On December 20th 2017, my father, Mario Sabattini, passed away. Silently and unexpectedly, he departed.
He was Professor Emeritus at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where he served for more than forty years. He moved to Venice from Rome in 1970, when he was appointed as an assistant professor. Prof. Lionello Lanciotti had opened a position for Chinese Studies just few years earlier. This was the first step in the ambitious plan of having a Department of Sinology in Venice. Mario Sabattini devoted his life to this project, often at the sacrifice of his personal life. In order to accomplish this project, he served as Head of the Institute of Chinese Studies (1979-1991), Director of the Curriculum in Asian Languages and Literatures (1987-1990), Head of the Department of East Asian Studies (1992-1994), Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures (1996-1999), and Pro-Rector (1988-1992 and 2003-2004). From 1979 to 1989, my father served also as Director of Courses in Eastern Languages and Cultures at the Institute for the Middle and Far East (IsMEO) in Rome. In the last years of his career, he was nominated as Cultural Counsellor at Cultural Office of the Italian Embassy in the People’s Republic of China from 1999 to 2003.
Sinological studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in particular, and in Italy, in general, are indebted to him and Prof. Lanciotti. Mario Sabattini was a founding member of the EACS and was a board member from 1975 to 1982, attending most of the meetings from its foundation to the 90’s. He was also a founding member of the AISC (Italian Association for Chinese Studies) and its Secretary General from 1988 to 1999.
My father was gifted with the ability to see ahead of his time. This was the basic reason behind his professional choices, and thus he decided to give priority to his administrative rather than research duties. Nevertheless, he was a great scholar. Studying was his real passion. His talents and curiosity took him to explore new fields, such as the Thai language during his fifties as an autodidact. His courage and attitude towards new enterprises allowed him to establish a course in Thai language at Ca’ Foscari, with the hope of training new students to “pass the baton to.”
Mario Sabattini’s main research interest was Chinese aesthetics. He is primarily known as an international expert on the modern Chinese philosopher Zhu Guangqian (1897-1986), focusing on his contribution in spreading modern European thought and Crocianism in China. He was also a translator of modern literature, especially Yu Dafu, and contemporary poetry.
My father planned to dedicate next year to writing his last work. He wanted to focus his energy on Zhu Guangqian, his first intellectual love.
Mario Sabattini departed with his last work incomplete. He wanted to dedicate it to his three daughters, Laura, Nadia and myself. Life is always a great Master: his daughters are dedicating his last work to his memory.
This volume presents a re-edition, with few changes, of “Chu Kuang-ch’ien and Croce,” which was published in 1993 in Tamkang Review, XXIII, 1-4, pp. 601-626. This first part, which functions as an introduction to the thought of Zhu Guangqian on Benedetto Croce, is followed by an English translation of Zhu’s oeuvre Wenyi xinli xue 文艺心理学 (The Psychology of Art and Literature) – Shanghai, Kaiming shudian, 1936. This translation was published separately in 1984 with the title The Aesthetic Thought of Zhu Guangqian (Rome: IsMEO). My father wanted to rework this translation and publish it with an introductory chapter. My father’s translation will remain unfinished (the last three chapters are missing), and this version, together with my editing, is not what my father had in mind. Nevertheless, we believe that many scholars will benefit from his work, even if it is published posthumously. He believed that younger generations have to surpass their masters in intellectual creativity and activity. Another volume with his revised draft work will follow. In doing so, we want to put his work at the disposal of other scholars.
I want to thank my fathers’ friends who are supporting this project in many different ways: profs. Magda Abbiati, Federico Greselin, Paolo Santangelo, Maurizio Scarpari and Stefania Stafutti.
Jerusalem, July 3rd, 2018
