Journal of Italian Translation

English Translations of Poems by Giorgio Caproni
by Pasquale Verdicchio
Pasquale Verdicchio has translated the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini,
Antonio Porta, Alda Merini and Giorgio Caproni (The Wall of the Earth),
among others. He is a poet and essayist whose interests range from contemporary
poetry to photography, to cinema and music. He teaches at the University
of California, San Diego.
Giorgio Caproni (1912-1990) Born in Livorno, Caproni is usually considered
to be a Ligurian poet given the fact of his family’s move to Genova
when he was young. Most of his life was however spent in Rome, where he
was a teacher. His works, carefully exploration into the sparcity of language
and expression, generally have dealt with human relations resultant from
war, deracination, existential and spiritual conflict. His poetry has been
recognized with major prizes in Italy: Stanze della funicolare (Viareggio Prize),
Il muro della terra (Premio Gatto), Il Franco cacciatore (Premio Montale e Premio
Feltrinelli). His literary activity included translation from the French of the
works of Proust, Baudelaire, Celine, de Maupasant, Genete and Apollinaire.
Caproni’s first translated collection in English, the Wall of the Earth, appeared
in 1991 through Guernica Editions. The poems here presented are selected
from Caproni’s posthumous work Res amissa (Mondadori, 1991), edited and
introduced by Giorgio Agamben.
From
RES AMISSA
by
GIORGIO CAPRONI
translated by
Pasquale Verdiccho