Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Leopardi doesn’t believe in anything, in another world, paradise or hell and he has a beautiful relationship with nature. One of the most beautiful poems is ‘Un pastore errante nell’Asia’, ‘A shepherd wandering in Asia’, and he speaks with the moon and he says: ‘Cosa fai, tu, luna in cielo, cosa fai?’
Tell me about The Canti of Leopardi first.
I canti is a collection of poems with an idea that coincides with my idea of life. In Italy we have many classics which are Catholic, for example Dante, a wonderful poet. But I prefer Leopardi because he doesn’t have this Catholic idea of guilt and punishment. Leopardi doesn’t believe in another world, paradise or hell and he has a deep relationship with nature. One of the most beautiful poems is ‘Un pastore errante nell’Asia’, ‘A shepherd wandering in Asia’, in which he speaks with the moon and he says: ‘Cosa fai, tu, luna in cielo, che fai?’ ‘What do you do, moon in the sky, what do you do?’, and he goes on talking in a friendly way to the moon. He knows that there is no answer, but he goes on, asking her what she sees from up there, and why she follows the footprints of the shepherd. It is wonderful poem. I know it by heart. Leopardi was born in 1798 and died in 1837. He was from Recanati, a small town in the mid-east of Italy. He died of cholera eating an ice-cream in Naples where he had escaped from a intolerant and oppressive father.
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Dacia Maraini was born in Florence. Her Sicilian mother came from the old Alliata family from Salaparuta and her half-English father was a famous ethnologist. After a difficult childhood she moved to Rome, where she continued her studies and did a variety of jobs to make ends meet. Together with several other young people, she founded a literary magazine called Tempo di Letteratura, published by Pironti in Naples, and began contributing to magazines, including Nuovi Argomenti and Mondo. During the 60s she published her first novels and also began to turn her attention to the theatre. Together with a group of writers, she founded the Teatro del Porcospino, a theatre devoted exclusively to staging new Italian works by the likes of Parise, Gadda, Tornabuoni and Moravia. In 1973 she contributed to the foundation of the Teatro della Maddalena, run solely by women. Five years later, this theatre put on her play Dialogo di una Prostituta Con un suo Cliente (Dialogue of a Prostitute and her Client), which was translated into English and French and staged in 12 different countries.
