Trapped on a journey… Poetic images of contemporary Italy in the works of Adam Zagajewski.

Bogusława Bodzioch-Bryła

(Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie)
E-mail: boguslawa.bodzioch-bryla[at]ignatianum.edu.pl
ORCID: 0000-0003-2453-8350
DOI: 10.31261/FLPI.2021.03.05
„Fabrica Litterarum Polono-Italica” 2021, nr 1, s. 59-77

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Abstract

The author distinguishes and analyzes those poems by Adam Zagajewski in which the poet attempted to capture and describe the atmosphere of Italian cities and towns, with their charming landscapes, nostalgic nooks and bustling arteries. His poetic eye and sound-sensitive ear are especially inspired by this kind of non-obvious beauty that is suddenly visible, in a momentary flare, often in a perception tired of wandering, but always focused on what is individual, meaningful and important. Subsequent works, along with analyzes devoted to them, were arranged in correlation with the topographic layout of the map of Italy, in line with the north-south vector (Camogli, Bogliasco, Genoa area, Ravenna, Sansepolcro, Siena, Rome, Sicily). The poet captures and preserves not only what is the most obvious, undoubtedly beautiful (such as Ravenna mosaics or paintings seen in dark museums or side chapels), but also the hustle and bustle of the capital, the stony sadness of a necropolis visited by chance, and finally the lazy peace of Italian November.