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).
Areas of Research Interests
- 13th century Italian Poetry
- Dante Studies
- 20th century Italian Poetry
- Translation Studies
- Poetry and Translation
- Comparative Literature
- Creative Writing
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. Thirdly, twentieth century Italian poetry, he has published work on poets including Montale and Bigongiari and 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.
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
‘Depth of Field’ in Time with the Sky. The Newcastle Poetry Prize 2010.
‘Three Poems’ in Blast No.10 Poetry and Critical Writing, May 2010.
‘Blackwood’, ‘To wake in someone else’s dream’, ‘The Mirror’, in Mascara Literary Review, Nov. 2009.
‘Flight’ and ‘The Translation’ in The Puncher and Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry, ed. John Leonard, Sydney, 2009.
‘Marnpi Rockhole’, in ecopoetics no. 6/7 2006-2009.
‘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
‘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.
Other Translations
‘Andrea Zanzotto ‘La perfezione della neve’ and other poems translated by Simon West’, Italian Poetry Review, III, 2008.
‘Guido Cavalcanti: Sonnets’, Yale Italian Poetry, Volume VII, 2003, pp.72-78.
Reviews and Other Publications
‘Chaotic Cities: Street Fight in Naples by Peter Robb’, The Weekend Australian, 27th November 2010.
‘Infinite possibilities: Southerly Vol. 70, no. 1, Golden Tongues: The Arts of Translation’, Australian Book Review, September 2010, p. 66.
‘Bastard genre: Why Translation Matters, by Edith Grossman’, Australian Book Review, July-August 2010, p. 28.
‘Curious Cuisine. Why Italians Love to Talk About Food by Elena Kostioukovitch’ in The Weekend Australian, 5th December 2009.
‘The Australian Association for Literary Translation’ in Five Bells, Australian Poetry, Vol. 16 no.4 Spring 2009.
‘Kinsella’s Magica Pudding: Divine Comedy. Journeys Through a Regional Geography’, in Blast Poetry and Critical Writing No.10, Spring 2009.
‘Ausias March, Verse Translations of Thirty Poems’, JILAR Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol.14, 1, 2008, pp.135-138.
Recent Presentations
‘Some Thoughts on the Place of Translation in Contemporary Australian Poetry’, The Sydney Symposium on Literary Translation, 1-2 October 2010, The Writing and Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney.
Awards
2010 Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship
2007 Shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
2007 William Baylebridge Memorial Prize
2007 FAW Anne Elder Award Commended
2004 Chancellor’s Prize – University of Melbourne
2004 Australian Young Poets Fellowship – Australian Poets Union
2002 Emma Grollo Memorial Scholarship – University of Melbourne
2001 H. B. Higgins Scholarship for Poetry – University of Melbourne
Contact Details
simon.west@monash.edu
simonwestpoetry.com