author
Francis Henry Cliffe
1860–1907
Remembered for bringing Italian literature to English-language readers, this Irish-born writer and scholar moved between fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. His work on Leopardi and his survey of Italian letters still stand out as his best-known contributions.
1 Audiobook
A manual of Italian literature
by Francis Henry Cliffe
About the author
Born in Wexford, Ireland, on January 16, 1860, Francis Henry Cliffe was an Irish writer, poet, novelist, and literary scholar. He is especially associated with Italian literature, and his published work shows a strong interest in introducing major Italian writers to English readers.
Among his best-known books are A Manual of Italian Literature and work connected with Giacomo Leopardi, including The Poems of Leopardi. Records of his publications also show that he wrote fiction as well as literary studies, suggesting a career that ranged across several genres rather than staying in a single field.
Cliffe died in 1907. Although he is not widely known today, he remains of interest to readers of Victorian-era writing and to anyone curious about the English-language reception of Italian literature in the late nineteenth century.