Luigi Monga, professor of French and Italian, who combined his training
as a classicist and his scholarship of Renaissance literature to become
an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of early-modern
travel writing, died July 10 at Vanderbilt Hospital. He had been
hospitalized since suffering a stroke July 7.
Author of well over 17 books, 70 articles and numerous translations,
Monga was a favorite among students during his 28 years at Vanderbilt.
He kept in touch with many of them years after their graduation and
inspired his classes with a love of language, literature and an
appreciation of what it means to be a member of the global community.
"The study of foreign culture is one of the most important elements in
the education of a modern American," he said in a 1996 interview with
Vanderbilt Magazine. "It opens our horizons and makes us, as Dante
says, ‘citizens of the world.’ Ö The study of another culture has many
components: the academic, the practical and, most marvelous of all, the
human component."
He taught undergraduate and graduate students in French and Italian,
and advised doctoral students in several departments. He served
as acting chair of the Department of French and Italian in 1995 and
assistant to the dean of the College of Arts and Science and director
of overseas study from 1995 to 1997. Monga also taught a
popular course on Italian cinema for the Retirement Learning at
Vanderbilt program and led Vanderbilt Alumni Travel programs to Italy
on several occasions.
Born in Milan, Italy, in 1941, Monga was fluent in English, French,
Italian, Spanish, and was very knowledgeable of classical Greek and
Latin. After studying in Italy, he taught in England and in
Chad. In the late 1960s, he came to the United States, where he
earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at
Buffalo. He came to Vanderbilt in 1976 and, in addition to his
appointment in French and Italian, was considered an honorary member of
the Department of Spanish and Portuguese because of his expertise in
this area.
Combining his passion for travel with his research on early-modern
literature and culture, Monga’s scholarship focused on the written
records of the often arduous journeys of 16th and 17th century
Europeans at of all levels of society. Beginning in the 1980s, Monga
was one of the first Italianists in North America to recognize travel
literature as a viable field for scholarship. He coined the term
"hodoeporics" to describe this emerging field: hodos, from the
Greek "a way, a path," and poreuo, "to travel." "His dream was to have
the word added to the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary,"
said Carmine DiBiase, associate professor of literature at Jacksonville
State University. Monga’s most recent book, The Journal of
Aurelio Scetti: A Florentine Galley Slave at Lepanto (1565-1577),
was published this summer by the Arizona State University Press and is
an English translation, with an extensive introduction and commentary,
of the galley slave’s journal and drawings made while traveling under
the Grand Duke of Tuscany and during the Battle of Lepanto. Monga had
previously edited and published the Italian original, which he titled
Galee toscane e corsari barbareschi (Fornacette, Pisa: 1999).
He collaborated extensively with many colleagues in North America and
Europe. For many years he was the associate editor of the yearly
monographic journal Annali d’italianistica, for which he edited two
impressive volumes on travel literature, one in 1996 and a second one
in 2003. Because of his love for Italian studies, he co-founded and
co-edited a series of publications , Studi & Testi, of which six
volumes have appeared thus far. He left behind a seventh volume, fully
edited but not yet published.
Dino Cervigni, professor of Italian at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill and a longtime friend of and collaborator with him in
countless projects, said Monga not only made friends everywhere he went
because of his personal warmth, generosity, and exuberance, but he also
was considered "one of the foremost Italianists in North America and
certainly the expert par excellence in travel literature." He added,
"Luigi will be missed by all his colleagues in Italian studies all over
the world. And I have lost my dearest colleague."
Both inside and outside academic circles, Monga is fondly remembered
for his warm, gregarious personality. "All of us in Furman Hall, and
especially those of us in French and Italian, will miss hearing Luigi’s
robust voice as he walked into the office. With his passing, an
exuberant and hearty laugh went out of our lives," said Virginia Scott,
chair of the Department of French and Italian.
Although his scholarly pursuits were impressive, what set him above
others, said graduate student Lisa Travis, was his interest in his
students. "He cared about his students, he encouraged them and helped
them with their lives."
Travis, who studied Italian and French under Monga, both as an
undergraduate and graduate student, said, "He was the kind of professor
who is best described with a French expression. He had a joie de vivre.
That’s the way he lived ñ joyful, smiling, laughing.
Travis said Monga provided her with a guide for life. "If I could live
with half the joy, the caring, the enthusiasm he had, I would be a
success, I would be happy with myself."
Monga shared that same warmth with colleagues. DiBiase, the
Jacksonville State University professor, first connected with Monga in
2001 when DiBiase was planning a conference on travel literature.
Though Monga was unable to participate in the conference, the two
professors began corresponding regularly, and Monga invited DiBiase to
contribute an essay to a follow-up volume to Monga’s 1996 publication,
Hodoeporics/On Travel and Literature. They finally met in person last
summer when Luigi welcomed DiBiase and his wife into his home for a
visit that included plenty of food, wine and conversation ñ mostly in
Italian. "To meet Luigi was like meeting a long lost member of the
family," DiBiase said. "We became very, very good friends in a
short time. I had looked forward to many years of working together."
Monga is survived by his wife, Mary; his daughter, Francesca; and two
brothers, Angelo and Giuseppe. A funeral Mass was held July 14.
During the Mass, his wife referred to Monga’s erudition and gift for
crossword puzzles and told those in attendance, "If you ever need a
five-letter word for gusto, just try Luigi."