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• W4379531715 abstract "above Along the Val diMello near Sondrio, Italy ESSAY Gianni considered living Celati author, Italy's (b. is 1937, best most Sondrio), understood important long as consideredItaly's most important livingauthor, is bestunderstood as themostimportant representative of thesocalledEmilian group. Although itis difficult to encapsulate whattheEmilianwriters have in common beyonda geographical affiliation and sensibility, their workgenerally exhibits a contemplative simplicity that callstomindCaspar David Friedrich's MonkbytheSea , a painting whoserevolutionary condensation ofdistance andproximity foregrounds thehorizon ofmortality prominent inthewriting ofGianni Celati, Ermanno Cavazzoni,DanieleBenati, Ugo Cornia ,PaoloNori,and others. One might aggregatethemundertherubric of thepoeticsof simplicity, a simplicity reflected intheimageof thelonemonk gazing into a hazylandscape and thepotential stories borne ofsuchobservation. Thisis a modeofwriting that participates inthepostmodern whileresisting it,andstands incontrast tothekinds ofnarratives prominent on theinternational literary scene,likedetectivefiction , stories ofmigration and exile,or theelaborate postmodern novel - perhapsone reasonwhyveryfewof theEmilianwriters havebeentranslated intoEnglish. Rather, their simplicity is a formof resistance to technocraticmodernity thatharkens back to earlier literary modes, evoking themodeofstorytelling described as dying outinWalter Benjamin's essay The Storyteller, because experience itself hasfallen invalue.Here,itistheshared experience oflandscape that forms thebasisfor literary communication. Indeed,as Benjamin writes, Thewholecreatedworldspeaksnot so muchwiththehumanvoiceas withwhat couldbe called'thevoiceofNature/ Benjaminopposesthisoriginally oralmode,which transmits wisdom, totheinformation dispatched bymassmedia - oras T.S.Eliotwrote, Where is thewisdomwe havelostinknowledge ?/Where istheknowledge wehavelostin information? Thestories oftheEmilian writers z> oc < < cc O z < o 0 1 Q. 48 1 World Literature Today attempt to recuperate wisdomin a worldof information, with narratives that listen as much asspeak, that reflect anattitude ofreceptiveness totheworld andanattentiveness totheextraordinary intheeveryday. Thusthewriters oftheplains/'as they havebeencalled, arenotmerely observers ofan idyllic natural landscape devoidofhuman intervention ; rather, itis experience oftheenvironment , especially theencounter between nature and industrial development, thatforms these writers' incisive yet enigmatic depictions ofcontemporary life. Theplaininquestion is thePo River Valley, oneofthelargest plainsinEurope andthesiteofmuchofItaly's agricultural productionand manufacturing plants,and two ofits(nowinactive) nuclear plants. Thisis not unfamiliar territory: it'sthebackdrop toLuchino Visconti's Ossessione, theprismatic wasteland of Michelangelo Antonioni's RedDesert, thedreamy dystopia ofFederico Fellini's Voice oftheMoon.ThusDanieleBenati'sSilenzio in Emilia (Silence inEmilia)andErmanno Cavazzoni 'sEsplorazioni sullaViaEmilia (Explorations ontheViaEmilia), for example, alongwiththe photography of Luigi Ghirri (knownforhis metaphysical imagesof theItalianlandscape andhiscollaborative work with Celati), attempt to depictthesublimeand strange qualityof theplains, often through thefantastic. Thatthe landscape comestohavean inexorable psychic charge for thecharacters whoinhabit itinthese verydifferent workssuggests thespanbridgingtheworkofCelatiandCavazzoni , whoare always reacquainting uswith whatwasthought tobefamiliar. This perceptualestrangement generally characterizes Cavazzoni'swork,starting with Voice ofthe Moon, so calledtocorrespond with theFellini film, butwhoseItalian title, Poema dei lunatici (Poemofthelunatics), reflects Cavazzoni 'sinterest in thelatent lunacyrousedby the enigmatic space of the plains.It is the opennessand potentiality of thisspace that engenders thepicaresqueform ofhis novels, where errant protagonists encounter a seriesof strange adventures. Take, for example, hisnovel Cirenaica (Cyrenaica), set in a phantasmatic bassomondo or netherworld, which,much likeDante'sComedy, reflects theworldthrough allegory. All ofitsinhabitants haveendedup there byaccident, orso they think. In thissurrealpurgatory , all thebuildings are decrepit, trainsare scheduledbut neverreallydepart, family relationships arefictions ofconvenience, everyone tries toswindle everyone else,andthe same incomprehensible film - Cirenaica - runs ona loopattheonly cinema. Thenovel, inshort, isa grotesque parody ofcontemporary life. Whilethisisa fantastical worldthat implicatesthereal ,Cavazzoni'sVitebrevi di idioti (Brief livesofidiots)is a realworldthat implicatesthefantastic . Structured as a hagiography ofthesimple, theseshortstories all derive moreor less directly fromnineteenth-centurymedicaltracts and archival materials from insaneasylums. Thatthesearefound stories likens them tothetraditional modeofstorytellinginwhich thenarrator actsas a proxy for the originalstoryteller whose experience providesthematerial forthestory. Here,though, theconceit ofauthenticity isheavily lacedwith irony, fortheoriginal storyteller, theidiot, has a singularly partialperspective, the full meaning ofwhich isdisclosed only inthestory's retelling. In thissense,idiocybecomesnot merely a pretense for comedy butalsoa wayto de-center perception inorder toaccessthetruth inthestrange. Forexample, Cavazzoni'sMemoirsofa Concentration CampSurvivor - inthe manner ofFlann O'Brien's The Poor Mouth - tells thestory ofa manwhodidn't realize that Mauthausenwas so horrible becauselifein Pescarolo ,a tiny townbesetbypoverty andhunger, seemedmuchworse.The simplicity of the simple inVite brevi diidioti, then, becomes a way ofbringing tolight ironies that wouldotherwise remain inthedark. The same deviceof thefoundstory is present in Celati'sVoices from the Plains, which presents itself as a collection oftalesheard walkingthrough thePoValley. Manyofthese stories, as wellas Celati'sother works, havean almost anthropological - orrather, archaeological - focus on place,from a villageinItalytoan invented African landtoLosAngeles, always depicting the adrift within thecontradictory spacesofmodern existence. Hisstory Light Conditions ontheVia Emilia, inAppearances, is a meditation on perception ina landscape blurred byfogandsmog, where peopleliveasifintoxicated byfumeS. This inexorable cloudistheprice ofprogress, which renders itssubjects blindtotheir surroundings. Hencetheendless hustle andbustle oftraffic, thewordthat onewouldnormally expect inthe titular phrase conditions oflight. The stories of the Emilian writers attempt to recuperate wisdom in a world of information, with narratives that listen as much as speak, that reflect an attitude of receptiveness to the world and an attentiveness to the extraordinary in the everyday. Editorial note:To read some of Cavazzoni's brief lives of idiots, seeThe Albanians onpage 54, plus Memoirs of aConcentration Camp Survivor and Star-Crossed Suicides onthe WLT website. July -August 201 1i49 Jamie Richards, currently adoctoral candidate in comparative literature atthe University of Oregon, isthe translator of several literary works from Italian, including Giancarlo Pastore's Jellyfish (2008), Nicolai Lilin's Free Fall (forthcoming in 201 1),and Giovanni Orelli's Walaschek's Dreom (forthcoming in2012). Gianni Celati's oft-cited credo - writing fictions tobelievein - allowsus toconsider this relationship between theincredible andthe everyday. Nowhere is thismoreevident inhis recent works Recita dell'attore Vecchiatto nelteatro di RioSaliceto (Performance of theactorVecwhichis bothspecific toItalyand a reflection ofglobalized modernity. Thesixteenth-century Italianphilosopher and cosmologist Giordano Brunofeatures prominently here.The same linefrom theversesthatopenhisCause, Principle , andUnity beginseachofthefive episodes chiatto at theRioSaliceto Theater)and Sonetti del Badalucco nell'ltalia odierna (Sonnetson the Badalucco in contemporary Italy), wherehe positions himself notas writer but as editor, havingcreated a kindofalterego called Attilio Vecchiatto who is supposedlythewriter of these texts.Both books construct the biography GIANNI CELATI into which thesonnets are divided:umbrarum fluctu terras mergente, orthough theflowofshadowssubmerges theearth ... This is an attitude echoedin Giorgio Agamben's figure of the contemporary, exemplified for himinthe poet Osip Mandelstam, as someoneout of step withhis own timeand thusuniquelypositioned ofVecchiatto (a namethatconnotes old age), whoescapeda Fascist squadron byhappening upona boatheadedforArgentina, wherehe becomes a traveling actorandeventually soars to international fame.He mostoftenstages playsbyCarloGoldoniandShakespeare, havingabsorbed something ofHamlet (being inlove withhismother andnaming hisdaughter Ofelia );hissonnets, written after hisreturn toItaly in 1984, arelikewise Shakespearean. His death is equallyenigmatic and epic:on a trip(one might saypilgrimage) withCelatihimself and Enrico deVivotopoetGiacomo Leopardi's final residence in Naples,he suddenlydisappears and is neverseenagain.His existence is supported bya panoply ofanecdotes andreviews from suchfigures as Susan Sontagand John Berger. However, theepicgrandeur ofhislife story andthehyperbole ofthesepresentations, whichemploy phraseslikewithan authentic testimony from Enrico deVivo, combined with Vecchiatto's Celatianpreoccupations, should cluein thereaderto hisfictional status. That thesemetafictional constructs are fictions to believein is reaffirmed byCelati'sinsistence thatVecchiatto is nota personabutan actual historical person. Thedivision between fiction andtherealbecomes inconsequential. Thecritique ofcontemporary Italyis nestledin thebiographical factthatVecchiatto's worldrenowngoes completely unrecognized uponhisreturn toItaly in1984. ThusVecchiatto begins a sonnet sequence describing hisimpressions of the degradation of Italianculture, toobserve it.He turns toanastral metaphor to describe thisfigure, defining thecontemporary as a kindofstargazer: [Being a contemporary] meansbeingable notonlyto firmly fixyour gaze on thedarkness of theepoch,but also toperceive in thisdarkness a light that, while directed towardus, infinitely distancesitself from us. In thissense,Celatipresents himself asa contemporary, aswasBruno, yet onewhose ideaswereunwelcome inhisnative land: Life ofGiordano Bruno, Wandering Philosopher (Nola1548-Rome 1600) Giordano Bruno fledtoEngland because he'dbeenaccusedofheresy, hounded as healwayswas bythose hostile tohisphilosophy. AtOxford hisNeapolitan accent wasconsidered a heresy andhewasbranded bythepedants as a plagiarist without ability. He replied inkindandelsewhere sought hisfortune, following thebreeze, until thenext importune zealot delivered himtotheauthorities. Foranunknown accent academepreferred toforsake Bruno went backtoItaly andwasburned at thestake. 50 1 World Literature Today Thisis thefirst ina series ofthree sonnets aboutBruno, whoserves as a kindofpredecessor to Vecchiatto, also forsaken by a country incapable ofrecognizing andvaluing itscultural patrimony. Thesubject ofthissequence offiftyonesonnets varies, including philosophical reflections andepisodes inthewriter's (orrather, the character's) life, butalmost never fails tolevela serious critique attoday's Italy, where consumption hastaken ona religious fervor, thedictatorshipofthenew reigns uncontested, politics is empty spectacle, andartonly emerges with great difficulty amidthespateofmassentertainments. Thesecharacteristics arecondensed intothefigureofthe Badalucco. ThenameBadalucco is anItalian toponym andsurname anda rare noun derived from theverbbadaluccare, a compound oftheverbs badare (towatch, ormoreprecisely, tomind orpayattention to)andalloccare (topass timeordefer an enemy withminor diversions orskirmishes). Thusa badalucco is a kindof activity thatkillstime. Thisseemssignificant inthinking through Celati's text, where theBadaluccorepresents thearchetypal fiirbo, someone whoresorts toanymeans toget by - onethinks of Berlusconi, buthe'sonlyoneexample ofwhatis rather a category ofthe spirit towhich everyone issubject. ThisiswhatVecchiatto observes upon returning toItaly in1984: TheTraveler Returns. Written ina cafe in Rome, three months after returning toItaly Thetraveler, nowold, returns tohisnative lands andsurveys hiscountry, nolonger thesame buthostile, superficial, inthehands ofcorrupt thugs with noshame a giant sewer, a country ofhorror, with hair-raising reasons for shame: TVsetstrumpeting jackasses galore whogrant themost foulthemost fame. Whocanyoushareideaswith insuch squalor, where anunctuous bully hasallthepower? What canyoudo atthemercy ofa swindler whogoadsthesenseless massesevery hour? What canyousay?It'sinthemuck, themud, andthethrong that thenotorious Badalucco makes hisway along. Onethinks alsooforganized crime, another scourge in contemporary Italy recently described in Roberto Saviano'sGomorrah and laterin MatteoGarrone'sunforgettable film adaptation. Thisphenomenon appearsin Vecchiatto 's secondsonnet: Onthe Aversa Plain ,15km from Naples , after visiting the mayor, threatened inhisoffice inbroad daylight by gangs ofCamorristi NowinAversa there's nomore than cement skeletons andhigh-rise hellholes, created toplumpthepurseofa clan that buildsup,tears down,andhawksthe remains. Onecouldn't think ofa worsetragedy: hell, jail,blackmail that hustles youintosilence, with theshady congregation ofthugs whopeddle everyone's soul,shouting: Shutyourtrap! That'showyougetrich, with lurid acts, homo homini lupus, downa darkpath, tilla bullet intheheadcallsyouquits. Thisisthesocialorder, sothey sayMe ,I'llstick with thebumsandrunaways. Itisintothissocialorder that Vecchiatto out ofstepwithhis time,latein life,as one of thecontemporaries who neither perfectly coincidewithit noradjustthemselves to its demands - is inserted withina tradition of civicorprotest poetry, whileat thesametime reinvigorating thetraditional form ofthesonnet ina waythat resonates, embodying thesimplicitythat extends throughout Celati'sstories. Ina similar vein,Cavazzoni'ssimplenarratives, while seemingly muchmorelighthearted in tone, revealthenon-sense incommon sense. University ofOregon July -August 201 1151 ..." @default.
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• W4379531715 date "2011-07-01" @default.
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• W4379531715 title "Gianni Celati and Plain Storytelling in Contemporary Italy" @default.
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