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