Allen Mandelbaum

2025-04-14T10:35:30Z

2604:2D80:B98A:3F00:5152:556F:2730:DDEA: /* Death and legacy */

{{short description|American writer}}
__NOTOC__
'''Allen Mandelbaum''' (May 4, 1926 – October 27, 2011) was an [[Americans|American]] professor of literature and the humanities, poet, and translator from Classical Greek, Latin and Italian. His translations of classic works gained him numerous awards in Italy and the United States.

==Early life and education==
He was born in [[Albany, New York]] in 1926<ref>
[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/winstonsalem/obituary.aspx?n=allen-mandelbaum&pid=154453899 "Allen Mandelbaum"]. ''Winston-Salem Journal'', November 4 to 6, 2011.</ref> and at age 13 moved with his family to Manhattan. After beginning his higher education at [[Yeshiva University]], he studied English and comparative literature at [[Columbia University]], receiving his master's degree in 1946 and his doctorate in 1951. He then spent 15 years in Italy.<ref name=NYTobit>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/arts/allen-mandelbaum-translator-of-divine-comedy-dies-at-85.html "Allen Mandelbaum, Translator of ''Divine Comedy'', Dies at 85"]. William Grimes. ''The New York Times'', November 5, 2011.</ref>

==Academic career==
He taught English and comparative literature at the [[The Graduate Center, CUNY|Graduate Center of the City University of New York]] from 1966 to 1986 and served as executive officer of the Ph.D. Program in English from 1972 to 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Publications/365%20Fifth%20Newsletter/2012_FEBRUARY_365_FIFTH.pdf |title=Graduate Center Community News {{!}} February 2012 |access-date=2015-05-26 |archive-date=2015-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526065532/https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Publications/365%20Fifth%20Newsletter/2012_FEBRUARY_365_FIFTH.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1989 he was named the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities at [[Wake Forest University]].

==Translations==
His translation of the ''[[Divine Comedy]] of [[Dante Alighieri]]'' appeared between 1980 and 1984; they were published by the [[University of California Press]] and supported by the notable Dante scholar [[Irma Brandeis]]. He subsequently acted as general editor of the ''California Lectura Dantis'', a collection of essays on the ''Comedy''; two volumes, on the ''Inferno'' and ''Purgatorio'', have been published. Mandelbaum received the 1973 [[National Book Award]] in [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Translation|category Translation]] for [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''.<ref name=nba1973>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1973 "National Book Awards – 1973"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2012-03-11. <br/>There was a "Translation" award from 1967 to 1983.</ref> In 2000, Mandelbaum traveled to [[Florence, Italy]], for the 735th anniversary of Dante's birth, and was awarded the Gold Medal of Honor of the City of Florence for his translation of the ''Divine Comedy''. In 2003, he was awarded The Presidential Prize for Translation from the President of Italy, and received Italy's highest award, the Presidential Cross of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity.

==Awards==
* 1973: [[National Book Award]] for translation
* 2000: City of [[Florence]] Gold Medal of Honor
* 2003: Italian Presidential Prize for Translation
* 2003: Italian Presidential Cross of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity
* Order of Merit from the Republic of Italy
* Premio Mondello
* Premio Leonardo
* Premio Biella
* Premio Lerici-Pea
* Premio Montale at the Montale Centenary in Rome
* Circe-Sabaudia Award

==Death and legacy==
He died in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]] in 2011.<ref name=NYTobit /> His nephew was author [[Paul Auster]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-12 |title=Paul Auster obituary: flamboyant writer who mixed autobiography and fiction |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/paul-auster-obituary-death-mf22r5z67 |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

== Published works ==

=== Verse ===
*''Journeyman''
*''Leaves of Absence''
*''Chelmaxioms: the maxims, axioms, maxioms of Chelm'' (1977)
*:''Chelmaxioms'' treats the [[Wise Men of Chelm]] less as fools than as an "echt Chelm" of true scholars who in their narrow specialized knowledge are nonetheless knowledgeable but lacking sense. The poetry of ''Chelmaxioms'' is supposedly coming from the discovered lost manuscripts of the wise men of Chelm.<ref>[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/allen-mandelbaum-2/chelmaxioms-the-maxims-axioms-maxioms-of-chelm/ CHELMAXIOMS: The Maxims, Axioms, Maxioms of Chelm], [[Kirkus Reviews]]</ref>
*:A stanza from ''Chelmaxioms'' was used for the chorus in the 2006 composition "Shofar: an oratorio for soprano, tenor, two bass-baritones, chorus and orchestra" by Catherine Madsen and Robert Stern.<ref>[https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Shofar%3A+an+oratorio+for+soprano,+tenor,+two+bass-baritones,+chorus...-a0152267687 Shofar: an oratorio for soprano, tenor, two bass-baritones, chorus and orchestra.]</ref>
*''A Lied of Letterpress for Moser and McGrath'' (1980)
*''The Savantasse of Montparnasse''

===Translations===
====Classics====
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = The Aeneid of Virgil (rev. 1971)
| publisher = Bantam
| year = 1981
| location = New York
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-553-21041-6}}
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = Homer's Odyssey
| publisher = Bantam
| year = 1991
| location = New York
| pages =
| url = https://archive.org/details/odysseyofhomerba00
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 978-0-553-21399-7
}}
{{further|English translations of Homer#Mandelbaum}}
*''Ovid's Metamorphoses''
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno (1980)
| publisher = Bantam
| year = 1982
| location = New York
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-553-21339-3}}
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Purgatorio (1982)
| publisher = Bantam
| year = 1984
| location = New York
| pages =
| url = https://archive.org/details/purgatorioverse00dant
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-553-21344-X
}}
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Paradiso (1984)
| publisher = Bantam
| year = 1986
| location = New York
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-553-21204-4}}

====Contemporary Italian poetry====
*''The Selected Writings of Salvatore Quasimodo'' (1960)
*{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = Selected poems of Giuseppe Ungaretti
| publisher = Cornell UP
| year = 1975
| location = Ithaca
| pages =
| url = https://archive.org/details/selectedpoemsofg0000unga
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-8014-0850-4
| url-access = registration
}}

===Edited work===
*{{cite book
| last = Mandelbaum
| first = Allen
| authorlink =
|author2=Anthony Oldcorn |author3=Charles Ross
| title = Lectura Dantis: Inferno. A Canto-by-Canto Commentary
| publisher = [[University of California Press]]
| year = 1998
| location = Berkeley
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 978-0-520-21270-1}}
*{{cite book
| last = Mandelbaum
| first = Allen
| authorlink =
|author2=Anthony Oldcorn |author3=Charles Ross
| title = Lectura Dantis: Purgatorio. A Canto-by-Canto Commentary
| publisher = [[University of California Press]]
| year = 2008
| location = Berkeley
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 978-0-520-25056-7}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/5562 Irma Brandeis' defense] of Mandelbaum's translation of the ''Divine Comedy''
*[http://www.wfu.edu/english/faculty/mandelbaum.html Dr. Allen Mandelbaum's Faculty Biography] at [[Wake Forest University]]
*[http://www.worldofdante.org World of Dante] multimedia site which includes Italian text and Mandelbaum's translation of the Divine Comedy, a gallery, music, maps, timeline and searchable database

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandelbaum, Allen}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Albany, New York]]
[[Category:Wake Forest University faculty]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American translators]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Translators of Homer]]
[[Category:Translators of Virgil]]
[[Category:Translators of Dante Alighieri]]
[[Category:Yeshiva University alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]

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Allen Mandelbaum