Pipia, Rosaria

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Differentia: Review of Italian Thought Number 2 Spring Article 39 1988 Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza by Giovanni Meli Rosaria Pipia Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/differentia Recommended Citation Pipia, Rosaria (1988) "Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza by Giovanni Meli," Differentia: Review of Italian Thought: Vol. 2 , Article 39. Available at: https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/differentia/vol2/iss1/39 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Differentia: Review of Italian Thought by an authorized editor of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact mona.ramonetti@stonybrook.edu, hu.wang.2@stonybrook.edu. REVIEWS poemetti di Pound," II verri, no. 12 [Sept. 1986], 71-72). But if Bacigalupo's "straziato" cannot convey the shock of "scarified," he captures the pathos and dignity of the passage: You will follow the bare scarified breast Nor will you be weary of calling my name, nor too weary To place the last kiss on my lips When the Syrian onyx is broken. Seguirai ii petto nudo straziato Enon ti stancherai di chiamare ii mio nome, non sarai troppo stanca Per porre I' ultimo bacio sulle mie lab bra Quando l'onice sira si spezza. "Scarify" (to scar, to cut, to criticize se-verely) derives from the Greek scariphasthai, to scratch an outline, to sketch; it is related to scribe-another example of logopoeia. We should add that Omaggio a Sesto Properzio is another elegantly produced volume from the publishing house of Edizioni S. Marco dei Giustiniani (vico Fieno 13, Genoa). JOHN PAUL RUSSO University of Miami, FL Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza By Giovanni Meli Trans. into English verse with intro. and notes by Gaetano Cipolla Illus. by Giuseppe Vesco Ottawa: Canadian Society for Italian Studies, 1986 The title of Giovanni Meli' s most am-bitious poem should not mislead read-ers into thinking that it deals with the further adventures of Don Quijote and 323 DIFFERENT/A 324 his squire. That the title contains the name of Sanciu Panza is a clue to the greater importance that Meli has placed on this character. Sanciu is in-deed the real hero in the poem. Don Chisciotti is characterized as a man who, not even knowing how to fix a salad, pretends he can fix the world. He is a mass of undigested notions that run counter to the Melian recipe for happiness, for, as Meli says in canto III, Ii proprii disii limitati su la filicita la chiu sicura [The surest happiness resides . . . in placing limits on one's own desires] Don Chisciotti always allows his de-sires to stray beyond his ability and means to make them come true. Chal-lenged by Sanciu, he tries to straighten out an old, crooked tree, and dies of a ruptured hernia. Sanciu, on the other hand, is an un-skilled though sensible man, with a sound and realistic perception of the world who learns the lessons that ex-perience and suffering can teach him. As Cipolla points out in his introduc-tion, the poem is humoristic in the Pirandellian sense of the term. Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza embodies the conflict that raged in the soul of the poet. Meli was "an empiricist with idealistic tendencies, a realist with a penchant for dreaming, a skeptical man who harbored optimistic views, a man who relied on facts, but tended to be governed by principles" (xxix). A poem of such dimensions and complexity (twelve cantos and a Vi-sion, containing more than 8600 lines) represents a serious and intimidating challenge to any translator. However Cipolla, who has already published a verse translation of Meli' s satiric mas-terpiece L'origini di lu munnu, is cer-tainly equal to the task. Translating poetry into poetry is an act of sym-pathy, Dryden once said. It is clear that in the case of Cipolla it is something more than that. His translation-into iambic pentameters with final couplets of each octave rhymed-published exactly 200 years after the appearance of the original, follows Meli' s text very closely. It is a faithful but not a slavish rendition of the original, and indeed it can stand on its own as poetry. Con-sider the following octave chosen at random from canto XII in which Meli is describing Sanciu looking over Don Chisciotti's shoulder as the knight was busy writing his socialist recipe for world happiness: Smiccia, stenni Ju coddu, sgargiulia, ma nun cumprenni cifri, ne scrittura; si smidudda in se stissu e sfirnicia e tanti stravaganzi si figura; finalmenti si scopri e poi ci spia: "Si forsi si diletta d' incisura? E si mai ddi figuri soi gruttischi fussiru veri littiri o rabbischi. [He squinted, craned his neck, peered over him, but signs and writings he could not make out. He racked his brains to no avail at all. Many a weird conjecture came to him, but finally, he showed himself and asked: "A fancy have you taken to woodcuts, perhaps? Those ciphers that look so gro-tesque, are they real letters or some arabesques?"] Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza is an epic poem which reflects the multifaceted personality of Meli. The Sicilian poet can play many "instruments." The poem contains passages that are satir-ical, bucolic, lyrical, pastoral, elegiac, realistic and earthy. Cipolla knows how to respond and reproduce all of Meli's shifting moods. If Meli's tone is lyrical, Cipolla changes his strain ac-cordingly: Gia e cuetu Ju munnu e in senu stassi di li'umbri friddi tutta la natura [The world was still and nature was at rest within the bosom of most gelid shadows.] If Meli sings a pastoral strain, Cipolla is quick to seize the change of tone: REVIEWS 325 Felici etati, in cui la valli alpestri pasturi accussl saggi producla!" [O happy age wherein the alpine dale ever so wise a shepherd did produce!) Undoubtedly translation implies cer-tain losses, but in this version, the losses are often counterbalanced by the gains. Consider the following couplets: pirchl di tutti l'imprisa la chiu dura e jiri unni 'un n'aiuta la natura . [because the hardest tasks of all consist in going where our nature won't assist.) pertantu pozzu oprari a miu piaciri pirchi la morti sciogghi ogni duviri. [I can behave, meanwhile, just as I please, for death from every duty grants release ... . ) Sta terra 'un sapi daricci autri frutti chi disgrazii, amari zzi ed anchi rutti . [This earth anothe r fruit cannot supply saves woes, misfortunes and a broken thigh.) In the final analysis, Cipolla's trans-lation must be regarded as an example of talent, scholarship, and dedication, which will surely spark new interest in Meli's work. His learned introduction and the abundant annotations in which past critical appraisals are reviewed offer a reevaluation of Meli' s position in the world of Italian letters, as well as an important introduction of this great Sicilian poet to the English-speak-ing public. Meli is indeed a poet who needs to be read and studied more, and linguists, folklorists, and anthro-pologists will find him as rich and re-warding as will literary historians and cultural critics. ROSARIA PIPIA Queens College >,:: Jfl"SllF print OQ MYSELF mearch crltl~1 d11l1 ,.1111 cont1mporan11 TESTUALEI DIREZIONE Gio Ferri, Gilberto Finzi, Giuliano Gramigna. CONSULENZA CRITICA E REDAZIONALE Italia: Luciano Anceschi, Renato Barilli, Alberto Cappi, Ottavio Cecchi, Cesare De Michelis, IFla-vio Ermini, Alfredo Giuliani, Milli Graff!, Angelo Jacomuzzi, Carla Locatelli, Mario Lunetta, Claudio Marabini, Ugo Marchetti, Angelo Maugeri, Walter Pedulla, Mario Petrucciani, Giuseppe Pontiggia, Roberto Sanesi, · Edoardo San-guineti, Mario Spinella, Giuseppe Zagarrio; France: Francois Bruz-zo, Michel Deguy, Raffaella Di Ambra, Giovanni Lista; Jugosla-via: Mladen Machiedo; U.S.A.: Peter Carravetta, Luigi Fontanel-la, Paul Vangelisti. REDAZIONE 20123 MILANO (Italia) Via Gaetano Ronzoni, 6 c.c.p. 28265205. TESTUALE: un numero L. 7.000, abbonamento a tre numeri L. 18.000. 

Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza by Giovanni Meli

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Don Chisciotti and Sanciu Panza by Giovanni Meli

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