A guest of 'Griselda scrittura', a workshop that every end of the summer takes place where Boccaccio was born, in Certaldo, Andrea Zanzotto has honoured with his presence the first of the planned five days with an unusual affability. With his origins in the province of Treviso, where he was born in 1921, he is considered one of the greatest contemporary poets. He has dedicated sharp critical essays to authors that have made the history of our literature ... with a few neglected, as he himself admits in this short interview.
You rarely move from your voluntary isolation. What has driven you to accept Griselda’s invitation?
A debt I owe especially to myself. Boccaccio is one of the authors that has sustained me more, becoming an important reference point. IN the past I have dedicated myself to Petrarca and Dante, neglecting Boccaccio in particular, he whose narrative vitality and an original ability to submerge himself in reality I have influenced me a great deal. I hope, despite my age, to be able to complete a critical picture that clears the debt.
What is poetry’s current state of health?
As much as society is upset by an unstoppable globalisation process and by economical events that tend to change man and the social fabric he lives in, I believe that poetry maintains intact its functions. In society it will always find its own space, its marginality, I think, is just apparent. Fortunately there are many young people who love to read and dedicate themselves to poetry, and this is guarantee of survival and continuity.
In your poetry the most varied linguistic experience find their place, what do you think of the Internet?
There is a proverb that I think in this case is very exemplary: 'shooting a fly with a cannon’. Internet is the cannon, able to shoot man very far. The opportunities it offers are infinite, substantially superior to our real possibilities. It leaves, however, a deep melancholy, a sense of loneliness that must be surmounted.
(Image taken from "Veneto Globale", a monthly magazine of information and news of the Giunta regionale del Veneto)
Municipality of Certaldo (In Italian)
Poetry by Andrea Zanzotto (In Italian)
