Adriano Bulla

Writer, poet, literary critic. Born in Italy and educated in different universities at graduate and post-graduate level. Previously a lecturer of literature in higher education in Milan, an ESOL tutor and lecturer, he now teaches English at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in London.

His earliest publications are in the late 90's, with atricles about composition, the Modernists and Derek Walcott. He has also published in 'The Guardian' and published a collection of short stories, Illuminations in 2004 and a collection of poetry Ybo' and Other Lies (ISBN 190061190) in 2005.

Ybo' and Other Lies collects his more experimental poems ('Ybo and 'Heaven from Hell') as well as some political poems, erotic poems and his 'Flickers'.

'Ybo is a hallucinatory journey into the subconscious, suspension dots represent inferential and subconscious links between lines and words that appear slurred and heavily apostrophated.

'Heaven from Hell' is a post-modernist and parodic journey among the dereliction of modern society. It is written in several languages including French, Latin, Italian and Ancient Greek, but is mainly in English. It clearly refers to T.S.Eliot's 'The Waste Land' in strucure and theme, but does not seem to find a solution at the end, the fragments remain fragments, the sould does not come to new life. Themes within the poem are war, the theatre as a symbol of life (the refrain'We cannot drop the curtain' may refer to suicide), ancient mythology and literature itself.

'Flickers' are short spiritual landscape with very visual images, strong, isolated sounds and harsh flavours.

A Bulla has also been praised for his refined erotic poetry, of which 'Between Dreams' is the most famous example.

In T. Harrison's words, Ybo' and other Lies is an exceptional collection of poetry for the literati as well as for the passionate amateur. It explores the human soul with heavy strokes of formal and structural haphazardness, smoky landscapes of the unconscious, picturesque watercolours and erotic photography. It sounds like Wagner in "Ybo'", like Beethoven in "Heaven from Hell", like Nick Cave in the "Flickers" and end with the most courageous musical option of all for such refined text: a genuine, bawdy, heart-felt sing-along.'

He is currently said to be working on a novel, Case Study and rumoured to have finished another novel to be published under a pen name.

Poetics

Adriano Bulla's poetics are quite complex.

There are three main periods in his poetic work, which are quite difficult to date

Influences

Bulla's work has been influenced by a plethora of writers. Looking at 'Heaven from Hell', we can see who he mainly pays homage to. These include Milton, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce , Dante, Baudelaire and Rimbaud. In the literary tradition, his work seems to follow the Metaphysical tradition and be heavily influenced by medieval poetry as well as Modernist literature. great/>erotic/>

Therefore, Bulla's place in the literary tradition could be seen as that of a modern metaphysical poet and a modernist or post-modernist writer. He consciously places himself amongst the most experimental writers of our time.

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