GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8630, 10 July 1924, Page 8

GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO

I'U'TI'RESQUE HEROH*s king has not forgotten the port Gabriele d'Anminzio, who reaps his reward at first Prince of MonU-nevoso. Wit limit doubt d’Amumzio, whose real name is Gaetano Bapagnetto, is one of the most gifted and many-sided, of Jiving men- It is said of him that | u " is vain and otsomalious, flam- - bovam ami melo-dramatic, and loves extravagant and useless absurdities. The following on the authority of a Neapolitan journal was I he inventory of his wardrobe some 12 years ago: Tweniy-iwc shirrs, 12 dozen seeks of all colours, innumerable hats, evening suits, and ordinary suits, 48 pairs of gloves, 20 dozen hamlkcrciefs, 150 neckties, etc. When he works, ho works prodigiously - and without- interruption. Dressed in a medieval robe, lie labours at his book in his b'ook-lined study three-fourths of the day. On these occasions he lives a liiV of monastic severity, seldom leaving 3iis Florence villa, named “II Vittoriale.” Small and lithe and not particularly healthy to look upon, his high-domed forehead seems to be loftier for the entiiv absence of hair. His eyes are deep-set and flashing, his ears are large, his lips thick, and his nose is like a. molehill. Beneath his theatrical way of doing things, whether it be writing, talking, flying over anti-air runs, or conducting a military affair on his own, there- is an extraordinary sense of realism, a very close contact with hard reality. He is at

once the dreamer and the man of action a very rare combination. This practical capacity is, perhaps the kev to his character. -He has, moreover, an intense vitality which half a century of lull-lived lile ha> ma burnt cut. Even to-day. d Annumdo is capable of feats of physical anil mental endurance which would prostrate an ordinary man. He can keen awake for 48 hours with apparent effort ; he can work for six or seven days in succession. IU and more hours of the hardest mental application. He possesses one of the finest-tempered machines in the world. He loves praise- He love's the flattery of princes and : famous men, and the adulation ot beautiful women. His love affairs have- been many and uniformly unhappy at the last ; so, too, with his friendships. This strange fickleness of the poet extends even to his pet animals. Once he aduivd his sheep doe. Then he had a favourite mane To-day it Is a chattering monkey. In his later phase d’An- ; nunzio has derived his inspiration frern ruin and decay. His name, surrounded with glamour in Ids litetime, will no doubt, pass Into the legends of his beloved Ttalv in time, and will be mine fabled lore. Thit whether it will be his novels. Ills poims. his many loves, or his military exploits that will survive. Is aiuniter matter.