Raccontarsi in versi. La poesia autobiografica in Inghilterra e in Spagna (1950-1980)
It is a critical book by Menotti Lerro AbOUT Autobiography.
The volume is divided into two main parts. The First One deals with the development of autobiographical genre, from Enlightenment till the contemporary period in which it is possible to notice the importance of the contamination among literary genres. It is also analized the chance for an autobiographer to write his memories in verse. (On the contrary of the classical definition by Philippe Lejeune. According to him an autobiography is a "retrospective narrative in prose of a real story"). In this work Lerro claims that there are a lot of reasons to affirm that indeed an autobiography written in verse can be equal or even more efficient to describe memories and to create again a 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 gender, yet as concerns their poetics they have some similar common points. The attention is focused on an English poet and a Spanish one at one side and an English poet and another Spanish one at the other side. In this way also the comparison between England and Spain appears to be immediate. The author stresses as Seamus Heaney and Jaime Gil de Biedma trust autobiography as a means to re-find their own singular identity. Besides the book underlines how Thom Gunn and Carlos Barral consider that through the mind it is not possible to save the reality of the past images. Gunn often examines the difficulty to recreate a past feeling through poetry and 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 happened or if he is just recreating, just imagining.
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