In "From the Fire Hills," poet Chad Davidson shows us an Italy
that is far from the romanticized notions of sun-drenched fields
and self-discovery. Instead we see a maelstrom of chaos and
contradiction, a place where the frenetic pace of modernity is
locked in a daily struggle with recalcitrant history.
This autobiographical collection explores the myriad ways in
which Italian culture survives its own parodies and evokes a modern
ferocity that harkens back to Italy's barbarian past. As the
narrator, rendered vulnerable by language, embarks on his journey,
lines of location, time, and perception blur. From the siren song
of Dante's grave to the heights of San Luca, from streets where
policemen with Uzis tread a hair's breadth away from the macabre
remains of Capuchin monks, Davidson's Italy is a study in contrast
between the contemporary and the classical, the sacred and the
profane. Within these poems sensual and savage revelations unfold,
exposing new, uncanny, and often uncomfortable spaces to explore in
this well-traveled realm of Western imagination.
Throughout the volume loom "the fire hills" the scorched
mountains of Sicily in summer; the memories of Italians living near
the Gothic Line outside Bologna, where the Germans dug in and
received heavy bombing at the close of World War II; even the
wildfires igniting the San Gabriel foothills in southern
California; all the way back to the burning city of Carthage in
Virgil's "Aeneid." As the ash settles and the smoke clears, we
realize that what we remember is often just remains, shells, and
burned out wreckage, as if there were another type of memory.
General
Imprint: |
Southern Illinois University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Crab Orchard Series in Poetry-Editor's Selection |
Release date: |
March 2014 |
First published: |
March 2014 |
Authors: |
Chad Davidson
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 7mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
88 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8093-3323-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Language & Literature >
Literature: texts >
Poetry texts & anthologies >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8093-3323-6 |
Barcode: |
9780809333233 |
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