Saturday, August 1, 2009

literature and sense - Cesare Pavese

Little known in North America Italian writer of 20th century, arrested for his antifascist convictions. His love frustrations and disillusionment with politics brought him to suicide in a hotel room after the war, apparently mimicking a scene from one of his novels.

Quote -the only joy in the world is to begin

Novels -The Beach, The House on the Hill, Among Women Only, The Devil in the Hills - His style is known as escruciatingly honest: while his experiences fuelled his fiction, he found that LITERATURE is the medium to understand their significance.

Deola's Return
I'll turn round in the street and look at the passers-by,
I'll be a passer-by myself. I'll learn
how to get up and lay aside the horror
of night and go out walking as I used to.
I'll apply my mind to work for a time,
I'll go back there, by the window, smoking
and relaxed. But my eyes will be the same,
my gestures too, and my face. That empty secret
that lingers in my body and dulls my gaze
will die slowly to the rhythm of the blood
where everything vanishes.

I'll go out one morning,
I won't have a house any more, I'll go out in the street;
the night's horror will have left me;
I'll be frightened of being alone. But I'll want to be alone.
I'll look at passers-by with the dead smile
of someone who's beaten, but doesn't hate or cry out,
for I know that since ancient times fate -
all that you've been or will ever be - is in the blood,
in the murmur of the blood. I'll wrinkle my brows
alone, in the middle of the street, listening for an echo
in the blood. And there'll be no echo any more,
I'll look up and gaze at the street

About Me

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I started writing poetry and fiction when I was about 11 years old. I was awarded 2 top national literature prizes at an early age.Later I became involved in numerous literary circles in my native country, Romania. This project is a dedication to my mother, inspired teacher of literature and independent thinker.

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