Is it possible to represent the places of exile, when the exile perceives nothing as " sien " ? When - especially for Dante - the names that make up the landscape of memory resurface in a painful litany : " Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, et Barucci / [...] Sizii et Arrigucci " (Par., XVI, 104 and 108). Alberto Manguel and Nicola Giuseppe Smerilli take us on a journey to Ravenna through Dante's eyes, contemplating the eternal gazes that stared back at him from the mosaic icons of the Byzantine monuments in the place that was his last refuge. The suggestion that descends from these blue-and-gold walls not only dictates the luminous verses of Paradise, but also removes any semblance of " here " : " Dante has images of separation and farewell. It is very difficult to descend the steps of his many farewell verses ". Osip Mandel'štam's formula accompanies us on this journey of words and images, ready to fade from sight to imprint on the mind, in a delicate etching of eternity : " [...] si' come cera da suggello , / che la figura impressa non trasmuta (" as wax is under the seal / no longer changing its imprinted figure ") (Purg., XXXIII, 79-80). A book that brings together, as Alberto Manguel notes, " the breath of the universe in the breath of the word ".
Manguel A. and Giuseppe Smerilli N., Dante. Orizzonti dell'esilio/Landscapes of Exile, con una Nota di/With a Note by Carlo Ossola, Florence, Olschki, 2022, 152 p.
ISBN : 978-8-8222-6847-1
Publication : 19 september 2022
