Nanni Cagnone
Encyclopedia
Nanni Cagnone is an Italian poet
, novelist, essayist and playwright
. He debuted as a poet in 1954, and since then has written several books, mostly poetry but also plays and novels, theoretical essays and aphorism
s, from The Disabled Youth (1967) to The Oslo Lecture (2008). He is married to Sandra Holt, and currently lives in Bomarzo
.
, and has contributed articles to newspapers and cultural magazines, among them Chelsea Review, Incognita, Alea
, Or, Il Giornale
, Il Messaggero
, Bonniers Litterära Magasin, Il Verri. His translations include Gerard Manley Hopkins
’ The Wreck of the Deutschland
, and Aeschylus
’ Agamemnon
.
Cagnone’s works are characterized by a clean, almost purist meditation, where mythology and modernity, feeling and criticism are compressed into a peculiar and intense ontological recovery. Cagnone is said to be one of the most innovative and distinctive poets of contemporary European literature. His poems are used as lyrics and inspiration for contemporary music. The Norwegian composer Harald Sæther
has written a song cycle with lyrics from Index Vacuus, the cantata Obstupescit Venti Cinque with lyrics from What’s Hecuba to Him or He to Hecuba? and A, in altre parole B, for three vocal quartets, by the poem with the same title.
About his own poetry, Cagnone writes: “Poetry is this interval between us and things, this interrupted feeling, the lost object in the home of desire. Poetry is an extraneous work, something sleep would teach awakening. It demands a passive feeling, a receptive thought and desires learnt by answering. Poetry is not the act of collecting the world like a rescuer of sense or a flatterer of language, but the aimless cult of an excessive figure and the experience of a faithfulness: that of a Saying, which doesn’t want to leave his Silent lover. Poetry is acting beyond, beyond what one manages to think”.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, novelist, essayist and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He debuted as a poet in 1954, and since then has written several books, mostly poetry but also plays and novels, theoretical essays and aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s, from The Disabled Youth (1967) to The Oslo Lecture (2008). He is married to Sandra Holt, and currently lives in Bomarzo
Bomarzo
Bomarzo is a town and comune of the province of Viterbo , in the lower valley of the Tiber. It is located 14.5 km ENE of Viterbo and 68 km NNW of Rome.-History:...
.
Biography
In the Sixties-Seventies he was senior editor of Lerici Publisher, Editor of Marcatré (an avant-garde magazine for art, literature, music) and managing editor of Design Italia, and more recently founded and headed the Italian publishing house Coliseum. He was also professor of aestheticsAesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, and has contributed articles to newspapers and cultural magazines, among them Chelsea Review, Incognita, Alea
Alea
* ALEA , a Web Desktop Management Tool* ALEA Ensemble, Austrian ensemble for contemporary music* Alea , originally a game-publishing subsidiary of Ravensburger, now purchased by Heidelburger...
, Or, Il Giornale
Il Giornale
il Giornale is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy.-History:The newspaper was planned in 1972 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleague Enzo Bettiza, after some disagreements with the new pro-left editorial line adopted by the newspaper Corriere della Sera,...
, Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy, founded in 1878.It is owned by the Italian publishing company Caltagirone Editore, and its leaders include Azzurra Caltagirone, the partner of the political leader Pierferdinando Casini, on its board...
, Bonniers Litterära Magasin, Il Verri. His translations include Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
’ The Wreck of the Deutschland
The Wreck of the Deutschland
The Wreck of the Deutschland is a long poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins with Christian themes, composed in 1875 and 1876, though not published until 1918. The poem depicts the shipwreck of the SS Deutschland...
, and Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
’ Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
.
Cagnone’s works are characterized by a clean, almost purist meditation, where mythology and modernity, feeling and criticism are compressed into a peculiar and intense ontological recovery. Cagnone is said to be one of the most innovative and distinctive poets of contemporary European literature. His poems are used as lyrics and inspiration for contemporary music. The Norwegian composer Harald Sæther
Harald Sæther
Harald Sæther , is a Norwegian composer with a diploma from Grieg Academy . He is member of the Norwegian Society of Composers and New Music Composers Group where he was chairman from 2009 to 2011.-Education:...
has written a song cycle with lyrics from Index Vacuus, the cantata Obstupescit Venti Cinque with lyrics from What’s Hecuba to Him or He to Hecuba? and A, in altre parole B, for three vocal quartets, by the poem with the same title.
About his own poetry, Cagnone writes: “Poetry is this interval between us and things, this interrupted feeling, the lost object in the home of desire. Poetry is an extraneous work, something sleep would teach awakening. It demands a passive feeling, a receptive thought and desires learnt by answering. Poetry is not the act of collecting the world like a rescuer of sense or a flatterer of language, but the aimless cult of an excessive figure and the experience of a faithfulness: that of a Saying, which doesn’t want to leave his Silent lover. Poetry is acting beyond, beyond what one manages to think”.