Dr Simon West
Lecturer in Italian Studies
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Melbourne). Thesis: ‘È tant’ e dritta e simigliante cosa: Translating Guido Cavalcanti’. Awarded the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize 2004.
- Bachelor of Letters (University of Melbourne).
- Bachelor of Arts (University of Melbourne).
Background and Current Research
Simon West completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne where it was awarded the Chancellor’s Prize in 2004. The thesis examined the medieval Italian poet Guido Cavalcanti and involved producing a series of annotated verse translations in English. A discussion of the translation of poetry was an important part of the work, as was an analysis of the English versions of Ezra Pound and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and identifying strategies and difficulties involved in the process of moving between the medieval Italian of Cavalcanti and nineteenth and twentieth-century English.
In recent years Simon has continued to work in the areas of Italian poetry and translation studies. More specifically, this interest in poetry has been focused in three key areas. Firstly, theoretical and practical aspects of poetry and translation. Secondly, work on Dante and early Italian poetry, particularly Guido Cavalcanti. He is currently finishing a critical edition of Cavalcanti’s poetry translated into English. Thirdly, twentieth century Italian poetry. He has written on Montale and Bigongiari and is currently working on the contemporary Italian poet Andrea Zanzotto.
Simon West is also a widely published poet. His first collection of poetry First Names was published with Puncher and Wattmann in Sydney in 2006. It was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Prize in 2007 and won the William Baylebridge Memorial Prize. In 2004 he held an Australian Young Poets Fellowship.
Areas of Research Interest
- 13th century Italian Poetry
- Dante Studies
- 20th century Italian Poetry
- Translation Studies
- Poetry and Translation
- Comparative Literature
- Creative Writing
Recent Publications
Books
First Names, Puncher and Wattmann, Sydney, 2006.
The Selected Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti: A Critical English Edition, Troubador Publishing, Leicester UK, 2009.
Book Chapters and Journal Articles
‘Translating the Ideal Lady: Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Treatment of Guido Cavalcanti’, The Italianist, 28, 2008, pp. 79-91.
‘“Keep the word translation out of it.” A poem of Andrea Zanzotto in English’, Italian Poetry Review, III, 2008.
‘A World of Poetry in Motion: Some thoughts on Translating Guido Cavalcanti’, in The Emma Grollo Memorial Scholarship: A Commemorative collection of Italian Studies Research at the University of Melbourne 1988-2008, Italian Australian Institute, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, 2008, pp. 221-235.
‘Ezra Pound’s Cavalcanti: Fidelity and the Masculine Spirit‘. Forum Italicum. Vol.39, No.2, Fall 2005, pp.421-440.
‘A Short Lived Enchantment: Some Observations on the Sonnet Exchange between Cavalcanti and Dante’, in The Acts of the Flinders University Dante Conference 2002-2004, Lythrum Press, Adelaide, 2005.
‘A Question of Valore: Translating Cavalcanti and Dante’: Traffic: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Journal, No.3, 2003, pp. 93-109.
‘Guido Cavalcanti: Sonnets’ (translation), Yale Italian Poetry, Volume VII, 2003, pp.72-78>
Poetry
‘The Translation’, The Weekend Australian Review 6-7 Sept. 2008.
‘Anemograms’, Heat Literary Journal, no. 17, 2008, p.80.
‘Figures. Landscape’, Island, no. 114, 2008, p.
‘The Wish’, and ‘Daffodils’ Snorkel no.7, April 2008. http://snorkel.org.au/007/ west.html
‘Andrea Zanzotto ‘La perfezione della neve’ and other poems translated by Simon West’, Italian Poetry Review, III, 2008.
‘Guido Cavalcanti: Sonnets’ (translation), Yale Italian Poetry, Volume VII, 2003, pp.72-78.
‘I giorni della merla’ in The Best Australian Poetry 2006 (UQP); originally in Famous Reporter, No. 3, 2005.
‘Three Poems’ in Five Bells, 3, Winter, 2004.
‘Even a Glance of Recognition’, ‘A Bee’ in My Cat Cannot Have Friends in Australia, Five Island Press, Wollongong, 2004.
Reviews
‘Ausias March, Verse Translations of Thirty Poems’, JILAR Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol.14, 1, 2008, pp.135-138.Current Teaching
- Level 5 and 6 Italian Language and Culture
- ITA3370/4370 Tradire/Tradurre: Italian Literary Translation
- ITA3470 Dante
- Other areas of teaching include Boccaccio, The Modern Italian Novel, Italian poetry.
Contact Details
| Room: | W531 Menzies Building (Building 11), Clayton Campus |
| Phone: | (03) 9905 2212 (international: 61 3 9905 2212) |
| Email: | Simon.West@arts.monash.edu.au |
| Fax: | (03) 9905 5437 (international: 61 3 9905 5437) |
| Mailing Address: | Dr S. West School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics Building 11 Monash University Clayton Australia 3800 |