Gregory L. Lucente

Gregory L. Lucente (1948 — June 26, 1997) was an American Romanist. He was a professor of Italian and comparative literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Lucente was born in 1948 in Evanston, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Winnetka, where he attended New Trier High School. 

He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1970. In 1973, he earned a master's degree from Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, and then a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (with a focus in Italian) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1979.

Lucente was an active scholar in various fields, notably Italian literature. Italian cultural studies, and literary theory. Among his professional interests were Provencal and Italian lyric poetry of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 19th- and 20th-century Italian poetry, the development of the Italian novel (18th-20th centuries), and contemporary American and Italian cinema.

In his early career, he taught Italian at Loyola University Chicago and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1988, he became a professor of Italian at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He remained with the University of Michigan until his untimely death in 1997.

He also lectured at the University of Rome and the University of Siena in Italy.

A 1984 recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholars Program Research Fellowship, Lucente also served as chair of various conventions and sessions dealing with Italian literature as well as directing the University of Michigan/University of Wisconsin Spring Program in Florence and organizing several conferences and symposia held at the University of Michigan.

Lucente was the author of several books and articles. A few of his books are:

• Narrative of Realism and Myth: Varga, Lawrence, Faulkner & Pavese (October 1, 1981)
• Beautiful Fables: Self-consciousness in Italian Narrative from Manzoni to Calvino (December 1, 1986)
• Over the mountain Paperback (January 1, 1996)
• Crosspaths in Literary Theory and Criticism: Italy and the United States (August 1, 1997)

Beautiful Fables won the American Association of Italian Studies Presidential Book Award in 1987.

Lucente was married to his wife M. Gloria Lauri-Lucente.

Lucente died in a traffic accident on June 26, 1997. He was 49.