"Tra la via Emilia e il West"--displacement and loss of identity in the fiction of Daniele Benati *.Daniele Benati e degli anni che si occupa di letteratura, ha tradotto Joyce, Tony Cafferky, Flann O'Brien, ha tradotto Beckett in dialetto reggiano, ha pubblica--to un racconto in Narratori delle riserve, curato da Gianni Celati Gianni Celati is an Italian writer, translator and literary critic. Biography He was born in Sondrio in 1937, but spent his infancy and adolescence in the province of Ferrara. , ha pubbli--cato nel novantasette il romanzo [sic] Silenzio in Emilia, ha fatto parte della redazione della rivista Il Semplice sem·pli·ce adv. & adj. Music In a simple or plain manner. Used chiefly as a direction. [Italian, from Latin simplex, simplic-, simple; see sem- .... (1) And so we could continue, following Paolo Nori's cue, to list Daniele Benati's literary achievements, both as a translator and as a writer, up to his latest novel, Cani dell'inferno. Despite being read by many and being cited by Alberto Bertoni as the point of arrival of a line of regional literature that goes from Silvio D'Arzo through Pier Vittorio Tondelli Pier Vittorio Tondelli (September 14, 1955 - December 16, 1991) was an Italian writer who wrote a small but influential body of work. He was born in Correggio, a small town in the province of Emilia-Romagna in Italy and died in nearby Reggio Emilia of AIDS. (Anselmi and Bertoni), Benati's fiction still lacks a wide critical appraisal Noun 1. critical appraisal - an appraisal based on careful analytical evaluation critical analysis appraisal, assessment - the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth . This could be due to the anti-establishment stance that Benati shares with his closest colleagues, and that emerges in the marked irony against the contemporary drive for commercial success. From the early 1990s Benati has collaborated with Gianni Celati, Ermanno Cavazzoni and other writers to projects such as the literary journal Il Semplice and Celati's video-stories, which openly set out to criticize the consumerist nature of contemporary culture. (2) Despite the originality of their positions and of their prose, and their commitment to forming an anti-literary community, I fear that the insistent in·sis·tent adj. 1. Firm in asserting a demand or an opinion; unyielding. 2. Demanding attention or a response: insistent hunger. 3. ironical tone of these projects has resulted in somewhat isolating these writers and preventing their work from reaching wider recognition. Compared to his younger friend and colleague Paolo Nori, who has actively positioned himself as a "young author" with his saga of Learco Ferrari, (3) Benati is less interested in writing about "youth matters" and publicizing pub·li·cize tr.v. pub·li·cized, pub·li·ciz·ing, pub·li·ciz·es To give publicity to. Noun 1. publicizing - the business of drawing public attention to goods and services advertising his own work, than in voicing the gap between modernity and the past, between the foreign and the "provincial." On the awareness of this gap Benati builds his poetics po·et·ics n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. Literary criticism that deals with the nature, forms, and laws of poetry. 2. A treatise on or study of poetry or aesthetics. 3. of displacement, whether in space or time, a poetics of exile that hides a deep nostalgia for returning to one's roots and to a lost community and identity. All of Benati's characters share a strong sense of displacement--whether they are young, and longing (in vain) to escape their province, or elderly and reminiscing about their past and their homeland, or whether they find themselves between a present foreign environment and the memory of their distant country. Benati's ability lies in telling these people's errance between different places, times and mental states, an errance that is maximized in old age and reaches a climax in death. From Silenzio in Emilia onwards on·ward adj. Moving or tending forward. adv. also on·wards In a direction or toward a position that is ahead in space or time; forward. Adv. 1. , Benati has shown a particular interest and skill in rendering these liminal liminal /lim·i·nal/ (lim´i-n'l) barely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. lim·i·nal adj. Relating to a threshold. liminal barely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. states, and the unpopularity of these themes might have contributed to his critical marginalization mar·gin·al·ize tr.v. mar·gin·al·ized, mar·gin·al·iz·ing, mar·gin·al·iz·es To relegate or confine to a lower or outer limit or edge, as of social standing. . In this essay I seek to redress the imbalance of Benati's fame, by arguing his unique originality as a narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. , and his ability to use the metaphor of space to voice the sense of displacement embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. in contemporary society, that is the loss of identity experienced by the individual, and particularly by those who seek to establish themselves as writers. Besides his published books--Silenzio in Emilia, which I have analyzed elsewhere, and his latest Cani dell'inferno, which I will briefly consider in conclusion for the purpose of this essay--these issue strikingly emerge in many, less known of Benati's short stories that I have chosen to examine for they offer an invaluable insight into his poetics and his critical reception. Most of these stories are best read in pairs, given the similarity in themes, characters and atmospheres: "Long vehicle Scania" and "Sanremo," "Boiardi" that can be compared to some stories in Silenzio in Emilia, "The ballad of Luigi Ghirri" and "Mio fratello," "Viandanti" and "Fine non finire," "La citta bianca" and "Un altro che non ero io." The contrastive analysis Contrastive analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities. Historically it has been used to establish language genealogies. of these pairs of stories will highlight, in turn, the poetics of displacement and return, the theme of old age and nostalgia, the centrality of the visual/photographic imagery, the "purgatorial pur·ga·to·ri·al adj. 1. Serving to purify of sin; expiatory. 2. Of, relating to, or resembling purgatory. Adj. 1. " errance of Benati's characters, and the displacement of the contemporary writer. On this key theme I will focus in depth in "Un altro che non ero io," before concluding with an overview of Cani dell'inferno. The question of space is central to Benati's fiction and appears in the rendering of local place and landscape, and in the recurrent themes of displacement and errance. The individual relation to space is determined by a mixed sense of belonging and uprootedness: belonging to a local, familiar setting, although often perceived as estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. by the stories' protagonists/narrators, and uprootedness from the environment of an unknown country, or even from what appears to be the "otherworld oth·er·world n. A world or existence beyond earthly reality. Noun 1. otherworld - an abstract spiritual world beyond earthly reality ," as in the stories of Silenzio in Emilia. These opposite attitudes combine the modernist lesson of estrangement and alienation with a postmodern post·mod·ern adj. Of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes: sense of errance, underlying a deep unease towards contemporary society and the place that it reserves the individual, and a sense of nostalgia for the past, and for the sense of community that is ingrained in·grained adj. 1. Firmly established; deep-seated: ingrained prejudice; the ingrained habits of a lifetime. 2. in belonging to a land. This double attitude is powerfully conveyed by the markedly visual, indeed visionary nature of Benati's stories, that revolve around Verb 1. revolve around - center upon; "Her entire attention centered on her children"; "Our day revolved around our work" center, center on, concentrate on, focus on, revolve about a central image--often a photograph--which brings together two dimensions, suddenly revealing the distance between reality and memory, or imagination. The dichotomy di·chot·o·my n. pl. di·chot·o·mies 1. Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions: "the dichotomy of the one and the many" Louis Auchincloss. of belonging and displacement is also played out in the characters' (mostly men) relation to language, split between the memory of their regional language and dialect dialect, variety of a language used by a group of speakers within a particular speech community. Every individual speaks a variety of his language, termed an idiolect. and the hidden meanings of a foreign language (mostly English), often incomprehensible to them. Finally, the dichotomic relation to language and space, which conveys the condition of displacement that Benati sees as deep-rooted in contemporary society, is mirrored in the textuality Textuality is a concept in linguistics and literary theory that refers to the attributes that distinguish the text (a technical term indicating any communicative content under analysis) as an object of study in those fields. of the stories, continually split between different places, times and narrative voices. Despite the ingrained displacement of Benati's fiction, his stories strike the reader for their distinctly regional setting--both in the landscape and in the language. This emerges from his early stories, "Long vehicle Scania" and "Sanremo,"--the first one published in Celati's Manifesto series "Narratori delle riserve," the second one in the homonymous homonymous /ho·mon·y·mous/ (-i-mus) 1. having the same or corresponding sound or name. 2. pertaining to the corresponding vertical halves of the visual fields of both eyes. volume of selected stories that resulted from this series--which combine a strong sense of belonging to a region with the desire to evade e·vade v. e·vad·ed, e·vad·ing, e·vades v.tr. 1. To escape or avoid by cleverness or deceit: evade arrest. 2. a. this space, albeit constantly frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: . The two stories can be fruitfully compared as they both present young narrators, and introduce a narrative device often used by Benati, that of staging an unnamed protagonist who is shadowed by the success of his more confident friend. (4) "Long vehicle Scania" tells of two classmates--the unnamed protagonist/narrator and his friend Bursi--and of their passion for the music of Bob Dylan Noun 1. Bob Dylan - United States songwriter noted for his protest songs (born in 1941) Dylan , a passion that is also shared by Benati. Bursi represents a typical local character who is deeply settled in his rural community (for example, he enjoys a "partita par·ti·ta n. Music 1. An instrumental piece composed of a series of variations, as a suite. 2. One of the variations contained in such a piece. di bocce" every Sunday) and yet continually voices his longing for leaving and meeting his idol: "Uno di questi giorni vado in America, diceva. Vado in America a trovare Bob Dylan" (12). On this dream he builds his identity, making up his adventures abroad with clearly comical com·i·cal adj. 1. Provoking mirth or amusement; funny. 2. Of or relating to comedy. com effects: "Sono stato a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , diceva Bursi, e una sera, in un locale (programming) locale - A geopolitical place or area, especially in the context of configuring an operating system or application program with its character sets, date and time formats, currency formats etc. Locales are significant for internationalisation and localisation. , ho incontrato Bob Dylan e John Lennon Noun 1. John Lennon - English rock star and guitarist and songwriter who with Paul McCartney wrote most of the music for the Beatles (1940-1980) Lennon .... Mi sono avvicinato a Dylan e gli ho detto: Hi Bob, I'm Bursi from Italy, pleased to meet you" (12). Surprisingly, Bursi eventually does leave, as he convinces his friend (the narrator) to join him in a hitch-hiking trip to an island of Perkinson--a trip that is planned together with an ample detour through the red-light districts A list of world red-light districts. Africa Kenya
Morocco
of Amsterdam and Hamburg Hamburg, city, GermanyHamburg (häm`b  rkh), officially Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg), city (1994 pop. , and that eventually
prevents the protagonists from reaching their destination. The story of
their travel is punctuated with comic moments that reveal the extent to
which their youth dream to escape north is hindered by their rootedness
in their land: "Poi sbagllammo strada e finimmo a Rovigo. Fin
dall'inizio mi era sembrato un po' strano far tutto quel giro
per arrivare sul Canale della Manica, e 1i nel Polesine, inchiodati a
una strada provinciale, sorse fra di noi il primo battibecco. Allora non
esisteva ancora la meravigliosa e grande autostrada au·to·stra·da n. An expressway in Italy. [Italian : auto, automobile; see auto + strada, street (from Late Latin str del Brennero, e ci vollero due giorni per giungere al confine" (13). On the Italian border they are offered a lift by a Modenese truck driver, Silvio Soragni from Spilamberto, who takes them further away from their destination as he follows his road rage See Web rage. instincts, while the protagonists sleep unaware in the back of his truck. Having only reached Oberhausen on the day of the concert, and realized they have missed the concert, Bursi urges the narrator to pretend they attended the concert, once they are back home with their bar friends. Like "Long vehicle Scania," "Sanremo" is told by an unnamed narrator who recounts of Pignagnoli's ability always to win him over and use his money, as appears from the very opening: "Io non lo so, pero tutte le volte volte n. Sports Variant of volt2. che ho ache fare con Pignagnoli, ci rimetto dei soldi" (31). Whilst Pignagnoli has the skill of a salesman, the narrator is unable to oppose his friend's whims that he ends up financing, including the games of poker that Pignagnoli invariably in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var  i·a·bil loses, and the car that Pignagnoli buys with the poker money
won by the narrator. Pignagnoli then convinces the narrator to leave for
Sanremo, where he plans to make more money by sponging on his
friend's luck and ability to play cards. Like Bursi and his friend,
however, Pignagnoli and the narrator never reach their destination, but
stop much earlier on their way, as they pick up two girls hitchhikers
and drive them to their village in the "vane Vane , John Robert 1927-2004.British pharmacologist. He shared a 1982 Nobel Prize for research on prostaglandins. vane the membranous or main part of the contour feather in birds as distinct from the shaft. dell'Enza," on the Appennine between Parma and Reggio Emilia ("in pratica non eravamo usciti dalla nostra provincia," 41). Here the two protagonists, together with Stella (Pignagnoli's "girl"), stop for a restaurant lunch, which the narrator ends up paying before he is discharged for playing gooseberry gooseberry: see currant. gooseberry Hardy fruit bush of the Northern Hemisphere, often placed in the genus Ribes with the currant (or alternatively assigned to the genus Grossularia as its sole member), in the family Saxifragaceae. . As in the previous story, where Bursi and his friend are finally left in Nordrhein Westphalen unsure how to return home, the protagonists of "Sanremo" never reach their destination; in fact they do not even leave their province, and the narrator is eventually left to travel back by coach, unsure whether anyone will pick him up at his destination to drive him home. Both "Long vehicle Scania" and "Sanremo" present an original rendering of the long to escape north that has connoted much Italian fiction since the 1970s, from Celati's early novels, through Tondelli's early stories (particularly "Autobahn," in Altri libertini), to younger narrators of the 1990s, such as, among many, Silvia Ballestra and her saga of the Anto. Like, indeed more than these writers, Benati's originality lies in reproducing a markedly local regional flavour (jargon) flavour - (US: flavor) 1. Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come in two flavors." "These lights come in two flavors, big red ones and small green ones." See vanilla. 2. The attribute that causes something to be flavourful. in the stories' setting, in the characters' language, and in their sense of belonging to a local, rural, bygone by·gone adj. Gone by; past: bygone days. n. One, especially a grievance, that is past: Let bygones be bygones. age, as people spend time playing "bocce," "briscola" or poker "nella casa di un contadino n. 1. an Italian farmer. Noun 1. contadino - an Italian farmer farmer, granger, husbandman, sodbuster - a person who operates a farm " ("Sanremo" 34)--and this sense of rootedness is juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. to their youth desire to escape the constricting con·strict v. con·strict·ed, con·strict·ing, con·stricts v.tr. 1. To make smaller or narrower by binding or squeezing. 2. To squeeze or compress. 3. boundaries of their province. In a distinctly comical tone, Benati manages to render the paradoxes of the Italian "provincia," between its attachment to old-fashioned, rural values, and the urge to move beyond its narrow limitations, while ironically rewriting the north-bound traveling of much recent "youth" fiction. What distinguishes Benati's narrative, however, is the impossibility Impossibility See also Unattainability. belling the cat mouse’s proposal for warning of cat’s approach; application fatal. [Gk. Lit. to escape from its local background, whether in the fictional reality that keeps the characters within their province, or in their memory that continually brings them back to the past. The fascination of these stories also lies in Benati's sensitivity to and nostalgia for a disappearing rural life and community, which best emerges in his ability to portray elderly people, as I will now turn to discuss, and in his estranged look at familiar settings, which seeks to make us see beyond habit. The combination of rootedness and displacement is most evident in the stories told by elderly, senile senile /se·nile/ (se´nil) pertaining to old age; manifesting senility. se·nile adj. 1. Relating to, characteristic of, or resulting from old age. 2. characters, who ironically fail to recognize the place where they have always lived, due to the fast urbanization and commercialization of the environment. This is staged in some stories of Silenzio in Emilia, where the old protagonists/narrators relive re·live v. re·lived, re·liv·ing, re·lives v.tr. To undergo or experience again, especially in the imagination. v.intr. To live again. their own death--such as "Il giocatore di bocce" and "Il secondo se·con·do n. pl. se·con·di The second part in a concert piece, especially the lower part in a piano duet. [Italian, from Latin secundus, second, following; see sek viaggio in America," which I have considered elsewhere--and in "Boiardi," on which I will now focus. As in the above-discussed stories, here the first person narrator (Giacomo) tells of his friend Boiardi, who never directly enters the narration, but whose opinion is constantly voiced--a device that reminds us of Thomas Bernhard's original use of embedded voices, which blurs the boundaries between different characters' identities. (5) Unlike the previous stories who staged young characters, here both protagonists are elderly men who lament the changes undergone by the landscape, which gives rise to their deep sense of displacement and disaffection with present society. The workings of Giacomo's mind are rendered through a broken, repetitive, elliptic el·lip·tic or el·lip·ti·cal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse. 2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis. 3. a. syntax (including examples of "nominativus pendens") and a regional, colloquial col·lo·qui·al adj. 1. Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of speech; informal. 2. Relating to conversation; conversational. talk built on free reported speech reported speech Noun a report of what someone said that gives the content of the speech without repeating the exact words reported speech n (Ling) → discours indirect . Moreover, the insertion of ethereal ethereal /ethe·re·al/ (e-ther´e-il) 1. pertaining to, prepared with, containing, or resembling ether. 2. evanescent; delicate. e·the·re·al adj. 1. voices alluring Giacomo to the newly-built hyper-markets dramatizes his refusal of modernity and his split identity, between first and third person, character and narrator, present and past (75). Giacomo's refusal of society is paralleled by that of his only friend Boiardi, who similarly pretends to be deaf when hearing what he dislikes, as they share a nostalgic attachment to the past, rural Emilian setting, which, ironically, they can barely remember. A key moment of awakening in the story occurs as the narrator envisages his dream land in a photograph, only later to realize it is a picture of his home place--a passage that is worth quoting in full for it conveys a core of Benati's poetics: Salvo quando poi capita una sorpresa com'e successa a me poco tempo fa che guardavo una vecchia fotografia. C'era una bella strada d'asfalto con poche macchine e le case su un lato della strada. Poca roba ma disposta secondo un ordine che mi sembrava naturale; anche le scritte sui muri sembravano naturali, che se non sbaglio parlavano contro la mezzadria. Veh che bel posto, dicevo, ci voglio andare! E ci volevo andare per davvero, perche mica e facile che io dica una cosa per l'altra. Stavo li con la foto in mano, la guardavo e riguardavo dicendo dentro di me: Prima di morire ci voglio andare. Poi l'ho guardata meglio e perdio a un certo punto mi sono accorto che era il posto dove avevo sempre abitato io. Era cosi diverso dalla fotografia che sull'istante non ero neanche riuscito a riconoscerlo. Sono andato subito alla finestra e ho fatto un confronto dal vivo. Mi ero cosi abituato ai capannoni, ai mercatoni e ai tetti a zig-zag delle officine e allo svincolo della tangenziale che passa fra le finestre delle case svegliando la gente che dorme che mi sembrava adesso di vedere un paese straniero in quello rappresentato nella fotografia. E invece ci avevo passato tutta la vita! Tutta la vita in un paese straniero, dove si parlava un'altra lingua e si giocava a carte nei bar. (78) This extract plays on a number of binary oppositions In critical theory, a binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of theoretical opposites. In structuralism, it is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language. that distinguish Benati's fiction--the sense of uprootedness and the desire to return home, and the centrality of epiphany Epiphany (ĭpĭf`ənē) [Gr.,=showing], a prime Christian feast, celebrated Jan. 6, called also Twelfth Day or Little Christmas. Its eve is Twelfth Night. , mostly experienced through vision. This passage also conveys the intrinsically dichotomic nature of landscape, a notion that encompasses both the natural and the cultural, both reality and representation. This dichotomy--that juxtaposes dreamland dream·land n. 1. An ideal or imaginary land. 2. A state of sleep. Noun 1. dreamland - a pleasing country existing only in dreams or imagination dreamworld, never-never land and reality, foreign place and homeland, and past and present--is maximized in the photograph which, by bringing the past back to life, triggers a revelation of displacement. The intrinsic mixture of the documentary and artistic in the photograph reminds us of the work of Luigi Ghirri, the late photographer whom Benati most admired for his ability to render the Emilian landscape through an estranged yet affective affective /af·fec·tive/ (ah-fek´tiv) pertaining to affect. af·fec·tive adj. 1. Concerned with or arousing feelings or emotions; emotional. 2. look, as if seen for the first time. His photograph of Benati's bedroom, published in Il profilo delle nuvole, showed our author that even well-known places can be seen from a new perspective that uncovers a different reality. Following Ghirri's example, Benati seeks to achieve in his prose a similarly lowered perspective and estranged look that de-familiarizes everyday places, turning them into metaphysical spaces, as the author himself suggests: Per quanto riguarda i miei racconti, io avevo l'intenzione--e vero--di ambientarli in un contesto "rurale" (se questa parola ha ancora senso), cioe ambientarli nei luoghi che conoscevo meglio e che mi riusciva piu facile descrivere perche li avevo avuti sotto gli occhi tutta la vita. Ma quello che dava senso alla mia, chiamiamola, operazione, era il tentativo--anche se potra sembrare velleitario--di trasformare tutti questi luoghi in un unico luogo metafisico. Cioe io proprio mentre scrivevo avevo dei punti di riferimento reali--case, strade e cavalcavia che ti potrei anche indicare--che pero calati in quelle storie prendevano un'esistenza diversa. Nei miei testi i luoghi non sono al centro di un intento realistico e io non volevo fare il bardo di quei luoghi, perche quello sarebbe stato un atteggiamento che io per primo avrei sentito come falso dato che l'ho sempre odiato in altri scrittori. (Spunta, "Conversazione" 119) Although Benati here refers in the first place to the stories of Silenzio in Emilia, the rural, Emilian setting is the shared background of most of his fiction, and the reason for this choice, as for Ghirri, moves beyond the author's own familiarity with this landscape, or any attempt at "realism," and is rather suggestive of suggestive of Decision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. the fast disappearance of a rural past and of the resulting uprootedness of the contemporary subject. Following Ghirri's lesson of photography as "revelation," Benati uses landscape pictures or paintings as means of triggering an epiphany in the protagonist that leads him to question his actual belonging to the place where he lives. A similar realization to that of Giacomo in "Boiardi" hits the protagonist of "The ballad of Luigi Ghirri," a story dedicated to the memory of the late photographer. Here the protagonist (an Italian "lettore" in Boston, as Benati once was) is suddenly gripped by melancholy as he sees an exhibition of Ghirri's pictures at the local Italian Institute, and realizes that, despite once dreaming of leaving for the States, the only thing he now wants is to return home. In another autobiographical story, which is comparable to the previous one, "Mio fratello," Benati conveys a sense of nostalgic vagueness and displacement through the powerful image of the "carta di riso," on which the narrator's brother (and Benati's own brother) paints: A guardarla bene quella carta, con le sue tante venature e fatta a mano, sa d'antico. Non e come la nostra carta che sta li bianca e piatta come la nostra societa. La carta di riso nepalese sembra aver attraversato i secoli come due versi di Dante, e aver resistito a tutto. Per questo e un buon supporto, da la certezza delle cose che durano. Metterla poi su due strati, come fa mio fratello per creare le sue immagini sempre un po' sfalsate, serve per dire chela realta, qualunque essa sia, anche un fiore, non e mai cosi a fuoco come vuol sembrare, c'e un traballamento che non possiamo controllare, un traballamento che ha avuto luogo nel passato e si ripercuote ancora adesso nel presente senza dirti perche sei tu a doverlo provare e non un altro. The effect of "sfalsamento" of the image, of "traballamento" of reality reminds us again of Ghirri's photography, particularly of his late pictures, where the Po valley is immersed im·merse tr.v. im·mersed, im·mers·ing, im·mers·es 1. To cover completely in a liquid; submerge. 2. To baptize by submerging in water. 3. in fog or snow, and where the light seems to quaver--a condition that Celati effectively renders in his story "Condizioni di luce sulla via Emilia," in Quattro novelle sulle appa--renze. Benati's image of the "carta di riso" can also be compared to the "mappa di carta velina" of the Po valley in Cavazzoni's Il poema dei luna--tici that seems the only means of reproducing the intrinsic vagueness of this territory All these images--the trembling trembling visible muscle tremor caused by fever, fear, weakness, electrolyte imbalance, especially hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia, and neuromuscular disease. trembling disease of the light with which the photographer "paints," the "carta di riso" on which the painter works, or the ethereal voices that Cavazzoni's lunatic LUNATIC, persons. One who has had an understanding, but who, by disease, grief, or other accident, has lost the use of his reason. A lunatic is properly one who has had lucid intervals, sometimes enjoying his senses, and sometimes not. 4 Co. 123; 1 Bl. Com. 304; Bac. Abr. Idiots, &c. narrator in vain seeks to record--convey both the unstable nature of the landscape that is being reproduced, of the object with which the artist works, and of the subject, the artist, in relation to their object. This uncertain relationship is best conveyed by the notion of "spazio di affezione," that Celati takes from Ghirri, and before him, from Spinoza and Leopardi, and which he uses to question the assumption of a fixed, geometrical space. By suggesting space as a modification of conscience, "un effetto che disturba l'uniformita dello spazio," that is the "fusione tra il vedere e la cosa vista, che non puo essere oggettivata, perche dipende dal mio piazzamento relativo" (Celati, "Collezione di spazi" 62 and 63), Celati highlights the intrinsically cultural and emotional nature of space, as the active background through which one builds one's relationship with the exterior, and as a culturally and individually constructed entity. Similarly, Benati's notion of space is deeply affective, in its intrinsic vagueness and dichotomy of uprootedness and belonging, and most revealing for the instability of the subject, lost between the longing to inhabit in·hab·it v. in·hab·it·ed, in·hab·it·ing, in·hab·its v.tr. 1. To live or reside in. 2. To be present in; fill: Old childhood memories inhabit the attic. a place and the awareness of being doomed to errance. If this "purgatorial" state is most apparent in Silenzio in Emilia--where the various narrators tell the story of their own death and their experience of a new dimension that interestingly combines their imagination of the "otherworld" with recognizable traits of the Emilian setting--a sense of in-betweeness is common to all of Benati's stories, and is evidenced in the characters' continual physical and mental errance. Besides the already-discussed stories, this is most striking in "Viandanti" and "Fine non finire," which I will now turn to analyze, examining the deep sense of ambiguity both in the setting and in the identity and status of the characters. "Viandanti" appeared in the first section (by the title "Camminate all'aria aperta, anche furiose o rassegnate") of the sixth and final issue of the journal Il Semplice, following Celati's Italian translation of Beckett's "From an abandoned work" (15-24). (6) The story stages four unnamed characters crossing a bridge who engage in a repetitive and puzzling conversation on their identity and the actual location and purpose of their journey, as Benati suggests in interview (Spunta, "Conversazione con·ver·sa·zi·o·ne n. pl. con·ver·sa·zi·o·nes or con·ver·sa·zi·o·ni A meeting for conversation or discussion, especially about art. " 136). The vague and evocative e·voc·a·tive adj. Tending or having the power to evoke. e·voc  a·tive·ly adv. setting, the
theatrical stance, and the protagonists' absurd, open-ended
conversation remind us of Beckett, as well as Thomas Bernhard,
particularly of the story "Gehen," where two characters
obsessively reflect on identity and madness while walking. (7) Like
"Gehen" and the previously discussed stories,
"Viandanti" starts with an obsessive declaration of loss of
identity:
Anch'io ero convinto di conoscere me stesso, ha detto uno dei quattro viandanti come per riprendere un discorso gia incominciato da un altro. Invece non aveva mica parlato nessuno fino a quel momento e infatti poco dopo un altro viandante ha detto: scusi lei ha detto anch'io ero convinto di conoscere me stesso come se qualcuno avesse parlato prima di lei mentre qui ha mica parlato nessuno a meno che non mi sbaglio. (25) Here the situation is even more ambiguous and unreal than in previous stories, as the characters appear totally in "limbo limbo In Roman Catholicism, a region between heaven and hell, the dwelling place of souls not condemned to punishment but deprived of the joy of existence with God in heaven. The concept probably developed in the Middle Ages. ," between death and life. Though removed from any recognizable location or mark of identity, these protagonists retain distinct characterial traits, something which allows the reader to distinguish each speaker from the others (despite the lack of proper names and of narrative inquits to mark the boundaries of free direct speech turns) and to locate them regionally in Emilia. As in others of Benati's stories, the characters' conversation is interpolated interpolated /in·ter·po·lat·ed/ (in-ter´po-la?ted) inserted between other elements or parts. by their hearing voices, which can be read as their internal voices, as in the above-quoted opening where nobody seems to have uttered the phrase that triggers the whole conversation. Besides their dialogue, the key to this story is in the errance of these "viandanti" who come to symbolize the human condition, lost in a perpetual and comical re-enactment of its unawareness, as is conveyed by the following passage: "Io mi trovo qui a camminare e cammino, ha detto il terzo viandante. Anch'io mi trovo qui a camminare e cammino, ha detto il primo, pero sarei anche curioso di sapere dove sto andando se non vi dispiace" (32). A similar erratic setting and metaphysical dialogue distinguishes "Fine non finire," that stages the protagonist's (and author's) displacement between Ireland and Emilia and directly tackles the theme of death, as the protagonist eventually encounters his dead father. A similar topic was the theme of the last story of Silenzio in Emilia, a story that was eventually omitted from the collection for Benati deemed it too autobiographic (Spunta, "Conversazione" 123), and that perhaps is the basis for the present story. Published in a recent collection on the theme of death, Racconti di un giorno che sai, "Fine non finire" narrates the adventures of an unnamed protagonist/narrator teaching Italian in Slaigo, where he first risks being involved with drugs-dealing and then is led to a remote, otherwordly landscape where he meets his ancestors Ancestors See also father; heredity; mother; origins; parents; race. archaism an inclination toward old-fashioned things, speech, or actions, especially those of one’s ancestors. Also archaicism. — archaist, n. . As in "Viandanti" the conversation takes place while father and son cross a bridge, that is as the protagonist suspends his disbelief and enters another dimension, while ironically referring to the legend of San Brendan and to Dante. After much hesitation the protagonist manages to talk to his father about his death, and to accept it, which leads him to have a vision of his grandfather about to ask his grandmother as his wife. In this vision the suggestive Irish countryside turns unexplainedly into the rural Emilian setting of 1914, and the story ends in an oneiric oneiric /onei·ric/ (o-ni´rik) pertaining to or characterized by dreaming or oneirism. o·nei·ric adj. 1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of dreams. 2. loop that juxtaposes the gangster-like atmosphere of the opening with the rural and remote ending, leaving the protagonist in a no-man's land No-Man's land Hand surgery A fanciful term for the fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint. See Rule of threes. between Irish present and Emilian past. A comparable sense of errance and loss of identity grips the protagonists of other two stories, "La citta Bianca" and "Un altro che non ero io," where displacement is used to address the key question of the contemporary writer's identity, or loss of it. After briefly considering "La citta Bianca" I will focus on "Un altro che non ero io," which best stages Benati's poetics of displacement and ironically addresses the debate on landscape and traveling, and on the role of the writer in contemporary society. "La citta Bianca" introduces a new setting, that of Apulia, and a new character type, a teacher, professor Algeri, who delivers evening courses in the asylum in Reggio Emilia. The reference to the asylum is not coincidental co·in·ci·den·tal adj. 1. Occurring as or resulting from coincidence. 2. Happening or existing at the same time. co·in for the protagonist/narrator continually wonders about his insanity insanity, mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to denote mental aberrations or defects that may relieve a person from as he struggles to write a commissioned story on the town of Molfetta, and as his identity eventually blurs with that of the mad protagonist of the story he sets out to write. Like "Un altro che non ero io," "La citta Bianca" is deeply self-reflexive, in that it stages a writer who obsessively thinks about his writing process or rather his inability to write, and this results in both stories in blurring the two diegetic dimensions and continually shifting between first and third person narration. After wandering about the place and getting lost "nel reticolo delle sue viuzze" (55), through a visual and aural aural /au·ral/ (aw´r'l) 1. auditory (1). 2. pertaining to an aura. au·ral 1 adj. Relating to or perceived by the ear. epiphany Algeri's mad protagonist concludes that: "Il racconto su Molfetta non mi viene perche ho fatto l'errore di andare a Molfetta. Se non fossi andato a Molfetta, ha scritto, ora sarei qui a cercare d'immaginarla. Gia l'esserci andato con Stagagno deve avermi portato scalogna" (57-58). "Il matto," or indeed Algeri, thus realizes that the recipe to describe a place is not in seeing it but rather in imagining it without having seen it--that is in having a "vision" of the place--a lesson that Benati learns directly from Dante, as he remarks in interview (Spunta, "Conversazione" 126). Like "La citta Bianca" "Un altro che non ero io" voices the writer's inability to describe a foreign place--but in his own imagination--and a bitter critique of the commercial nature of contemporary writing. More insistently in·sis·tent adj. 1. Firm in asserting a demand or an opinion; unyielding. 2. Demanding attention or a response: insistent hunger. 3. than the discussed stories, from the very title "Un altro che non ero io" addresses the question of loss of self by displacing the narratorial stance between first and third person, which results in questioning the reliability of the narrator from the very opening: Ovidio era andato nello Utah per conto di una rivista che lo aveva incaricato di scrivere un articolo sulle vedute paesaggistiche di quel paese mettendoci dentro anche un po' d'avventura di modo che l'articolo non desse la sonnolenza. Ovidio poi sono io solo che dopo questo viaggio mi sembra di essere diventato un altro. Avevo anche studiato una guida e letto degli opuscoli ma quando avevo incominciato a scrivere non mi veniva fuori niente. Dico cosi perche Ovidio sono io. La mia testa era troppo piena delle cose che avevo visto e di quelle che avevo letto e giravo avanti e indietro per la stanza fumando una sigaretta dietro l'altra oppure accendendo la radio per creare un sottofondo di musica che poi dovevo spegnere perche altrimenti perdevo il filo dei pensieri ma alla fine mi salto fuori un articolo che giudicai soddisfacente. (71) As in many of Benati's stories, "Un altro che non ero io" hides its kernel in its opening, in the split personality that Ovidio experiences after his sponsored journey to Utah and in his attempt to establish himself as a writer. Continuous allusions to identity and naming recur throughout the story, both with reference to the protagonist and to other characters, and strike us from the very start in the puzzling title, and in the welcoming sign displaying the protagonist's name in capital letters at the airport (OVIDIO), which immediately displaces him as he mentally compares himself to his grandfather, Ovidio Bertani, who, he thinks, would never have dreamt of going to America "Going to America" is the final episode to be aired of Father Ted. It is the 8th episode of the third series of the Channel 4 sitcom and the 25th episode overall. Synopsis . From the opening Ovidio posits a close connection with a not too distant peasant background, which is evidenced in his bearing his grandfather's name and in his wearing his cousin's (Fredo) clothes, and, later on in the story, in his characterization of his "paese emiliano" where he typically plays cards in a bar. This immediately conveys an ingrained sense of displacement, as Ovidio feels like a stranger both abroad and at home, both in the pre sent and in the past--and this sense of displacement is closely linked to his effort to assert himself as a writer. His uneasiness in his role as an improvised im·pro·vise v. im·pro·vised, im·pro·vis·ing, im·pro·vis·es v.tr. 1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation. 2. journalist in his first trip to Utah is such that he even imagines a case of omonimy as the reason for him being offered the job (and the free trip). As already mentioned, the theme of names--whether in the case of omonimy, omission of name (in "Viandanti"), or confusion of name, as in Cani dell'inferno--is a recurrent device in Benati's fiction, which he adapts from modernist writers such as Beckett and Flann O'Brien, and uses to underline underline an animal's ventral profile; the shape of the belly when viewed from the side, e.g. pendulous, pot-belly, tucked up, gaunt. the impossibility of a strong sense of identity in contemporaneity con·tem·po·ra·ne·ous adj. Originating, existing, or happening during the same period of time: the contemporaneous reigns of two monarchs. See Synonyms at contemporary. . Ovidio's anxiety with his own identity is maximized in his second trip to Utah, as nobody seems to recognize him despite his effort to visit exactly the same places (mostly bars) and talk to the same people he encountered in his first trip (typically barmen Barmen is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal. Formerly an independent town, Barmen joined the newly-incorporated city of Wuppertal in January 1930. The asteroid 118173 Barmen is named in its honour, celebrating the 1934 Synod which issued the Barmen Declaration , barmaids, and travel agents) whose identity is in turn puzzling, as in the case of the barmaid who denies having met him before and who claims she has a twin sister. Ovidio's ever-shifting identity is paralleled by his continual rewriting of his text, following different requests of publication or his own desire to overcome the disappointment with his pieces not being published, which results in his decision to repeat the journey and achieve a different experience of landscape. As his travelog gets rejected for it does not comply with the requirements of a magazine article (the publishers complain that it doesn't start in medias res [Latin, Into the heart of the subject, without preface or introduction.] , that is to say it is not imbued with action), Ovidio "dopo qualche settimana pero comincio a scrivere un racconto dove prendeva in giro il modo di scrivere in medias res. Poi cancello tutto e scrisse un racconto dove lui era tomato nello Utah per rifare lo stesso viaggio di due mesi prima ma nessuna delle persone che aveva incontrato si ricordava di lui" (72). The decision of writing a short story on an imaginary second trip to Utah precedes his idea of repeating the journey, as in "La citta Bianca" testifying to the greater power of imagination over reportage. And yet, as the narrator disrupts the linearity of the story with continuous flashbacks and flashforwards, the reader becomes unsure whether Ovidio's fictional narrative precedes and gives rise to his second journey, or whether it is the outcome of his actual second journey, as the reader first tends to assume. The message that is clear, however, is that each journey--whether actual or fictional--is about Ovidio's subjective reading of the landscape and his ever-shifting retelling re·tell·ing n. A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. of his foreign experience. In his words: E forse fu per questa continua rielaborazione del mio scritto sullo Utah che cominciai d'un tratto a covare una strana idea che s'impossesso di me fino a rendermi irrequieto e cioe quella di tornare a fare lo stesso identico viaggio che avevo fatto due mesi prima per rivedere gli stessi luoghi che avevo visto dato che in fondo quello era stato il primo viaggio che avevo fatto in vita mia e a ripensarci adesso m'accorgevo di non aver scritto niente a causa della consapevolezza di doverne scrivere mentre invece quel viaggio poteva aver comportato uno snodo esistenziale che a me era sfuggito dato che tutti i viaggi avvengono all'interno di uno spazio interiore e non in quello esterno come sembrerebbe. (73) If the awareness of having to write about a journey inhibits Ovidio's experience of place (just like Algeri in "La citta Bianca") and results in the failure to have his piece published, similarly other requests of paid contributions fall short of publication, for the writer cannot take enough distance from his original article and from visiting the place. This is comically com·i·cal adj. 1. Provoking mirth or amusement; funny. 2. Of or relating to comedy. com staged in the fact that he adapts his travelog first as an introduction for a painting exhibition, then as a short story for a celebrative book on a "paese emiliano" by simply replacing "i toponimi piu tipici di quella zona o altri nomi come quello del Sunset Grill" (73). He is commissioned this story by "tre individui da un paese emiliano che si era arricchito durante gli anni del boom" (73) who keep chasing after him with publication offers, and who are comically portrayed as characters from a Western movie. Revealingly, the theme of the story that Ovidio finally writes is confusion, adding to the sense of displacement and anxiety felt by the narrator, which grows with each rejection he experiences. Inscribed in·scribe tr.v. in·scribed, in·scrib·ing, in·scribes 1. a. To write, print, carve, or engrave (words or letters) on or in a surface. b. To mark or engrave (a surface) with words or letters. within the frame of a narrative fiction, and filtered through the metaphor of confusion, Ovidio's second journey to Utah takes up oneiric connotations, as his identity is continually negated by anyone he encounters, which questions the veridicity of his first account. The oneiric dimension is reinforced by the cinematic metaphor that connotes his second journey and narration from the start ("Io sono la che parto per la mia seconda escursione nel territorio dello Utah e accendo la musica come si vede nei film," 77). Like the oneiric imagery, the cinematic inter-text serves a double purpose: on the one end it underlines the fictionality of Ovidio's adventure, which originates as an imagined journey in the first place, on the other hand it reinforces the visual nature of the experience of a new landscape, while suggesting the irrationality of the whole adventure. The intertext with classic American movies emerges in the common setting of bars and in the conversations with barmen/barmaids, and in the reference to acting, through which Benati condemns the spreading practice of commercial writing. Exasperated by the lack of memory in everyone he encounters who fails to recognize him, Ovidio starts hearing a voice ("Io invece mi ricordo," 88), which can be described as an off-screen voice, and which paradoxically acknowledges the fictional veridicity of his previous journey, and of Ovidio's very existence as a narrator. This voice does not seem to come from anyone, but to stem from the very representation of the landscape, with which Ovidio can still attune at·tune tr.v. at·tuned, at·tun·ing, at·tunes 1. To bring into a harmonious or responsive relationship: an industry that is not attuned to market demands. 2. himself (88). Given the bar setting where this revelation takes place, and the drinking activity in which Ovidio is engaged, the most likely explanation is that this voice is an aural illusion caused by his use of alcohol. Following his delusion delusion, false belief based upon a misinterpretation of reality. It is not, like a hallucination, a false sensory perception, or like an illusion, a distorted perception. and obsession with literary fame, however, Ovidio attributes this voice to one of the three literary agents (comically described as "tre gigioni") who ubiquitously appear to him both in his "paese emiliano" and in Utah. As the story draws to a close, all logical links seem to collapse creating an increasing sense of confusion (the topic of Ovidio's story) just as he becomes aware of his split identity--a revelation that comically takes place in the toilets (90-91). The greater confusion in the story's conclusion emerges at all levels--textual, spatio-temporal, and personal--as the text becomes growingly incoherent and broken down (omitting the metanarrative remarks that earlier on gave a sense of direction to the story, while emphasizing its repetitive and circular nature), the American and Emilian landscape increasingly merge, and Ovidio becomes unable to recognize himself (as an author), a state which he attributes to his "iniqua volonta di apparire e di essere ricordato" (91). The story powerfully ends in an oneiric loop, as the "tre gigioni" find Ovidio lazily playing a card solitaire solitaire or patience, any card game that can be played by one person. Solitaire is the American name; in England it is known as patience. There are probably more kinds of solitaire than all other card games together. outside his Emilian bar, and suggest he should write a fictional journey, which in fact is what he set out to write in the first place ("Ti inventi un viaggio e noi te lo pubblichiamo. Ormai non importa piu andare nei luoghi, si puo fare tutto da casa. Ce l'hai l'internet?" 92). The setting of the "spianata sulla Via Emilia" where this conversation takes place merges with the terrace of the Sunset Grill, which Ovidio tries unsuccessfully to reach, revealing his unconfessed striving to write American-style (i.e., commercially successful) stories. His effort is symptomatically rendered in slow motion, suggesting a dream-like situation that reveals his desire to achieve fame as a writer: Volevo andar fuori sulla terrazza del Sunset Grill ma non ci riuscivo. Le ho fatte tutte, gli ho detto, e adesso fallisco in questa sciocchezza. Loro non capivano perche io gli sembravo gia fuori sulla spianata di un vecchio bar. Anche la cameriera del Sunset Grill mi guardava senza capire cosa avevo intenzione di fare. Prima volevo andar fuori sulla terrazza e poi ero tornato indietro scomparendo dentro ai cessi. Sentivo la cameriera che mi chiamava: Sir! Dove credeva che andassi? Sono qua, le dicevo. (92) In living at once in an Italian and an American setting, that is in his reality and in his fiction, Ovidio conveys his split identity, which results from his effort to be a published writer, to embrace modern culture (which here is conveyed by the metaphor of American and cinematic culture), while remaining faithful to his regional roots. The theme of confusion serves Benati to voice his critique on the condition of the individual in modern society, and particularly of the contemporary writer, who seems to be continually allured with an illusion of authorial identity by literary agents, who in fact only alienate To voluntarily convey or transfer title to real property by gift, disposition by will or the laws of Descent and Distribution, or by sale. For example, a seller may alienate property by transferring to a buyer a parcel of the seller's land containing a house, in him from reality. In the end, through a spatial deictic deic·tic adj. 1. Logic Directly proving by argument. 2. Linguistics Of or relating to a word, the determination of whose referent is dependent on the context in which it is said or written. reference, Ovidio is to be found neither on the Sunset Grill terrace nor outside his old Emilian bar, but rather in the very fictional text that he has been writing all along, and which finally attests to his own identity as a writer--and thus, indirectly, to Benati's authorial presence ("Sono qua, le dicevo," 92). The themes that pervade per·vade tr.v. per·vad·ed, per·vad·ing, per·vades To be present throughout; permeate. See Synonyms at charge. [Latin perv "Un altro che non ero io," namely the irony against the consumeristic attitude to landscape and traveling, and against the literary market, are even more apparent in Benati's latest collection, Cani dell'inferno, which I will briefly consider in conclusion. (8) As in much of his fiction, here the displacement is ingrained in the autobiographic origins of the text--Benati's teaching in the States--(9) even though its writing took place once he was back in Emilia. Indeed, here the displacement is complete as the whole story takes place in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , although any reference to place is left deliberately vague. Set in a nightmarish hotel/McDonalds/University, the entrance of which seems to be only via the toilets, the novel is composed of eleven chapters, each one titled by the name of its protagonist/narrator, apart from the last one that is untitled. All these characters share a deep sense of displacement and loss of self as they find themselves in an unknown place where they have been sent by their government, and are unsure of what their job entails. Given that Benati himself was "Lettore di Ruolo" in Boston, and that he makes a parody of it in other stories, such as "Cagnolati" in Silenzio in Emilia, it is possible to read Cani dell'inferno as a critique of the governmental system of teaching Italian abroad (which is here ironically portrayed as deportation deportation, expulsion of an alien from a country by an act of its government. The term is not applied ordinarily to sending a national into exile or to committing one convicted of crime to an overseas penal colony (historically called transportation). or confinement con·fine·ment n. 1. The act of restricting or the state of being restricted in movement. 2. Lying-in. confinement ) and, more generally, as a critique of Institutions. To emphasize the paradoxical rationale for this "deportation," each character's name, and thus each chapter, apart from the last one, begins with P: Ponci, Pavera, Perlasca, Picaglia, Polis, Paio, Pokerman, Pigasso, Pistarola, Piciorla (as Benati explains in a recent web interview). The choice of the same initial conveys another key feature of the book, repetition, which is used to maximize the comic effect and the displacement, and to create a sense of unescapable circularity, as the book ends by positing a new beginning: "e tutto ricomincia daccapo" (249). This nightmarish structure can be read as a reference to Flann O'Brien's The Last Policeman, as well as a tribute to Beckett, Kafka, Bernhard, and, above all, Dante, whose Commedia works as a key intertext in all of Benati's fiction. As in the Inferno, the protagonists of Cani dell'inferno are damned to live in a place that they do not understand--neither spatially nor linguistically--persecuted by visual or aural allucinations of dogs, or even real-life dogs, (10) and are supposed to expiate a sin they are unaware of having committed. This situation blocks them in a state of paralysis paralysis or palsy (pôl`zē), complete loss or impairment of the ability to use voluntary muscles, usually as the result of a disorder of the nervous system. as each character is completely disillusioned dis·il·lu·sion tr.v. dis·il·lu·sioned, dis·il·lu·sion·ing, dis·il·lu·sions To free or deprive of illusion. n. 1. The act of disenchanting. 2. The condition or fact of being disenchanted. and unable to work or live satisfactorily. The irony against "the system" here turns into sarcasm and mixes with the critique of the state of the arts, as all characters are failed writers or artists unable to perform. To lament the present commercialization of the arts Benati resurrects the nine muses vested in a modern attire, as each one presides a chapter and an art form, from lyric lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to refer to any short poem that expresses a personal emotion, be it a poetry to comedy and satire, as well as cinema, to the lack of muse and of artistic inspiration Inspiration in artistic composition refers to an irrational and unconscious burst of creativity. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism in the west. in the final chapter, which symbolizes the state of contemporary arts. Whilst ironically rewriting classical mythology Benati indirectly hints at the Italian literary tradition, as each protagonist seems ironically to follow the steps of one of Italy's great writers, from Dante through Petrarch to Pascoli. Locked up in a block of flats from which they can rarely find their way out, the protagonists of Cani dell'inferno represent the quintessence quin·tes·sence n. 1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing. 2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil. 3. of displacement and loss of identity, and of the "death of the author" in contemporary society. Their complete uprootedness prevents them from reaching a sense of fullness and expressing themselves artistically, and condemns them to repeat ceaselessly their paranoid par·a·noid adj. Relating to, characteristic of, or affected with paranoia. n. One affected with paranoia. obsessions, first of all their frustration with their writing block. Through this metaphor Benati laments the present condition of the Italian writer, split between the memory of a rural past and the heritage of a great tradition, and the present, "commercial," urban literature that erases any sense of community. It is perhaps this reliance on comical and sarcastic sar·cas·tic adj. 1. Expressing or marked by sarcasm. 2. Given to using sarcasm. [sarc(asm) + -astic, as in enthusiastic. tones, together with the markedly "local" setting of his stories, that has prevented more readers and critics from fully enjoying Benati's fiction, and that has resulted in the slow acknowledgement of his narratorial skills. And yet, it is exactly through this tone, and ability to address the difficulties of the contemporary individual and writer, torn between the desire to belong to an established literary tradition and the allures of "commercial" success, that Benati has asserted himself as one of the most interesting contemporary narrators, capable of combining the high and literary with the low and comic tradition, both Italian and foreign, from Dante through European modernism to contemporary literature, from Tony Cafferky to Raffaello Baldini. (11) In using landscape and displacement to express the unease of the individual relation to society, Benati originally addresses a core issue of the contemporary debate, suggesting new ways of drawing on the past and of rewriting the storytelling Storytelling Aesop semi-legendary fabulist of ancient Greece. [Gk. Lit.: Harvey, 10] Münchäusen Baron traveler grossly embellishes his experiences. [Ger. Lit. tradition. In this effort, he parallels the work of his closest collaborators, from Gianni Celati and Ermanno Cavazzoni, to Paolo Nori and Ugo Cornia, who similarly problematize Prob´lem`a`tize v. t. 1. To propose problems. the loss of identity of the individual and of the author, through the relation to space and narration. The metaphor of displacement powerfully conveys the split personality of Benati's characters, which is reinforced by their often appearing in pairs, and by the very stories working in pairs--a dichotomy that is mirrored in the recurrent switching from first to third person narration, and that reflects the meandering of the characters' mind. This is maximized in the case of protagonists who struggle to write about a place, particularly after having visited it, for, as both Ovidio and Algeri realize, seeing a place prevents the writer from experiencing a vision. The visionary nature of Benati's fiction condemns characters to an unescapable condition of errance and exile, which is repeatedly compared to that of Dante. It is this insistent sense of errance and irony--at times even sarcasm against contemporary manners--that might have puzzled some critics, and yet that has won many readers to Benati's fiction. With many of his readers I believe that Benati has the ability to convey his visions in a powerful narrative prose and to voice the predicament of the contemporary subject lost between belonging and displacement, and continually seeking an outpost from which to see things clearly--perhaps out at sea, as Algeri concludes in his delirium delirium Condition of disorientation, confused thinking, and rapid alternation between mental states. The patient is restless, cannot concentrate, and undergoes emotional changes (e.g., anxiety, apathy, euphoria), sometimes with hallucinations. and manic man·ic adj. Relating to, affected by, or resembling mania. prose:
invece di andare in treno come ho fatto io, avrei dovuto perdermi
da qualche parte, e poi girare e girare senza mai chiedere
informazioni a nessuno. Girare per tutto il mondo senza mai
chiedere informazioni a nessuno fino ad arrivare in un punto in
mezzo al mare da cui fosse possible avvistare una citta che avrebbe
potuto essere quella di Molfetta, ha scritto sottolineando le
parole "anche potuto essere." E 1i cominciare a immaginare che tipo
di citta poteva essere quella citta vista da cosi lontano.
Ma andare li in treno come ho fatto io, solo un pazzo poteva far
cosi Perche solo i pazzi hanno l'illusione di poter vedere e
immaginare allo stesso tempo. ("La citta bianca" 58-59)
WORKS CITED Anselmi, Gian Mario, and Alberto Bertoni. Una geografia letteraria tra Emilia e Romagna. Bologna Bologna (bōlô`nyä), city (1991 pop. 404,378), capital of Emilia-Romagna and of Bologna prov., N central Italy, at the foot of the Apennines and on the Aemilian Way. : CLUEB, 1997. Ballestra, Silvia. La via per Berlino. Ancona: Transeuropa, 1990. --. La guerra degli Anto. Ancona: Transeuropa, 1992. Benati, Daniele. "Long Vehicle Scania." Narratori delle riserve 24. Il manifesto il manifesto (Italian for "The Manifesto") is an Italian communist newspaper. It was founded as a monthly review in 1969 by a collective of left-wing journalists engaged in the wave of critical thought and activity on the Italian left in that period. 23-24 April 1989: 12-13 --. "Sanremo." Narratori delle riserve. Ed. Gianni Celati. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1992. 31-43. --. "Viandanti." Il Semplice 6. Ed. Gianni Celati and Marianne Schneider (May 1997): 25-38. --. Silenzio in Emilia. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1997. --. "Boiardi." IBC IBC International Building Code IBC Iraq Body Count IBC Institutional Biosafety Committee IBC Inflammatory Breast Cancer IBC International Business Company IBC Independence Blue Cross IBC Insurance Bureau of Canada IBC International Broadcasting Convention 6.2 (1998): 75-78. --. "La citta bianca." Nuova Prosa 29 (Oct. 2000): 47-59. --. "Pistarola." Voci delle pianure. Ed. Peter Kuon and Monica Bandella. Florence: Cesati 2002. --. "Un altro che non ero io." Il silenzio del falco. Racconti per Arturo Loria. Ed. Alberto Bertoni. Turin: Aragno, 2003. 69-92. --. Cani dell'inferno. Milan: Feltrinelli, 2004. --. "The Ballad of Luigi Ghirri." Il Domani (2004). --. "Fine non finire." Racconti di un giorno che sai. Ed. Enrico Ferri Enrico Ferri (1856–1929) was an Italian criminologist, socialist, and student of Cesare Lombroso. However, whereas Lombroso researched the physiological factors that motivated criminals, Ferri investigated social and economic factors. . Milan: Marcos y Marcos, 2005. --. "Mio fratello." Unpublished typescript. Cavazzoni, Ermanno. Il poema dei lunatici. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1987. Celati, Gianni. Lunario del paradiso. Turin: Einaudi, 1978. --. Quattro novelle sulle apparenze. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1987. --. "Narratori delle riserve." Weekly page on Il Manifesto, from Oct. 1988 to Oct. 1989. --. "Collezione di spazi." Il verri (Jan. 2003): 57-92. --. ed. Narratori delle riserve. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1992. Ghirri, Luigi. Il profilo delle nuvole. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1989. Kuon, Peter, and Monica Bandella, eds. Voci delle pianure. Florence: Cesati, 2002. Nori, Paolo. "Daniele Benati." L'indice dei libri del mese 9 (2003): 6-7. Spunta, Marina. "Voci dalle pianure nell'Emilia di Daniele Benati." Romance Studies Romance studies is an umbrella academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak a Romance language. Romance studies departments usually include the study of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. 21.3 (Nov. 2003): 215-30. --. "Conversazione con Daniele Benati." Rassegna Europea di Letteratura Italiana 23 (2004): 117-49. Tondelli, Pier Vittorio. Altri libertini. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1980. Ventura, Riccardo. "Piciorla va in America, Daniele Benati, Cani dell'inferno." L'indice dei libri del mese 12 (Dec. 2004). Notes * Ringrazio Daniele Benati per la sua generosita e disponibilita nel fornirmi copia dei suoi testi pill difficili da rintracciare. (1) Nori 6. Benati published "Sanremo" in Celati's Narratori delle reserve. Silenzio in Emilia is a collection of stories and not a novel. Benati's translations include two novels by Flann O'Brien: La miseria in bocca (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1987) and L'ardua vita (Milan: Giano, 2002) and a collection of stories by the contemporary Irish writer Tony Cafferky, Filosofia deljazz e altre storie irlandesi (Cernusco L., Como: Hestia Edizioni, 1994). (2) Il semplice (Feltrinelli, 1995-1997). Celati's video-stories, or pseudo-documentaries, all produced in Bologna by Pierrot e la rosa, include: Strada provinciale delle anime, 1991; Il mondo mon·do Slang adj. Enormous; huge: a mondo list of pizza toppings. adv. Extremely; very: a mondo big mistake. di Luigi Ghiri, 1999; and Crumbling houses. Visioni di case che crollano, 2003. (3) After his first novels, Le cose non sono le cose (Ravenna: Fernandel, 1999) and Bassotuba non c'e (Rome: Derive Approdi, 1999; Einaudi, 2000), Paolo Nori moved to Einaudi, Stile Libero Libero can refer to:
n. Italian bacon that has been cured in salt and spices and then air-dried. [Italian, diminutive of pancia, belly, from Latin pantex, pantic-.] (2004), and Ente nazionale della cinematografia popolare (2005). Nori also writes critical essays and translates from Russian. (4) A similar device is used in "Pistarola," Voci delle pianure, ed. Kuon and Bandella, later published as chapter 10 of Cani dell'inferno. (5) The influence of Thomas Bernhard on Benati's fiction deserves further study. Benati shares with the Austrian writer an ironical, at times sarcastic tone that he uses to expose what he deems society's main illnesses, such as conformism con·form·ist n. A person who uncritically or habitually conforms to the customs, rules, or styles of a group. adj. Marked by conformity or convention: , the cultural industry, pseudo-intellectualism, while conveying his deep faith in literature and writing as a means of liberation. See Marco Gaetani, "Fotografia vs. Bio-grafia: Thomas Bernhard come educatore: Saggio su Auslo'schung," Il lettore di provincia 116-117 (Jan.-Aug. 2003): 79-98. (6) Benati has translated (but not published) the same story, as well as "The End," in the dialect of Reggio Emilia. (7) Benati expresses deep admiration for Bernhard, whose favorite story, "Gehen," is untranslated in Italian, but can be found in the original with a facing English translation in Three novellas This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by [ expanding it]. This is a selected list of novellas that have gained fame and/or critical and public acclaim. (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003) transl. Peter Jansen Peter Jansen (1852–1923) was a Beatrice, Nebraska sheep rancher and Nebraska state representative and senator. Russia Jansen was born on 1852-03-21 in Berdiansk, a port city on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov in Tsarist Russia where his family had a grain and Kenneth J. Northcott. (8) On this novel, see Ventura 9. (9) See Benati, "Intervista a Daniele Benati su Cani dell'inferno" www.feltrinelli.it. (10) As Benati himself explains, this is a reference to the song quoted at book opening by Robert Johnson Robert Johnson may refer to:
(11) Of Tony Cafferky, Benati has also translated "Nanetti patriottici," Il Semplice 5 (1997). Of Raffaello Baldini, he edited an English translation, Page proof. Carta canta (Boca Raton Boca Raton (bō`kə rətōn`), city (1990 pop. 61,492), Palm Beach co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic; inc. 1925. Boca Raton is a popular resort and retirement community that experienced significant industrial development in the 1970s and 80s. , FL: Bordighera P, 2001) transl. Adria Bernardi. |
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