I’ve started working at a long selected of poems by Paul Muldoon. Only few things of him appeared (in Italy, ndr) until now: some in an anthology seen by E.Zuccato for Marcos y Marcos (italian publishers, ndr); others seen by Nicola Gardini for an old issue of "Poesia" (the most important italian poetry magazine, monthly, ndr). I think it’s now the time for a long and detailed work on this very important poet. But it will take time, maybe one year and more. The selected will be published for Mondadori (very important italian publishers, ndr), Specchio series, carefully seen by Antonio Riccardi. In addition, i am involved in two other projects: an english poets anthology (i hope to collaborate with British Council); another great poet, Michael Hofmann, not really known here in Italy (for Donzelli publishers). If the school let me survive (Luca Guerneri is a teacher, ndr) and the next heir to arrive in february let us sleep, i could complete them all within the year. But who knows…

This is the classical one million dollars (pounds?) question. During an appointment in Torino, two years ago, i compared poetry translation with a penalty kick shot out of the goal mouth. But with style and elegance, with the pressure of public, out of breath, with the run raising a puff of white line and the stifled impact of foot on the blown up leather. But ball goes out and game starts again. Maybe i’d say today that sometimes ball hits one post or the cross-bar, but the substance does not change. On the contrary, higher the consciousness of the text density and the reading skills are, greater the frustration of "saying nearly the same thing" is. It remains a great fun and an excellent way to know poetry. Then there is technique, to be refined practising the field; to avoid poeticing slang; to let adjective be however before substantive; to offset nearly not reproducible formal qualities, from rhyme to worn-out cliches, by other plans. There is a very good book issued for Quodlibet (small italian publishers, ndr) little time ago. "La Traduction et la Lettre. Ou l'Auberge du lointain" by Antoine Berman is one the recent most valuable things about translation. It throws in a series of abused categories, from Theory / Praxis to Fidelity / Inaccuracy, and forces to think again dualisms, which were always characterisitic of translation’s reflection history and from which – i think- some recent hermeneutic approaches (refer to Apel) were not able to jump out. In addition, a book by G.Giometti about relations between Heidegger and translation, issued for Quodlibet too. It can be placed there the approach i lately prefer.

Mah, i have the impression that english poetry (or poetry in english language?) has really been lifting up its head again since fifteen years. If the anthology seen by Morrison and Motion for Penguin, issued at the beginning of 80es, perfectly snapped the pacific and wholesome invasion of North Ireland’s 70es poetry (refer to Heaney, Muldoon, Longley, Mahon), i can see today a liveliness out of reach of italian poetry, to say one. A group of poets, in particular Armitage, Greenlaw, Hofmann, McKendrick, Don Paterson, Maxwell, is going really fast. They are well-read, their sales are often unimaginable to italian poets. And they have at their shoulders publishers, like Faber colossus or Bloodaxe impregnable elf, supporting them and doing a very important work of examination and selection. I must admit i’m not so close to present italian poetics, so that i can’t voice sensible opinions. There is a group of poets i like a lot: Magrelli, Cucchi, Anedda, Gibellini, Riccardi and others but my impression is, sometimes, that they’re a series of unrelated wagons more than a close formation. I could be mistaking. The English discovered, thanks to the lesson of Muldoon too, that they can do by poetry whatever they want, without literary or tradition’s inhibitions. Without saying that their tradition is not just a trifle at all! It seems to me that, for example, a group of novelists like Scarpa, Genna, Voltolini, Pincio, Mozzi, Evangelisti cultivates friendship and discussions out of their own circle, by Internet too.

I am very interested in. And i think i answered little ago. I am an internet fan, if i had time i’d stay online more. I never miss a glance at "I Miserabili", "Nazione Indiana", "Giulio Mozzi’s blog". And, in addition, at english magazines, from "LRB" to "Poetry Review". Being a translater, then, the net often saves me from painful thuds. So that i really can’t say how i did before. The beauty of net is that it allows an execution speed unthinkable to a paper magazine and, at the same time, a well considered and reasoned quality of writing.

* Luca Guerneri was born in Ferrara, Italy, 1967, now living and working between Forlì and Rimini (here teaching english language for a technical secondary school). He translated -and goes on doing- essays and fiction for several publishers (from Joyce to Kerouac). Since some years he has been concerning with present english poetry. Translations of him (from Armitage, Bhatt, Duffy, Greenlaw, Hofmann, McKendrick, Maxwell, O’Brien, Pierpoint, Reid e Shapcott) and critical interventions appeared on several magazines: ClanDestino, Panta, Nuovi Argomenti, In Forma di Parole, Specchio della Stampa, Palazzo Sanvitale, Antologia del Gabinetto Vieusseux, Leggendaria. He saw (with Roberto Galaverni) an issue of the london magazine Modern Poetry in Translation dedicated to italian poetry and Poetry Review italian section. Among his works: Poesie by Simon Armitage, november 2001 and Electric Light by Seamus Heaney, 2003, both in Specchio series for Mondadori publishers; Chiodi di Cielo by Jamie McKendrick for Donzelli; Armitage’s novel Little Green Man for Guanda.
He managed for two years the english poetry translation lab over the Bologna University post degree master "Il mestiere di tradurre", organized by Dopo Babele association and Bologna University’s Centro di Poesia Contemporanea, with the latter collaborating by english poetry seminars too.