Description
Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. An older man's not-so-divine comedy, Vangelisti's FALSETTO is in three parts, corresponding to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise: namely, "Westernmost," the Los Angeles of a poet's daybook; the fool's purgatory of "An Italian Journal," some three weeks up & down the peninsula; and finally, "Wholly Falsetto with People Dancing," an alphabetical memoir of that invisible country of dead poets and loves that are no more. The trips through the first two territories in the work, Los Angeles and Italy, are documented more or less "on the run," in stark contrast to the contemplative nature of the final section of recollections. Among the several subjects interwoven throughout the narrative is Vangelisti's exploration of an 'un-American' literary tradition, set up against that of the dominant Anglo-American culture.
Author Bio
Paul Vangelisti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, as well as a noted translator from Italian. His most recent title is LIQUID PRISONER (Lithic Press, 2021). His book of poems, MOTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY, was published in fall 2020 by Shearsman Books in the U.K. In 2015 he edited Amiri Baraka's posthumous collected poems, S.O.S.: Poems, 1961-2014, for Grove Press. In 2006, Lucia Re's and his translation of Amelia Rosselli's War Variations won both the Premio Flaiano in Italy and the PEN-USA Award. In 2010, his translation of Adriano Spatola's The Position of Things: Collected Poems, 1961-1992 was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize. From 1971-1982 he was co-editor, with John McBride, of the literary magazine Invisible City and, from 1993-2002, edited Ribot, the annual report of the College of Neglected Science (CONS). He lives in Pasadena.
Author City: LOS ANGELES, CA USA