Raccontarsi in versi. La poesia autobiografica in Inghilterra e in Spagna (1950-1980)

Launch of 'Raccontarsi in versi' in a book shop in Vercelli, Italy. In the picture Menotti Lerro

Raccontarsi in versi ^[1][2] is a critical book by Menotti Lerro about autobiography, published by Carocci. Its full title is Raccontarsi in versi. La poesia autobiografica in Inghilterra e in Spagna (1950-1980) ("Telling about oneself in verse: autobiographical poetry in England and Spain 1950-1980").

Synopsis

The volume is divided into two main parts. The first one deals with the development of the autobiographical genre from the Enlightenment till the contemporary period, in which it is possible to notice the importance of the interaction among literary genres. It also analyses the possibility for an autobiographer to write his memories in verse, contrary to the classical definition by Philippe Lejeune of an autobiography as a "retrospective narrative in prose of a real story". In this work Lerro claims that there are reasons to affirm that indeed an autobiography written in verse can be equally or even more efficient in describing memories and recreating past feeling.

In the second part the author investigates how four poets - two English and two Spanish - have expressed their autobiographical impulse. These poets have different identity of genre, yet as concerns their poetics they have some points in common. Attention is focused on two pairings, each of an English poet and a Spanish poet. In this way also a comparison between England and Spain is brought out. The author shows that Seamus Heaney and Jaime Gil de Biedma trust autobiography as a means to re-find their own singular identity. He goes on to underline how Thom Gunn and Carlos Barral consider that through the mind it is not possible to save the reality of images of the past. Gunn often examines the difficulty of recreating a past feeling through poetry, while Barral frequently affirms that he feels unable to remember. The second poet also wonders if what he is remembering is really the truth - the real story of what happened - or if he is just recreating, just imagining.

Magazines and Newspapers

• "Annali d'italianistica" by Anne Tordi^[3]
• "Avvenire" ^[4] by Maurizio Cucchi
• "Pulp" by Stefano Raimondi^[5]

Video

• Video of the book launch at the Poetry's House of Milan
• Video of the book launch at the Mondadori book shoop of Vercelli

References

External links

• OPAC SBN Listing in Italian National Library Service catalogue
• Copac Works by Lerro
• Cervantes Libraries