Overview

Dario Bellezza—Italy’s first openly gay, major prizewinning poet-novelist-playwright—was a bold, daring writer who energetically explored love, sexual transformation, and death. Bellezza embraced a variety of forms, from unabashed love-lyric to political narrative, and the fervor of his voice makes a compelling argument for his lasting importance as one of the most remarkable poets of the late twentieth century. Yet, until now, his work has never been available in English. Award-winning translator Peter Covino offers a wide-ranging selection of representative poetry from Bellezza’s career. Influenced by Rimbaud, the Beats, and the growing European gay rights movements, his poetry remains innovative and timely. Ranging from stray cats in the graveyards of Rome, to the literal and metaphoric fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, to the joys and disappointments of random hookups, Bellezza’s dazzling visions will sparkle in readers’ eyes like sunspots long after they complete this magnificent volume.

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9780299350345

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Reviews

""Dario Bellezza--mentored by Morante and championed by Pasolini, who called him 'the best poet of the new generation'--remains one of the essential Italian voices of the latter half of the twentieth century. As an out gay man, he wrote transgressive poems of love and sex and polemic (by turns tender, brash, angry, defiant) as the gay-rights struggles of the sixties and seventies morphed into the AIDS crisis of the eighties and nineties. Thanks to poet-translator Peter Covino's scrupulous yet daring versions, which are labors both of love and skill, American readers can now trace the arc of Bellezza's career, from his early Invective and License to his final Proclamation on Glamor--each an aching, disruptive testament to 'this infected world.'""--Geoffrey Brock

""A carefully curated volume composed of more than seventy essential translations of Bellezza's poems. A prizewinning multivolume author of verse in his own right, Covino offers non-Italian readers a most adept and lyrical series of translations that seem, in themselves, original compositions.""--Anthony Julian Tamburri, Calandra Italian American Institute ""Dario Bellezza remains one of the essential Italian voices of the latter half of the twentieth century. Thanks to poet-translator Peter Covino's scrupulous yet daring versions, which are labors of both love and skill, American readers can now trace the arc of Bellezza's career, an aching, disruptive testament to 'this infected world.'""--Geoffrey Brock, judge, Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation ""Groundbreaking. Covino introduces an English-speaking audience to Dario Bellezza's riveting work through a complex theoretical introduction, incisive selection, and nuanced translation. The volume emphasizes Bellezza's invaluable impact on the emergence of an Italian queer culture and contributes to the shaping of a transnational Italian queerness.""--Caterina Romeo, Sapienza Università di Roma

“Dario Bellezza remains one of the essential Italian voices of the latter half of the twentieth century. Thanks to poet-translator Peter Covino’s scrupulous yet daring versions, which are labors of both love and skill, American readers can now trace the arc of Bellezza’s career, an aching, disruptive testament to ‘this infected world.’” - Geoffrey Brock, judge, Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation “Groundbreaking. Covino introduces an English-speaking audience to Dario Bellezza’s riveting work through a complex theoretical introduction, incisive selection, and nuanced translation. The volume emphasizes Bellezza’s invaluable impact on the emergence of an Italian queer culture and contributes to the shaping of a transnational Italian queerness.” - Caterina Romeo, Sapienza Università di Roma “A carefully curated volume composed of more than seventy essential translations of Bellezza’s poems. A prizewinning multivolume author of verse in his own right, Covino offers non-Italian readers a most adept and lyrical series of translations that seem, in themselves, original compositions.” - Anthony Julian Tamburri, Calandra Italian American Institute

Author Information

Dario Bellezza (1944–96) was one of Italy’s most significant and prolific poets, authors, and playwrights. He published more than twenty books over the course of twenty-five years and won the Viareggio Prize, Italy’s most prestigious poetry award, and the Montale Prize for lifetime poetic achievement. Peter Covino is an award-winning translator, editor, and poet. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Rhode Island, the founding editor and faculty advisor of the Ocean State Review, and a founding editor-trustee of the nonprofit press Barrow Street Inc.

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