My attempt to translate a poem from Italian has paid dividends, even if the result is not great poetry. At least it has sent me off on an intellectual journey that is turning out to be of real interest and value to me.
During my recent visit to northern Italy, with a group of friends, we undertook a walk in the area of the famous battle site of Monte Grappa. There are several well-marked routes in the area, and one of these is the “Ring of the Wood of Heroes” (L’Anello del Bosco degli Eroi). It is an interesting concept, in that at intervals as you walk you encounter a variety of works of art (mainly poems and sculptures but also visual images) in which the artists have reflected upon war in general or the specific events in the locality. One poem, by Renzo Pezzani, particularly grabbed my interest, and I set out to try and translate it. As it turns out, I have just started to prepare a talk I am to give to accompany the exhibition of my Presente! series of pictures in Bradford Cathedral, towards the end of next month. As I began to collect my thoughts it became apparent that Pezzani’s poem would make a good peg upon which to hang part of the argument.
I became interested in finding out who Pezzani was, and whether he was just somebody who happened to write a suitable poem or whether he is a recognised figure in Italian literature. It turns out that he is the latter. His major interest, I gather, is as a poet writing in the dialect of the Parma district, and also as a writer of children’s stories. In the early years of the rise of fascism under Mussolini he appears to have held briefly an editorial position with a journal but soon abandoned this for political reasons. He was a committed Catholic and some of his writing has an explicitly religious emphasis.
I’ve decided to focus my talk upon the different approaches to commemoration and reconciliation represented by the official state commemorative mausoleum on the summit of Monte Grappa, the “Ring of the Wood of Heroes” and the communal activities relating to the war in the Friulian community in which I first became interested in these matters. Pezzani’s poem will provide a useful focus for the second of these elements.
It is remarkable how suddenly a task that appears to be vague or fragmented can suddenly come into focus and coherence, and whether or not my efforts stand up as translation they have provided exactly that means of bringing thoughts into order. Time will tell!