Poetic Diaries 1971 and 1972
By Eugenio Montale (Nobel Prize in Literature)
Translated by William Arrowsmith (Boston University), Edited by Rosanna Warren (Boston University)
Poetic Diaries 1971 and 1972 is ruled by a brusque economy, and Montale's is, here, a poetics of magnificent reduction. The poet meditates on the very conditions of his art: language reveals itself to be madness, and poetry a broken promise. The Muse has become a scarecrow: "She still has / one sleeve, with which she conducts her scrannel / straw quartet. It's the only music I can stand." And yet music it is, and time and time again Montale attains a contrarian grandeur that renews faith in the art he punishes. These poems are dense and dramatic, evasive and erotic and vividly alive.
- ISBN:
- 9780393344196
- Format:
- Paperback / softback
- Pages:
- 240
- Published:
- Publisher:
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Imprint:
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Weight:
- 272 g