It is tempting to see Marguerite Caetani (Marguerite Gibert Caetani, Princess of Bassiano, Duchess of Sermoneta, 1880–1963) as a character in a Henry James novel, but the similitudes (New England upper class, residence in France and Italy, marriage to an Italian aristocrat, etc.) are largely overshadowed by her achievement (unusual for a woman of her status and her time) as sponsor of two important international literary journals: Commerce (1924–32), directed in Paris by Paul Valéry, Léon-Paul Fargue and Valery Larbaud, and Botteghe Oscure, which the Princess founded, edited, published, and financed from her Roman palace between 1948 and 1960. Unlike Commerce, whose non-French contributions were translated, Botteghe Oscure adopted the innovative approach of publishing poetry and prose in the main Western languages (English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish) without a translation (with some exceptions), alongside French or English translations of texts in other languages (e.g., ancient and modern...

You do not currently have access to this content.