Guido Monte
Encyclopedia
Guido Monte is an Italian writer
and poet
. In his recent works, he employs linguistic blending in the search for meaningful and archetypal relations between distant cultures.
His works and translations have been published by international magazines (as Words without Borders
, Swans Commentary
, and Ars Interpres
). On his blending experiments, he uses also Japanese, Sanskrit
, Sheng
and languages of ethnic groups in Kenya
.
, Ezra Pound
’s Cantos and T. S. Eliot
’s The Waste Land
, Monte thinks that “…if we admit that some archetypal ideas are common among our planet inhabitants, then we can state, in the sense meant by Borges, that just one “Book” has been written, as an evidence of the original and permanent cultural unity of the world and it contains all the chaotic fragments ever thought and written by people searching for the deep truth of things…”.
Different languages can be approached and mixed together “to transmit something that apparently is far in space and time” (on what was defined as a meta-communicative way). On this thinking, a blending author can “compose” poems and works without using his own verses, but only other poets’ lines (and sometimes this is Monte’s peculiarity), remembering every time, in the beginning, the names of the authors. On another experiment, in fact, Monte puts together, in a common archetypal idea, lines of Virgil
, Dante and Blake.
If Monte translates, for instance, the first verses of Genesis or any other holy texts in two or three languages, “…we realize that the new and different sounds, irrespective of our linguistic knowledge, suggest new, universal, cosmic vibrations that the original version didn't succeed in transmitting. In any case they reveal the complexity of reading different levels”.
About Monte and his new blending approach, the French translator Marie Rennard said :"...sa démarche demande à être expliquée, la « résonnance cosmique » qu’il évoque peut faire sourire au prime abord, et pourtant, à le lire, à le relire, on sent naître cette communion des verbes de toutes langues, et sans être forcément à même de saisir toute l’ampleur d’une démarche qui, selon son propre aveu, le dépasse lui-même, on éprouve le plaisir profond que font naître les véritables poètes à l’oreille d’en dedans, pur bonheur, mere happiness, autentica felicità". Alison Phipps, expert in Intercultural Studies, defines this form of blending as an embroidering gossamer.
In his last experiments, on Swans Commentary
, the visual
coloured arrangement of verses (one colour for each one of the poem's selected authors) is important in conveying the intended effect of his multilingual
works.
The French writer Orlando de Rudder, thinks that Monte's attempts are the beginning of a new "synthèse" des langues, a form of Babel Library where all the world poets live together, syncretistically, common universal feelings; the Italian writer Claudio Magris
thinks that this kind of poetry is definable as meticciato organico (organic blending).
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and poet
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...
. In his recent works, he employs linguistic blending in the search for meaningful and archetypal relations between distant cultures.
His works and translations have been published by international magazines (as Words without Borders
Words Without Borders
Words Without Borders is an international magazine opened to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world’s best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers....
, Swans Commentary
Swans (magazine)
Swans Commentary is an American online political and literary magazine, created in 1996; co-editors are Jan Baughman and the French essayist and political commentator Gilles d’Aymery, who is the magazine's publisher.-Collaborators and contributors:...
, and Ars Interpres
Ars Interpres
Ars Interpres is an online and in-print international literary journal, originating in Stockholm. It publishes primarily contemporary English language poetry and English translations of modern Scandinavian and European poetry, as well as articles on poetic translation and other related materials...
). On his blending experiments, he uses also Japanese, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Sheng
Sheng (linguistics)
Sheng is a Swahili-based patois or slang-based language, originating in Nairobi, Kenya, and influenced by the many languages spoken there. The word is coined from the two words - wahili and lish....
and languages of ethnic groups in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Poetry and linguistic blending
On the way of Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
’s Cantos and T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
’s The Waste Land
The Waste Land
The Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...
, Monte thinks that “…if we admit that some archetypal ideas are common among our planet inhabitants, then we can state, in the sense meant by Borges, that just one “Book” has been written, as an evidence of the original and permanent cultural unity of the world and it contains all the chaotic fragments ever thought and written by people searching for the deep truth of things…”.
Different languages can be approached and mixed together “to transmit something that apparently is far in space and time” (on what was defined as a meta-communicative way). On this thinking, a blending author can “compose” poems and works without using his own verses, but only other poets’ lines (and sometimes this is Monte’s peculiarity), remembering every time, in the beginning, the names of the authors. On another experiment, in fact, Monte puts together, in a common archetypal idea, lines of Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Dante and Blake.
If Monte translates, for instance, the first verses of Genesis or any other holy texts in two or three languages, “…we realize that the new and different sounds, irrespective of our linguistic knowledge, suggest new, universal, cosmic vibrations that the original version didn't succeed in transmitting. In any case they reveal the complexity of reading different levels”.
About Monte and his new blending approach, the French translator Marie Rennard said :"...sa démarche demande à être expliquée, la « résonnance cosmique » qu’il évoque peut faire sourire au prime abord, et pourtant, à le lire, à le relire, on sent naître cette communion des verbes de toutes langues, et sans être forcément à même de saisir toute l’ampleur d’une démarche qui, selon son propre aveu, le dépasse lui-même, on éprouve le plaisir profond que font naître les véritables poètes à l’oreille d’en dedans, pur bonheur, mere happiness, autentica felicità". Alison Phipps, expert in Intercultural Studies, defines this form of blending as an embroidering gossamer.
In his last experiments, on Swans Commentary
Swans (magazine)
Swans Commentary is an American online political and literary magazine, created in 1996; co-editors are Jan Baughman and the French essayist and political commentator Gilles d’Aymery, who is the magazine's publisher.-Collaborators and contributors:...
, the visual
Visual poetry
Visual poetry is poetry or art in which the visual arrangement of text, images and symbols is important in conveying the intended effect of the work. It is sometimes referred to as concrete poetry, a term that predates visual poetry, and at one time was synonymous with it.Visual poetry was heavily...
coloured arrangement of verses (one colour for each one of the poem's selected authors) is important in conveying the intended effect of his multilingual
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
works.
The French writer Orlando de Rudder, thinks that Monte's attempts are the beginning of a new "synthèse" des langues, a form of Babel Library where all the world poets live together, syncretistically, common universal feelings; the Italian writer Claudio Magris
Claudio Magris
Claudio Magris is an Italian scholar, translator and writer.Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978.He is an essayist and columnist for the Italian newspaper...
thinks that this kind of poetry is definable as meticciato organico (organic blending).
Selected bibliography
- Tremila mondi in un solo istante di vita, ed. Della Battaglia, 2000
- Ultima lettera on Sergio Quinzio – profezie di un’esistenza, Rubbettino 2000, a cura di M. Iritano - authors: Gianni VattimoGianni VattimoGianteresio Vattimo, also known as Gianni Vattimo is an internationally recognized Italian author, philosopher, and politician. Many of his works have been translated into English.-Biography:...
, Umberto Galimberti, Claudio MagrisClaudio MagrisClaudio Magris is an Italian scholar, translator and writer.Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978.He is an essayist and columnist for the Italian newspaper...
, Guido Ceronetti, Erri De Luca, Gino Girolomoni, Guido Monte, Sergio Givone, Nynfa Bosco (about it, see: Stefano Serafini, Corporeità e sacro... EstOvest.net 2001) - Leuconoe, Nuova Ipsa, 2004
- Il Niente richiamato all’esistenza (with Vittorio Cozzo), iraccontidiluvi.org, 2004
- Cosmopolitan multilingualism, Happa no kofu (Kawasaki, Tokyo), 2006
- Langues et mixité (Introduction de Marie Rennard), Annecy (France), 2007
- Viage. Per una “fenomenologia” metacomunicativa (with F. Saieva), Nuova Ipsa Editore, 2008
Translations
- Palermo beat, by Patrick Waites, ed. della Battaglia 2000
- Si cela un ramo... Lucidamente.com, 2007
- Xenia I (from Satura) by Eugenio Montale, LanguageandCulture.net, 2007
- Bucolica IV, (18-22, The harmony) by Virgil, LanguageandCulture.net, 2007
- Pasolini: Fragments Of 1968, Swans-Commentary, 2008
See also
- Modern Macaronic literature
- Antoine CassarAntoine CassarAntoine Cassar is a Maltese poet and translator. In September 2009, his multilingual poem Merħba was the Grand Prize winner of the United Planet Writing Contest.-Mosaics poems:...
- Joseph CampbellJoseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
- Words Without BordersWords Without BordersWords Without Borders is an international magazine opened to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world’s best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers....
Poesia multilingue - Swans CommentarySwans (magazine)Swans Commentary is an American online political and literary magazine, created in 1996; co-editors are Jan Baughman and the French essayist and political commentator Gilles d’Aymery, who is the magazine's publisher.-Collaborators and contributors:...
External links
- Àdhara, on bibliomanie.it (Italy)
- article on Lucidamente.com (Italy)
- Good morning, monsieur Ovidio, by Rino Tripodi - Scriptamanent.net (Italy)
- work on Gutcult, of Aaron McColloughAaron McCollough-Life and career:Aaron McCollough was born in 1971 in Columbus, Ohio and raised in Tennessee. He has a BA from the University of the South , an MA in English Literature from North Carolina State University , an MFA in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop , as well as an MA and PhD in...
(USA) - Monte's biography on Swans Commentary (USA)
- Mondana Commedia (World Comedy) n.3: Paradiso, on Swans Commentary (USA)
- Guido Monte & Alison Phipps, Mondana Commedia (World Comedy) n.2: Purgatorio, on Swans Commentary (USA)
- Mondana Commedia (World Comedy) n.1: Inferno, on Swans Commentary (USA)
- Guido Monte & Alison Phipps, Mondana Commedia (World Comedy) n.4: Limbus, on Swans Commentary (USA)
- work on Segue, Spring '06 Miami University MiddletownMiami University MiddletownMiami University Middletown is a state-assisted regional campus of Miami University located in Middletown, Ohio it was founded in 1966 during the time of President Phillip Shriver...
, (USA) - Fragments, on Cipher Journal (USA)
- viaje, on Cipher Journal (USA)
- Dapur Vetur, on Happa no kofu (Japan)
- History of the world, on Happa no kofu (Japan)
- poems on Great Works (UK)
- Aha n.4: the end, on Sein und Werden (UK)
- AHA n.3... on Nebula (Australia)
- Aha n.5 on Ars InterpresArs InterpresArs Interpres is an online and in-print international literary journal, originating in Stockholm. It publishes primarily contemporary English language poetry and English translations of modern Scandinavian and European poetry, as well as articles on poetic translation and other related materials...
(Sweden)