attributed to Simone Giorgino)

 L’aragosta e La locusta in Poesia, n. 310, Crocetti Editore, Milano, 2015.

 Dal Piemonte al Vermont (Autopresentazione) e Il cinghiale in Studi italiani n.1 2014.

 Il Dodo and Il Kiwi in So Little Time Words and Images for a World in Climate Crisis. Brattleboro: Green Writers Press, 2014.

 Tre monologhi da Fabbrica delle idee. Monologhi dei matti, Gradiva. International Journal of Italian Poetry, no. 46, Fall 2014.

 One madman’s monologue from A factory of ideas in Literary Matters, Volume 5.3, Fall/Winter 2012.

 Autoscatti XII: Sisifo in Steve. Rivista di poesia, n. 42, Edizioni del laboratorio, Modena, 2012.

 7 poems in The WRUV Reader: An Anthology of Vermont Writers, edited by Chris Evans. Burlington, 2012.

 La lucertola in Animali diversi, a cura di E. Guarracino. Busto Arsizio: Nomos, 2011.

 La rondine in The Salon. A Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Issue No. 3, Spring 2011.

 Nuovo Alfabestiario in Nuovi Argomenti, n. 51, luglio-settembre, Mondadori, Milano, 2010.

 Selections from Alfabestiario and Frammenti di tormenti (prima, seconda e terza parte) in In forma di parole, Poeti italiani negli States, Anno trentesimo, numero quarto, 2010.

 

Recent Talks (Invited Speaker)

 Insegnare l'italiano con le autrici di Lingua Madre, in Migranti: Femminile, Plurale - L'italiano e i suoi sconfinamenti, a cura del Concorso letterario nazionale Lingua Madre, Salone del Libro, Torino, Italy, October 14, 2021.

 Percorsi di poesia dall’Italia agli Stati Uniti (e viceversa), Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy, May 5, 2015.

 Patrizia Cavalli (e gli altri), Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, May 6, 2014.

 Adele Sofia in Dacia Maraini’s Buio, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, February 28, 2014.

Awards and Recognition

2022 - Altschuler Course Development Grant in Holocaust Studies

The Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center For Holocaust Studies
University of Vermont

2019-20 - Humanities Fellow

Humanities Center
University of Vermont

1994 - Brown University President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Honorable Mention, Recipient.

Associations and Affiliations

American Association for Italian Studies
American Association of Teachers of Italian
Dante Society of America
Professor Antonello Borra

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Italian poetry, translation, and Italian cinema
 
 

Education

  • Ph.D. Italian Studies, Brown University

CV

PDF icon Antonello Borra CV 2-2024(PDF).pdf

Contact

Email:

antonello.borra@uvm.edu

Phone:
  • (802) 656-3576
Office Location:

517B Waterman

Courses Taught

  • ITAL 1100: Elementary Italian I
  • ITAL 1200: Elementary Italian II
  • ITAL 2100: Intermediate Italian I
  • ITAL 2200: Intermediate Italian II
  • ITAL 3110: Reading and Writing Workshop
  • ITAL 3550: Issues in Italian Culture
  • ITAL 3500: Dante's Comedy
  • ITAL 3520: Early Italian Literature in Context
  • ITAL 3535: Italian Poetry: Love, Etc.
  • ITAL 2990: Intermediate Special Topics: The Holocaust in Italian Literature
  • ITAL 2990: Intermediate Special Topics: The History of Italian Cinema
  • WLIT 2450: Italian Literature in Translation
  • HCOL 1990: Honors College First Year Seminar: The Pursuit of Knowledge
  • HCOL 2000: Honors College Sophomore Seminar: The Worlds of Dante