Claudio Magris (born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996. Life Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978. He is an essayist and columnist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and for other European journals and newspapers. His numerous studies have helped to promote an awareness in Italy of Central European culture and of the literature of the Habsburg Myth, a concept which he coined in 1963. Magris is a member of several European academies and served as senator in the Italian Senate from 1994 to 1996. His first book on the Habsburg Myth in modern Austrian literature rediscovered central European literature. His journalistic writings have been collected in Dietro le parole ("Behind Words", 1978) and Itaca e oltre ("Ithaca and Beyond", 1982). He has written essays on E.T.A. Hoffmann, Henrik Ibsen, Italo Svevo, Robert Musil, Hermann Hesse and Jorge Luis Borges. His novels and theatre productions, many translated into several languages, include Illazioni su una sciabola (1984), Danubio (1986), Stadelmann (1988), Un altro mare (1991), and Microcosmi (1997). His breakthrough was Danubio (1986), which is a magnum opus. In this book (said by the author to be a "drowned novel"), Magris tracks the course of the Danube from its sources to the sea. The whole trip evolves into a colorful, rich canvas of the multicultural European history. Decorations and awards 1980: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class 1987: Bagutta Prize for Danubio 1990: French Award for Best Foreign Book (essays) for Danubio 1992: Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation 1994: Gold Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna 1997: Strega Prize for Microcosmi 2000: Würth Prize for European Literature 2001: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic 2001: Erasmus Prize 2001: Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding (Grand Prize) 2001: Member of the Academy of Arts Berlin 2004: Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 2006: Austrian State Prize for European Literature 2008: Walter Hallstein Prize 2009: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels 2009: Prix Européen de l'Essai Charles Veillon 2009: Prix Jean Monnet European Literature 2009: Vilenica Prize – Slovenian international literature prize for Central European authors 2009: Knight of the Order