Selected Poems: A Bilingual Edition [Paperback]

Giuseppe Ungaretti (Author), Andrew Frisardi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

A major new translation of one of Italy's greatest modern poets

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) was a pioneer of the Modernist movement in Italian poetry and is widely regarded as one of the leading Italian poets of the twentieth century. His verse is renowned and loved for its powerful insight and emotion, and its exquisite music. Yet, unlike many of his peers, Ungaretti has never been adequately presented to English readers. This large bilingual selection, translated with great sensitivity and fidelity by Andrew Frisardi, captures Ungaretti in all of his phases: from his early poems, written in the trenches of northern Italy during World War I, to the finely crafted erotic and religious poetry of his second period, to the visceral, elegiac poetry of the years following the death of his son and the occupation of Rome during World War II, to the love poems of the poet's old age.

Frisardi's in-depth introduction details the world in which Ungaretti's work took shape and exerted its influence. In addition to the poet's own annotations, an autobiographical afterword, "Ungaretti on Ungaretti," further illuminates the poet's life and art. Here is a compelling, rewarding, and comprehensive version of the work of one of the greatest modern European poets.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This edition, well-translated and annotated by poet-essayist Frisardi, brings the modernist achievement of Ungaretti (1888-1970) to light. Most searing here are the WWI poems, "Up in the light vault/ the spell is broken// And I plummet into myself// And go dark in my nest."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The eldest and many say finest modern Italian poet, Ungaretti (1888-1970) was born to Tuscan parents in Alexandria. Hence, he was at once a birthright heir of the Renaissance and the child of a quintessentially international city within sight of an ancient culture's desert-bound remains; lush Tuscan hills and empty Egyptian desert are his poetry's mental as well as physical landscapes. He saw action in WW I, endured a dear friend's suicide in Paris, and participated in the postwar birth of modernist French and Italian poetry and art. He eventually settled in Rome, decamping only for an academic appointment in Brazil, during which first his brother and then his nine-year-old son died. With so much tragedy in a life lived largely in a crucible of twentieth-century calamity, that he wrote frequently about death is unsurprising, nor is it wonderful that he became engaged in a profoundly tenuous search for God. His spare poetry, beautiful in two languages in this edition, is the difficult but deeply engaging and affecting record of his quest. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374528926
• ISBN-13: 978-0374528928
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Equally rewarding translations., July 2, 2006

By 

T. McGohey (Pfafftown, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selected Poems: A Bilingual Edition (Paperback)

While I would like to thank the previous reviewer for alerting me to the different translations of Ungaretti, I must respectfully disagree with his comparison of the Frisardi and Mandelbaum versions. Before deciding which to buy, I checked both out of library and read several poems side by side. Although they are indeed much different in approach, I did not find Frisardi "wooden" or too literal; in fact, between the two, I found just the opposite -- Mandelbaum over literal and, in comparison to Frisardi, somewhat wooden. Here's a comparison from "June":

Mandelbaum: "Poised / upon the ringing / slabs / of air you will be / like a panther."

Frisardi: "You'll be / like a / panther / balanced / on the shrill / panels of air."

I don't know Italian either, but based on the facing Italian original, it appears that Mandelbaum is attempting, at least at the syntactical level, to be more literal, whereas Frisardi is using a more flowing prosaic line -- that is, in many of F's versions, his lines, if strung together, form a clean line of prose. Whether this choice violates the original too much, I'll leave to others who know the language to decide. I would just comment that at times, F's flowing rhythm, compared to M's more elliptical style, seems to make certain poems more accessible, and by that I don't mean just "easier" to read. For example, from the same poem:

Mandelbaum: "Then calm again / I shall see / in the bituminous horizon / of your irises the dying / pupils"

Frisardi: "Then at peace again / I'll see / my pupils die / on the bitumen horizon / of our irises"

The lack of a clear pronoun reference in M. makes you pause a bit to wonder exactly whose pupil is dying; F. makes this point explicit.

In other places, it appears that it is again M. who is being over literal at the level of word choice as well; an Italian colleague of mine confirmed this.

Ok, enough of the nitpicking. I make these distinctions not so much to argue for Frisardi over Mandelbaum. I found both versions had more than enough virtues to celebrate. In fact, I liked each one so much, though for different reasons, that I ended up buying both (a few copies of M. can be found on Alibris, though they are not cheap), and have enjoyed greatly reading them side by side; it's great fun to contemplate all the choices each translator (both poets in their own right) made. And both include poems the other omits -- another reason for getting both editions.
It's interesting to note that Mandelbaum knew Ungaretti personally and worked with him on the translation, and therefore may have felt somewhat constrained in taking the more liberal approach of Frisardi.
So if it seems like I'm copping out by not choosing one over the other, it's only because I have found that reading both has enriched my appreciation of such a great poet that I would not have had by reading only one. If you really love poetry,get both -- it's worth the extra bucks!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good work ... but one with a few caveats, January 1, 2004

By 

J. Alfier (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selected Poems: A Bilingual Edition (Hardcover)

If a reader's first exposure to Giuseppe Ungaretti is Frisardi's translation, I ask that he or she please refrain from judging Ungaretti's work until first reading his earlier translators, particularly Frederick Jones and Allen Mandelbaum. Those earlier works render more eloquent and evocative translations than Frisardi's, which, unfortunately, comes out a bit too wooden, and is perhaps over-literal. I must admit that I cannot read Italian, so I do not know which English translation is more faithful to the original Italian (no easy task -- as I understand it -- even for linguists). In addition, Frederick Jones' and Allen Mandelbaum's books are likely out-of-print and may have to be ordered through inter-library loan (but it would be well worth it to pursue them).

Why, then, do I still rate Frisardi's work 5 stars? As a long-time student and reader of Ungaretti I see the value of Frisardi's work in his commentary on Ungaretti's poetics and life, and in his translation of Ungaretti's own commentary on his poetry. Thus, his notes at the end are a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature on this great Italian poet. Hence, I fully recommend Frisardi's book. It's only other detriment -- which is admittedly a bit petty -- is the book's cover: it makes one feel as if he or she is drowning in an algae-ridden pond.