Journal of Italian Translation - Brooklyn College - Academic Home ...

Book Reviews
overt nostalgia in his poetry». (21) As we will see, the translator
has been skilful in the words chosen to replicate the Italian, always
refusing those commonly and subsequently easily conceived during
the completion of his task.
Both the editor and the translator have done an excellent job in
selecting the most representative poems from the three major collections
of poems by Giampiero Neri (Teatro naturale, 1998, which
features all of his previous collections published between 1976 and
1992; Armi e mestieri, 2004; Paesaggi inospiti, 2004) and translating
them according to the most relevant elements of Neri’s literary
style. “Albergo degli angeli” (The Inn of the Angels) is one of the
oldest Neri’s poems included in this anthology. It first appeared
in the collection published by Neri in 1976, L’aspetto occidentale del
vestito (The Western Look of the Dress). Section five of this poem,
like so many other Neri passages, features a very prosaic tone that
does not correspond to a clear, factual and semantic horizon. From
this deception of the reader’s expectations comes the sensation of
estrangement, lingering profoundly after reading this text:
Sta di fatto che nemmeno un bambino stava giocando
sulla spiaggia quando il fronte del temporale si staccò
dalla linea più lontana e cominciò a venire avanti
[rapidamente.
Prima correndo sul filo dell’acqua solleva due pesanti
ali e si nasconde in silenzio dietro banchi di nuvole, e
gettata ll’improvviso una luce, come di stella cometa,
[ci viene incontro.
Allora è tardi per rimandare le spiegazioni a un’altra
[volta.
Guardo una mistica frana di castelli in aria. (36)
The translator has successfully endorsed the prosaic register
of the poem, without trying to “over-poeticize” the text:
It’s a matter of fact that not even a child
was playing on the beach when the storm’s front
broke off from the further line and started to come rapidly
[forward.
At first running over the water line, it raised
385