Thomas E. Peterson 275 IL SOGGIORNO IN INFERNO AND
Transcript
Thomas E. Peterson 275 IL SOGGIORNO IN INFERNO AND
T h o m a s E . Peterson 275 IL SOGGIORNO IN INFERNO AND RELATED WORKS BY AMELIA ROSSELLI A rthur R i m b a u d writes in Nuit de l'Enfer, "L'enfer ne p e u t attaquer les p a i e n s " , as part of his longer w o r k , Une saison en enfer . A m e l i a Rosselli, derivative of R i m b a u d , w r o t e a p o e m in 1959 entitled Il soggiorno in inferno, as part of h e r 1963 poetic s e q u e n c e Variazioni belliche. T h e ten lines are an infernal recollection by o n e o v e r w h o m " H e l l " did h a v e s o m e p o w e r . "I think I am in hell, and therefore I a m . It is the result of my c a t e c h i s m " , w r o t e R i m b a u d . Rosselli, too, w a s challenged b y the " c a t e c h i s m " o f her formation. B o r n in Paris in 1930, A m e l i a w a s s e v e n w h e n her father a n d u n c l e , Carlo a n d N e l l o Rosselli ( w h o h a d directed the R e s i s t a n c e n e w s p a p e r a n d m o v e m e n t , "Giustizia e L i b e r t à " ) , w e r e assassinated by Fascists. After leaving F r a n c e at a g e 10 she r e s i d e d in E n g l a n d and the U . S . before r e t u r n i n g to Italy at age 16 after the liberation. H e r e x p e r i e n c e of c a t a s t r o p h e a n d transience w a s c o m p o u n d e d by a g r a v e illness, facts that c o n t r i b u t e d to her isolation and dejection. L i k e R i m b a u d , she d i s c o v e r e d an antidote in poetry: "la p o e s i a è fatto di liberazione, n o n di riflessione", she w r i t e s . Rosselli b e g i n s h e r poetic career in a trio of l a n g u a g e s - Italian, English, and F r e n c h - a n d in a spirit of theoretical e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n . A m u s i c i a n a n d student of m u s i c theory, she is d r a w n to c o m p a r e the three l a n g u a g e s in t e r m s of their inherent p r o p e r t i e s (of meter, lexicon, r h y t h m , and so forth), b u t also their c o m m o n u s a g e and the w e i g h t of their literary m e m o r i e s . In her r e s e a r c h she d i s c o v e r s F r e n c h to be closest to the " s u r r e a l i s t i c " e l e m e n t of the p s y c h e ; she states, with s o m e irony, " S i m p l y b e c a u s e Surrealism w a s born in 1 2 A. Rimbaud, Complete Works, op. cit., 182: "Hell has no power over pagans". A. Rosselli, "Diario in tre lingue", in Primi scritti 1952-1963, op. cit., p. 99: "Poetry is made of liberation, not reflection". 1 2 T h o m a s E . Peterson 276 F r a n c e , is n o w national (natural?) l a n g u a g e " . T h i s t e n d e n c y is e v i d e n t in her o w n verse: 3 Les auberges ont fermé leur clefs, les murs internes sont roses, leurs pétales se répètent en se croisant les mains (Elle est devenue folle, elle ne retrouve pas son époux il est devenu mort) . 4 T h e parallelism here b e t w e e n linguistic rupture, loss o f s e n s e , a n d e m o t i o n a l loss, c o n t i n u e s t h r o u g h h e r poetry. Pier V i n c e n z o M e n g a l d o h a s n o t e d h o w her " o b s c u r e interior m o n o l o g u e c o n t a i n s a d e s p e r a t e will t o w a r d conversation; ' p a s s i o n ' tries to e n g a g e ' r e a s o n ' in a d i a l e c t i c " . T h e r e is also in this will a p r o f o u n d religious n e e d that e m e r g e s with clarity in the early w o r k s in English, in w h i c h Rosselli is d r a w n to the seventeenth c e n t u r y M e t a p h y s i c a l p o e t s . In the f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e from On Fatherish Men, she s p e a k s of h e r o w n family d r a m a a n d h e r decision to a v o i d the sort of c a t a c l y s m (and c a t e c h i s m , p e r h a p s ) that h a d destroyed h e r father: 5 I do Love thee, and beg thee be a True Father, Mine is Gone into the Grave, waving a Banner of Idiocee: be thou more Intelligent; keep from Policee, and Take Mee. Humbly shall I Spit at thee; Crawling my Hand at your HindPocket, as you Kisse Me. But no Lucrous Intents had I, see; twas to wipe the Loaden sea of my Love-tears, with Thine Hankerchiee . 6 H e r e with the h e l p of m i x e d registers a n d linguistic distortions Rosselli attacks ideology per se as a " B a n n e r of Idiocee". O n c e she h a s settled on Italian as h e r l a n g u a g e of c h o i c e , she will do the s a m e . Italian Ibid., p. 95. A. Rosselli, "Les auberges ont fermé leur clefs", in Primi scritti 1952-1963, op. cit., p. 36: "The hotels have locked their keys,/ the internal walls are roses, their petals/ are repeated as they cross their hands/ (She became mad,/ she couldn't find her husband,/ he became dead)". P. V. Mengaldo, Poeti italiani del Novecento, op. cit., p. 996: "l'oscuro monologo interiore contiene una disperata volontà di colloquio, la 'passione' tenta dialettizzarsi con la 'ragione'". A. Rosselli, Primi scritti 1952-1963, op. cit., p. 64. 3 4 5 6 A m e l i a R o s s e l l i ' s II soggiorno in inferno 277 d i s t i n g u i s h e s itself, she says, by its "restful m u s i c , [and] less acute, m o r e a d a p t a b l e r h y t h m : [I]n Italian w h a t p r e d o m i n a t e s is the c o n c r e t e , the u n c o n s c i o u s Greek-Italian verse, as well as the stornello" . T h e identification of an " u n c o n s c i o u s " level of the classical and the p o p u l a r e m b e d d e d in the Italian tradition g i v e s rise to h e r e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n w i t h meter. S h e d i s m i s s e s the a c c e n t u a t i v e (or qualitative) f o u n d a t i o n of Italian v e r s e in the p r o c e s s of s e e k i n g to r e c o v e r the q u a n t i t a t i v e r h y t h m s of the classic l a n g u a g e s . H e r private s e a r c h - i n c l u d i n g h e r rejection of the sort of allegiances that e n d in m a r t y r d o m - is translated into m a n i p u l a t i o n s o f the p u b l i c l a n g u a g e . S h e states that t h e u n i t y o f her " l o g i c a l s o n o r o u s - a s s o c i a t i v e e x p e r i e n c e " ("la e s p e r i e n z a s o n o r a logica a s s o c i a t i v a " ) i s o n e " s h a r e d b y m a n y p e o p l e s a n d able t o b e reflected in m a n y l a n g u a g e s " . Citing a c h a n g e in m o d e r n s p e e c h patterns, 7 irregolarità ritmo moderno dovuto a varietà di durata (irrazionale musicale) della sillaba 8 she formulates a metrics of a " s p a c e - c u b e " in w h i c h " t i m e , in p o e t r y , b e c o m e s the v o l u m e of the c u b e ; that is / d e p t h t h r o u g h the w a i t i n g s p a c e s b e t w e e n the lines"; " t h e shifting o f accents p r o v o k e s d y n a m i c variations [...] inside the c u b e " . A n d , w h i l e she is a d o p t i n g a " c l o s e d m e t r i c a l " style, so different from the d i s p e r s i v e a n d ludic free v e r s e of her b e g i n n i n g s , she retains from the earlier w o r k " t h e metrical f r e e d o m that c o u l d v a r y gently a c c o r d i n g t o m y a s s o c i a t i o n s a n d a c c o r d i n g t o the w h i m s o f m y p l e a s u r e " . 9 10 In his The Pleasure of the Text, R o l a n d B a r t h e s w r i t e s : " N o s o o n e r h a s a w o r d b e e n said, s o m e w h e r e , a b o u t t h e p l e a s u r e of the text, than Ibid., p. 75: "Vital (riposante musica, ritmo meno acuto, adattabile)"; p. 76: "nell'italiano predomina il concreto, verso greco-latino inconscio, anche stornello". A. Rosselli, "Diario in tre lingue", in Primi scritti 1952-1963, op. cit., p. 73: "irregularity modern rhythm due to variety of duration irrational musical of the syllable". A. Rosselli, Primi scritti 1952-1963, op. cit., p. 101: "il tempo nella poesia diventa volume del cubo; cioè / profondità tramite le attesa-spazio tra verso e verso"; "piazzamento accenti / provoca variazioni dinamiche [...] nell'interno del cubo". 7 8 9 A. Rosselli, " S p a z i m e t r i c i " , in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 7 8 : " Q u a n t o alla m e t r i c a p o i , e s s e n d o libera essa v a r i a v a g e n t i l m e n t e a s e c o n d a dell'associazione ο del m i o p i a c e r e " . 10 T h o m a s E . Peterson 278 t w o p o l i c e m e n are ready t o j u m p o n y o u : the political p o l i c e m a n a n d the p s y c h o a n a l y t i c p o l i c e m a n : futility and/or guilt, p l e a s u r e is either idle or vain, a class notion or an i l l u s i o n " . If, as he a d d s , " T h e r e are few writers w h o c o m b a t b o t h ideological repression a n d libidinous r e p r e s s i o n " , Rosselli is such a writer; the c o m b a t that is j o i n e d in the Variazioni belliche is a w a r against the m y t h of the w a r r i o r - against sophistry a n d r e d u c t i o n i s m - a n d for the pleasure, e v e n the erotics, of the t e x t . W h e t h e r it c o n c e r n s syllabation, lexis, register, meter, or t h e m e , she refuses to see style as the p r o d u c t of syntax, or to see m e a n i n g as s o m e t h i n g "fit i n t o " a p r e e s t a b l i s h e d structure: " n o n è il c o n t e n u t o c h e d e v e fit in lo spazio / ma tu c h e devi p l a s m a r e lo spazio / c i o è il t u o contenuto deve provocare lo spazio" . The phonic and nonverbal aspects of verse are not relegated to the status of o r n a m e n t or c o n t i n g e n c y . N o r is any effort m a d e to arrive at a superficial h a r m o n y b e t w e e n the parts and the w h o l e . T h u s she rejects a n y h i e r a r c h y o f syntax over semantics, or of the digital m o d e of c o m m u n i c a t i o n o v e r the analogical. 11 12 13 14 [T]he term ["Analogic communication"] must comprise posture, gesture, facial expression, voice inflection, the sequence, rhythm, and cadence of the words themselves, and any other nonverbal manifestation of which the organism is capable, as well as the communicational clues unfailingly present in any context in which an interaction takes place . 15 R. Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text, op. cit., p. 58. For Barthes, pleasure is a "claim lodged against the separation of the text, for what the text says, through the particularity of its name, is the ubiquity of pleasure, the atopia of bliss". R. Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text, op. cit., p. 35. A. Rosselli, "Diario in tre lingue", in Primi scritti 1953-1963, op. cit., p. 109: "It is not the content that must fit in the space, but you who must shape the space / that is your content must provoke the space". A. N. Whitehead has written in Modes of Thought, op. cit., p. 62: "In the history of European thought, the discussion of aesthetics has been almost ruined by the emphasis upon the harmony of the details". Rosselli is rare in her canny rejection of this prejudice so inherent to the classical and romance tradition. P. Watzlawick, J. H. Beavin, D. D. Jackson, Pragmatics of Human Communication, p. 62. 11 12 13 14 15 A m e l i a R o s s e l l i ' s Il soggiorno in inferno 279 O n l y by u n d e r s t a n d i n g this ostensive m o d a l i t y , can o n e b e g i n to assess the n o v e l t y of Rosselli's integration of the analogic a n d digital m o d e s of communication. Human beings communicate both digitally and analogically. Digital language has a highly complex and powerful logical syntax but lacks adequate semantics in the field of relationship, while analogic language possesses the semantics but has no adequate syntax for the unambiguous definition of the nature of relationships . 16 S u c h a distinction is useful in e x p l a i n i n g Rosselli's t e n d e n c y t o w a r d s g r a m m a t i c a l impurities (such as b a r b a r i s m , p u n , solecism, lapsus, analocuthon), w h i c h p r o v i d e important information a b o u t c o n t e x t a n d relation not available in the p u r e syntax of the p o e m , e v e n w h i l e that syntax - m u s i c a l , ordered, a n d m a t h e m a t i c a l - is essential to h e r w o r k . W i t h this polarity in m i n d let us look at the g n o m i c p o e m , Il soggiorno in inferno . I h a v e highlighted the lexical d o u b l i n g s iterations, r e d u n d a n c i e s , and parallelisms - and a t t e m p t e d to s u g g e s t the p o e m ' s overall dual organization. 17 18 Il soggiorno in inferno era di natura divina ma le lastre della provvidenza ruggivano nomi retrogradi e le esperienze del passato si facevano più voraci e la luna pendeva anch'essa non più melanconico e le rose del giardino sfiorivano lentamente al sole dolce. Se sfioravo il giardino esso mi penetrava con la sua dolcezza nelle ossa se cantavo improvvisamente il sole cadeva. Non era dunque la natura divina delle cose che scuoteva il mio vigoroso animo ma la malinconia. T w o interpenetrating structures are at w o r k : a s i m p l e logicala r g u m e n t a t i v e structure i n t e r w o v e n w i t h a chiastic a n d s y n c h r o n i c structure. T h e former, digital, structure is linear a n d exploits t r o p e s of selection: antithesis, m e t a p h o r , r h y m e . T h e latter, analogical, structure is circular, reflexive, and s y n c h r o n i c , a n d exploits tropes of contiguity: p a r a n o m a s i a , p o l y s y n d e t o n , duplication, alliteration. T h e former leads to a c o n c l u s i o n : that it w a s the k n o w l e d g e of m e l a n c h o l y that s h o o k the Ibid., pp. 66-67. On the importance of lapsus, see P. P. Pasolini, "Notizia su Amelia Rosselli", op. cit. A. Rosselli, Il soggiorno in inferno, in Antologia Poetica, op. cit., p. 42. 16 17 18 T h o m a s E . Peterson 280 poet's soul a n d not the " d i v i n e n a t u r e " o f things, o r o f w h a t w a s external. B u t this c o n c l u s i o n is h o l l o w without the s e m a n t i c d a t a g i v e n b y the latter, w h i c h o p e n s o u t w a r d from the center o f the p o e m , a n d w h o s e m o v e m e n t c o n c e r n s the vaster nature o f relation b e t w e e n self a n d m e m o r y , self and t r a n s c e n d e n c e , self and reader. It b e g i n s a n d e n d s phonically, a s " s o u n d e v e n t s " m a d e p r o g r e s s i v e l y into series o f letters, syllables, w o r d s , clusters of w o r d s , then lines of similar duration (all r o u g h l y sixteen syllables), accented by visual p a u s e s b e t w e e n lines. T h e p o e m o p e n s dialectically, o p p o s i n g " i n f e r n o " a n d " d i v i n a " , a n opposition repeated in w h a t a p p e a r e d to the p o e t in " h e l l " : the r e t r o g r a d e n a m e s on the p l a q u e s or plates, a n d the solar a n d p a s t o r a l e x p e r i e n c e of w e l l - b e i n g , in w h i c h the roses are no l o n g e r m e l a n c h o l y b u t naturally fading. T h e s e c o n d half of the p o e m - a n d the s e c o n d of three sentences - b e g i n s ironically, as " s f i o r i v a n o " is e c h o e d by "sfioravo". T h e providential a u r a of the o p e n i n g ( " p r o v v i d e n z a " ) is altered by the s u d d e n n e s s of c h a n g e , a song b e g u n " i m p r o v v i s a m e n t e " . A n d w h i l e i n the o p e n i n g " t h e m o o n w a s h a n g i n g o v e r h e a d n o l o n g e r m e l a n c h o l y " ("la luna p e n d e v a anch'essa n o n più m e l a n c o n i c o " ) n o w " t h e sun w a s falling" ("il sole c a d e v a " ) . I n the final s e n t e n c e , t h e " I " f i g u r e realizes that her " v i g o r o u s s o u l " h a d not b e e n s h a k e n b y the " d i v i n e nature o f t h i n g s " , o f w h a t w a s external, b u t r a t h e r b y melancholy. In e x p l o r i n g the relation b e t w e e n herself and h e r past, Rosselli h a s a r r a n g e d eleven verbs, a l m o s t exactly o n e p e r line, all in the imperfect tense. This m e m o r i a l style leads the p o e t to a r e c k o n i n g , the authenticity of w h i c h is also g u a r a n t e e d by " m i s t a k e s " at the t y p e w r i t e r (as " m e l a n c o n i c o " , that s h o u l d be feminine, to a g r e e w i t h " l u n a " ) that c o n v e y the i m m e d i a c y o f h e r p a s s i o n and musical i m p u l s e (the c h a n g e to " m e l a n c o n i c a " is m a d e in Le poesie). T h e figurative p r e m i s e of Il soggiorno in inferno is s e e m i n g l y classical; a recollection of a visit to the u n d e r w o r l d w h e r e the n a r r a t o r confronted the fierceness o f her m e m o r i e s ; p r e s u m a b l y t o d e t a c h herself from sin, particularly m e l a n c h o l y (tristitia, sloth, acedia, spiritual c o w a r d i c e ) and to a c c o m p l i s h thereby a return to s p r i n g , to h o p e a n d s w e e t n e s s , to the living natural force of s o n g a n d light. N o t a b a d synthesis, yet i f w e return t o the b e g i n n i n g w e see that t h e proliferation of tropes d o e s not allow us to a n a l y z e m e a n i n g this clearly. In the opposition b e t w e e n the divine nature of things, cose, a n d the w e i g h t of events or e x p e r i e n c e , the former dissipates a n d is illusory, w h i l e the latter, t h e rose, d e t e r m i n e and are d e t e r m i n e d by the A m e l i a R o s s e l l i ' s Il soggiorno in inferno 281 poet's p s y c h e , her reality and relation w i t h m e m o r y . T h e rose as a s y m b o l o f t r a n s c e n d e n c e and pleasure, despite h e l l ' s p e r s i s t e n c e a n d the p h e n o m e n o n of m e l a n c h o l y , deserves further investigation. T h e i m a g e of the rose occurs in several of Rosselli's s u b s e q u e n t p o e m s , m o s t recently in Impromptu, a d a r k and difficult poema published in 1 9 8 1 . H e r e w h a t w e ' v e called hell is called " t h e l o n g military c a m p a i g n " of life, amidst w h i c h the rose stands for the "difficulty" of living, not p e r c e i v e d in a " d r e a m " but " a s if it w e r e " : Se risentimento ha per causa questa lunga campagna militare per forza v'aggiungo ch'era nel mio sogno una intera visione del vostro dipinto non di difficoltà di rosa ma come se fosse, nell'esistenza di qui, l'alloro che morale m'aveva ingiunto a dirmi ch'io sono tra i grandi e nascondo perfino il piccolo [.] 19 In general Rosselli's u s e of the rose topos is v a g u e a n d fertile in t h e m a n n e r seen a b o v e . E m p t y a n d full, incidental but deliberate, it is a senhal within a h i g h l y a m b i g u o u s love p o e t r y standing for the a b s e n t lover, a n o n y m o u s , a n d the flower of the b u r i e d stornello, b a l a n c e d b e t w e e n the respective isolations of chastity a n d w a n t o n n e s s . T h i s can be e x t r e m e l y simple: i giovani, le loro rose simili a te: i giovani le loro rose, simili a me: i giovani, i loro torti, simili ai nostri. 20 A. Rosselli, Impromptu, op. cit., p. 25: "If resentment has as its cause / this long military campaign /I add by necessity that in my / dream it was a whole / vision of your painting, / not of a rose's difficulty / but as if it were, in the existence of here, the laurel that, being moral / had enjoined me to tell myself // that I am among the grand and yet I hide even what is small". 19 T h o m a s E . Peterson 282 Or, as in the following lines, it can reflect a great c o m p l e x i t y , a n e e d greater than w h a t l a n g u a g e can describe, thus a figure of the s u b l i m e . Rosselli recalls the positive n e e d in her y o u t h to d e c l a r e herself "illiterate" in the l a n g u a g e of e x p e r i e n c e : Con tutta la candida presunzione della mia giovane età stabilivo inventarli. Rose coronavano le mie pezze e la luce brillava attraverso un occhio quasi crudele. La regola d'onore era l'inesperienza! Regolatevi secondo il momento giusto esclamò l'analfabeta . 21 T h e s a m e sort of s u b l i m e informality persists w h e n she is ill w i t h P a r k i n s o n ' s disease. W r i t i n g from her sickbed that the d e c o r a t i v e rosette on her garter belt (she coins the w o r d s " p o r t a c a l z a " a n d "tiracalze") represents an obstacle, she folds her h a n d s to p r a y , in o r d e r to be in " G o d ' s h a n d s " and is s u p p o r t e d in that act by her o w n "internal civic tension". T h e m e m o r y o f y o u t h , the u n e a s i n e s s o v e r p u b e r t y a n d social standing, and the l o o m i n g sense of v i o l e n c e a n d i g n o r a n c e in society, color her interior d i a l o g u e , d r a m a t i z e d h e r e by a s w i t c h from t h e s e c o n d to first p e r s o n : Ruvido il guanciale mentre non dormi, una rosetta sul porta calza, tiracalze; strettoie delle difficoltà. Per essere nelle mani di Dio giunsi le mani, le punte alleggerite da una pressione civica interna . 22 At times the " t u " figure is a s h a d o w y partner, absent or a s l e e p , as w h e n the p o e t r e c o u n t s her w a k i n g d r e a m , from within a f e m i n i n e A. Rosselli, "i giovani, le loro rose", in Documento, op. cit., p. 191: "the young, their roses // similar to you: the young / their roses, similar // to me: the young, their / errors, similar to ours". A. Rosselli, "Con tutta la candida presunzione", in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 69: "With all the candid presumption of my young age I established inventories. Roses crowned my togs and light shone through an almost cruel eye. / / The rule of honor was inexperience! Adjust yourself according to the right moment exclaimed the illiterate one". A. Rosselli, Risposta, in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 87: "The pillow rough - when you don't sleep, a rosette on the garter-belt; the straits of difficulty. To be in God's hands I put my hands together, the tips lightened by an internal civic pressure". 20 21 22 A m e l i a R o s s e l l i ' s Il soggiorno in inferno 283 c o n s c i o u s n e s s , in w h i c h pain, sorrow, a n d m e l a n c h o l y are funneled into a form of resistance, a sort of "alibi": tu fermasti gli occhi al solco della primavera incantando un mondo di bestie con vetrali lacrime che non scendevano ma s'imbrogliavano nel tuo sonno tutto rose . 23 T h e alibi is a n o t h e r identity or an " e l s e w h e r e " ; h e r e it is the " t u " that involves a translation or crossing over to a n o t h e r p l a c e , w h e r e o n e is capable of m a k i n g a decision that c h a n g e s one's life. T h i s e l s e w h e r e is not the p r o d u c t of flight, but derives from the p o s i n g of a question, a n d thus a relation to an interlocutor. O n e m e a n s of a c c e s s i n g the alibi is the u s e of creative errors of l a n g u a g e . T h e p h o n i c s t r a t u m - Saussure's anagrams and paragrams - adds a semantic richness concerning the quality of relation that the digital a n d syntactic strata cannot. T h u s Giudici refers to Rosselli's " u s e of [...] syntactic inversion, often on t h e level n o t o f syntax b u t o f s i g n i f i e d s " . L e x i c a l l y Rosselli a c c o m p l i s h e s the s a m e sort of effects t h r o u g h the t r o p e s of repetition a n d surprise. B y p h o n i c r e d u n d a n c y interspersed with rare a n d s h o c k i n g i m a g e s , she redirects despair into pleasure; a n d by the incessant u s e of s u c h t r o p e s , she fabricates an erotics of the text. This m e a n s that love is present, n o t that the lover is present. As Shelley said, the p o e t is the least poetic of creatures. A n d Rosselli, in her faithfulness to life as lived, w i t h its terrors a n d bliss, leads to a m o r e g e n u i n e i n t i m a c y than is at first a p p a r e n t to the reader. H e r e again w r i t i n g of illness, in a r u n - o n s e n t e n c e , Rosselli e m p l o y s "faded r o s e s " to describe the e n d of the creative act, w i t h s o m e indifference a s t o w h y , w h e n o r t o w h o m t h e fatal quitting o c c u r s : 24 Con la malattia in bocca spavento per gli spaventapasseri rose stinte e vi sono macchie sul muro piccolissime nel granaio dei tuoi pensieri: A. Rosselli, Cercare nel rompersi della sera un nascondiglio, in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 106: "you set your eyes on the furrow of spring / bewitching a world of beasts with tears / of glass which did not fall but grew entangled / in your sleep entirely of roses". Giovanni Giudici, "Per Amelia Rosselli", in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 8: "uso di [...] inversione sintattica [...] non di rado a livello non di sintassi ma di significati". 23 24 T h o m a s E . Peterson 284 e con quale colore smetti di dipingere? 25 Impurities of various sorts in Rosselli's w o r k allow a s e l f - e n c o d e d c o m m a n d m e s s a g e to d e v e l o p in contrast to the report m e s s a g e , or literal content, o f the p o e m . T h e c o m m a n d m e s s a g e c o n c e r n s p r o c e s s a n d relation; it is e n h a n c e d by analogical c o m m u n i c a t i o n . T h e r e p o r t m e s s a g e c o n c e r n s a closer digital interpretation of the i m m e d i a t e c o n t e n t of w h a t is said, in and of itself. Since, for Rosselli, the " w h o l e d i s c o u r s e of p o e t r y indicates the t h o u g h t itself", she m u s t e n g a g e in distortions, such as analocuthon a n d discontinuity to set the b a l a n c e aright: Rosa ripulita solitudine dimenticabile contadino meticoloso migliore del mondo riconoscersi serbatoio di nullità recondita sfinita sopraffazione morte-solitudine tanto più pregevole se sottile m'armo . 26 In s u m m a r y , Rosselli's rose b e l o n g s to a time or p l a c e that is n o t h e r e a n d n o w . It is a retrospective a n d anticipatory figure, a figure of m e l a n c h o l y , lushness, a n d potentiality - it is a m a n t l e and a m a n a c l e of religious h e d o n i s m , o f m u s i c a l practice, o f vertigo b u t also o f b a l a n c e . It is a manifold s y m b o l of the tangles of l a n g u a g e a n d the e s c a p e from t h e m . A m i d s t so m a n y deferrals a n d a b s e n c e s , Rosselli d e m o n s t r a t e s a faithfulness to e x p e r i e n c e , to the e x p e r i m e n t of life, in w h i c h t h e risk of p e r i s h i n g is a l w a y s present. H e r writing is the act of a scribe w h o d o c u m e n t s the interior v o i c e that p a r a d o x i c a l l y p u s h e s h e r to A. Rosselli in AA. VV., I percorsi della nuova poesia italiana, op. cit., p. 85: "With the disease in your mouth/ a fright/ for the scarecrows/ faded roses and there are smears on the wall/ tiny in the hayloft of your thoughts: and with what color do you make/ your final brushstroke?" A. Rosselli, Rosa ripulita, in Documento, op. cit., p. 169: "Freshened rose / forgettable solitude / meticulous peasant / best in the world / to see yourself as a vessel / of recondite nullity / overwrought overwhelmed / death-solitude / all the more praiseworthy / if subtle, I arm myself. 25 26 A m e l i a R o s s e l l i ' s Il soggiorno in inferno 285 c o n s c i o u s n e s s , in w h i c h pain, sorrow, a n d m e l a n c h o l y are funneled into a form of resistance, a sort of "alibi": tu fermasti gli occhi al solco della primavera incantando un mondo di bestie con vetrali lacrime che non scendevano ma s'imbrogliavano nel tuo sonno tutto rose . 23 T h e alibi is a n o t h e r identity or an " e l s e w h e r e " ; h e r e it is the " t u " that involves a translation or crossing over to a n o t h e r p l a c e , w h e r e o n e is capable of m a k i n g a decision that c h a n g e s one's life. T h i s e l s e w h e r e is not the p r o d u c t of flight, but derives from the p o s i n g of a question, a n d thus a relation to an interlocutor. O n e m e a n s of a c c e s s i n g the alibi is the u s e of creative errors of l a n g u a g e . T h e p h o n i c s t r a t u m - Saussure's anagrams and paragrams - adds a semantic richness concerning the quality of relation that the digital a n d syntactic strata cannot. T h u s Giudici refers to Rosselli's " u s e of [...] syntactic inversion, often on t h e level n o t o f syntax b u t o f s i g n i f i e d s " . L e x i c a l l y Rosselli a c c o m p l i s h e s the s a m e sort of effects t h r o u g h the t r o p e s of repetition a n d surprise. B y p h o n i c r e d u n d a n c y interspersed with rare a n d s h o c k i n g i m a g e s , she redirects despair into pleasure; a n d by the incessant u s e of s u c h t r o p e s , she fabricates an erotics of the text. This m e a n s that love is present, n o t that the lover is present. As Shelley said, the p o e t is the least poetic of creatures. A n d Rosselli, in her faithfulness to life as lived, w i t h its terrors a n d bliss, leads to a m o r e g e n u i n e i n t i m a c y than is at first a p p a r e n t to the reader. H e r e again w r i t i n g of illness, in a r u n - o n s e n t e n c e , Rosselli e m p l o y s "faded r o s e s " to describe the e n d of the creative act, w i t h s o m e indifference a s t o w h y , w h e n o r t o w h o m t h e fatal quitting o c c u r s : 24 Con la malattia in bocca spavento per gli spaventapasseri rose stinte e vi sono macchie sul muro piccolissime nel granaio dei tuoi pensieri: A. Rosselli, Cercare nel rompersi della sera un nascondiglio, in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 106: "you set your eyes on the furrow of spring / bewitching a world of beasts with tears / of glass which did not fall but grew entangled / in your sleep entirely of roses". Giovanni Giudici, "Per Amelia Rosselli", in Antologia poetica, op. cit., p. 8: "uso di [...] inversione sintattica [...] non di rado a livello non di sintassi ma di significati". 23 24