The Selected Poetry and Prose of Vittorio Sereni
A Bilingual Edition
368 pages
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16 halftones
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6 x 9
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© 2006
One of the most important Italian poets of the last century, Vittorio Sereni (1913–83) wrote with a historical awareness unlike that of any of his contemporaries. A poet of both personal and political responsibility, his work sensitively explores life under fascism, military defeat and imprisonment, and the resurgence of extreme right-wing politics, as well as the roles played by love and friendship in the survival of humanity.
The first substantial translation of Sereni’s oeuvre published anywhere in the world, The Selected Poetry and Prose of Vittorio Sereni is a unique guide to this twentieth-century poet. A bilingual edition, reissued in paperback for the poet’s centenary, it collects Sereni’s poems, criticism, and short fiction with a full chronology, commentary, bibliography, and learned introduction by British poet and scholar Peter Robinson.
Choice
"Many excellent Italian poets of the 20th century are less well known to English-speaking readers than they should be, and Sereni has long been one of the most egregious cases of undeserved neglect. This beautifully produced bilingual edition of his poems and prose should do much to correct this long standing critical oversight. Robinson and Perryman are experienced translators of Italian poetry, and they worked closely with Sereni and his heirs over many years to produce renderings of his work that do justice to its emotional subtlety and finely discriminated linguistic coloration....A sensitive introduction by Robinson (himself a poet), a chronology of Sereni's life, thorough annotation of texts, and a comprehensive bibliography complete the volume, which will be a boon to those interested in Italian and comparative literature and modern poetry. Highly recommended."
Peter Hainsworth | Times Literary Supplement
"Translations of [Sereni] have tended to be sporadic and difficult to come by. The University of Chicago Press has now produced lavish hardback anthologies...with generous portions, in English and Italian, of all of the many collections of verse, plus (in English only) selections from their prose writings.... Sereni deserve[s] to be much better known outside Italy...the translations are always serviceable and at times of high quality."
John Taylor | Yale Review
"[Sereni] is an extraordinary evoker of both on-the-spot experience and the enduring presence of the past in memory. His stature as a major European war poet should grow rapidly with this volume. . . . Perryman and Robinson translate closely and accurately, and this monumental bilingual edition will be invaluable to students of Sereni."
Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chronology
Selected Poetry
da frontiera / from frontier
diario d’algeria / algerian diary
da gli strumenti umani / from the human implements
da stella variabile / from variable star
Selected Prose
from the immediate surroundings
from crossing milan
Commentary
Bibliography
Index of Titles and First Lines
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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Literature and Literary Criticism: Poetry | Romance Languages
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