Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Italian by Lynne Lawner. Spaziani seizes on the objects of everyday life and slyly transforms them. She has learned Montale's art of the difficult and the obscure, as well as Mallarme's techniques of control: a restricted vocabulary, short lines, compact forms, recurrent events, mysteries carefully wrapped and then partially unwrapped, but never fully exposed. The emotions as well remain under control, yet at times convey a chilling exaltation.

Author City: Turin ITA

Maria Luisa Spaziani, born in Turin in 1924, is a recipient of the prestigious De Sica Prize, awarded to Italy's outstanding poets and poetesses. A lifelong friend of poet Eugenio Montale, she is President of the International Eugenio Montale Society. Her recent memoirs have piqued interest in Italy, not least because she was one of Montale's "muses," to whom he gave the nickname "la Volpe" (the Vixen).