POETRY / FICTION

THE CONTAGION OF MATTER

His works having already been translated the world over into as many as six different languages from their original Italian, Valerio Magrelli is one of the most innovative and exciting poets writing today. Hailed by figures as diverse as Octavio Paz and Dana Gioia, Magrelli is widely regarded as the foremost Italian poet of his generation. This latest collection of his poetry, translated into English by Anthony Molino, reflects a dazzling kaleidoscope of genres—including poems, prose pieces, reportage, translations, and anagrams—and reinforces the poet's talent as a writer.

Magrelli's writing often employs word plays and classical rhythms to adorn and enhance his poetry. Molino carefully retains the precision of Magrelli's words as he deftly carries these linguistic games across the language barrier.

"In an era with few dominant poetic voices, he reminds us of the reach, the command, the surprise of the real thing."
—Rain Taxi

"This is a 'now you see it, now you don't' kind of magical, mystical, clever and tricky writing ... it is as vivid and as orgininal as any poetry I have read for many a long day. For the delight, one owes a great debt to the work of the translator, Anthony Molino .... Valerio Magrelli is an Italian writer whose grasp of the nuances and subtleties of language is a delight."
—John Fielding, Collages & Bricolages 2001

Valerio Magrelli is the author of three poetry collections, for which he has won the Mondello Prize, the Viareggio Prize for poetry, and the Montale Prize. A professor of French literature at the University of Pisa, he also teaches at Turin's European Institute for Literary Translation. He is a frequent contributor to the cultural pages of several Italian dailies, as well as editor for Einaudi's trilingual series, "Writers Translating Writers."

Anthony Molino is an award-winning literary translator, Ph.D. anthropologist, and practicing psychoanalyst. He has received a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Florence, three grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, major translation fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the National Theater Translation Fund, and an affiliate fellowship with the American Academy in Rome. Along with his many publications in psychoanalysis, his published works include translations of Antonio Porta's Kisses From Another Dream, Melusine; Valerio Magrelli's Nearsights; and the forthcoming Selected Poems of Lucio Mariani and Emergency Exit, by playwright Manlio Santanelli.