Manlio Sgalambro (; 9 December 1924 – 6 March 2014) was an Italian philosopher and writer, born in Lentini.
Biography
Philosophical production
Sgalambro did not have certificates or degrees as business cards: how he became a writer of philosophy – whose books are translated into French, German and Spanish – is a mystery that he was not able to explain.
Beginning In 1945 he worked jointly with the review Prisma (directed by Leonardo Grassi): the first writing is Paralipomeni all'irrazionalismo.
In 1947, he matriculated at the University of Catania:
From 1959, along with Sebastiano Addamo, he wrote for the magazine Incidenze (founded by Antonio Corsano). His first article for the journal was Crepuscolo e notte (reprinted in 2011). Meanwhile, he wrote for the journal Tempo presente (directed by Nicola Chiaromonte and Ignazio Silone).
In 1963, at the age of 39, he got married. The income from citrus orchards inherited from his father was no longer sufficient, so he chose to supplement it by undertaking a thesis for a degree and teaching.
In the late 1970s, Sgalambro began to organize his thoughts in systematic work. Then at the age of 55, he sent his first book, La morte del sole, to the editor Adelphi:
In the following years, with the same editor, he published: Trattato dell'empietà, Anatol, Del pensare breve, Dialogo teologico, Dell'indifferenza in materia di società, La consolazione, Trattato dell'età, De mundo pessimo and La conoscenza del peggio e Del delitto.
In the meanwhile, in the early 1990s, with some friends he established a small editorial activity in Catania: De Martinis. On the inside, Sgalambro managed pamphlets, publishing a pair of works (Dialogo sul comunismo and Contro la musica) and printed some operas by Giulio Cesare Vanini and Julien Benda.
Collaboration with Battiato
In 1993, he encountered Franco Battiato, accidentally, during the presentation of a common friend's poetry book. After a few days, Battiato asked him to a meeting to propose to him the libretto for the opus Il cavaliere dell'intelletto about Frederik II of Hohenstaufen:
From 1994 until his death, he collaborated on almost every one of Franco Battiato's projects. For him, he wrote: the libretti of the opera Il cavaliere dell'intelletto, Socrate impazzito, Gli Schopenhauer and Campi magnetici; the lyrics of many pop music albums (L'ombrello e la macchina da cucire, L'imboscata, Gommalacca, Ferro battuto, Dieci stratagemmi, Il vuoto, etc.); the screenplays of the movies Lost Love, Musikanten (about the last years of Beethoven's life) and Niente è come sembra, of the television transmission Bitte keine réclame and of the documentary Auguri don Gesualdo (about Gesualdo Bufalino).
Starting in 1998 he penned song lyrics for Patty Pravo (Emma), Fiorella Mannoia (Il movimento del dare), Carmen Consoli (Marie ti amiamo) and Milva (Non conosco nessun Patrizio).
In 2000, he published the single La mer, containing the cover of the famous song by Charles Trenet.
In 2001, he published the album Fun club, produced by Franco Battiato and Saro Cosentino, containing evergreen songs like La vie en rose (by Édith Piaf) and Moon river (by Henry Mancini), but even the ironic Me gustas tú (by Manu Chao).
In 2007, he lent his voice to the DC-9 airliner in Pippo Pollina's opera Ultimo volo ("Last flight"), about the 1980 loss of Itavia Flight 870 in the Ustica massacre.
In 2009, he published the single La canzone della galassia, containing the cover of The galaxy song (taken from Monty Python's The meaning of life), sung with the Sardinian-English group Mab.