Theodore Ell

BA (Languages)(Hons)
Sessional lecturer and PhD Candidate


Theodore Ell gained a BA (Languages) with First Class Honours in Italian Studies at the University of Sydney in 2006. His thesis discussed the similarity of Elsa Morante's novel La storia and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Petrolio, a connection which seemed to have been overlooked. Since then he has turned from prose to poetry, conducting research for a PhD on Rogo (1944-1952), a collection of sixty-five poems by the contemporary Florentine Piero Bigongiari (1914-1997). In his thesis he traces the development of poetic motifs, believing them to be Bigongiari's way of restoring calm and balance to his intellectual life after the catastrophes of Second World War.

Theodore spent six months at the Università di Bologna in 2005-6 and in 2008 will spend six months in Florence to conduct research for his PhD. In 2006 he was one of ten winners of the Italian Government Writing Prize as part of the Sesta Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo. He has wide interests in writing of all kinds and from all cultures, ancient and modern.