Ooooppppp: Error in the dates (My father was in Rhodes from 1936 to 1942)
EP





----- Original Message -----
From: erminia <[log in to unmask]>
To: Henry <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>;
<[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 12:38 AM
Subject: Re: The Rhodian Manifesto - a memory of Rhodes


> Hello, to you, hypothetical inhabitants of the Island of Rhodes.
> Very interested manifesto.
> My father, Prof. Leopoldo Passannanti lived in the island of Rhodes
> from 1936 to 1992 the most beautiful teaching years of his life. He had
been
> sent there by the Fascist Government as a prize for having won the so
called
> Littoriali ( he had won by making a 2 meter tall statue of Italy holding a
> tower on her head. At the time, Rhodes wan an Italian colony, and on the
> island all the people were taught to speak Italian. Still now I have been
> told, majority of indigenous speak our language.
> When the war started, my father Leopoldo was called back to Italy to join,
> as a Lieu Tenant , the Italian Army to fight the Second World War.
> When the war ended, he returned home after two year of concentration champ
> in Germany (Dusseldorf), married and continued teaching in Salerno, but
for
> all his life had the dream of going back and live the rest of his life in
> Rhodes.
>
> As a child I heard so many stories about that fabulous island (day time
and
> bed night narratives, to accompany me in my dreams) that I myself could
> speak for hours to other people how wonderful would have been to live
there
>  I even wrote one or two compositions pretending that I was born in Rhodes
>
>
> Once, in year 2 of the low secondary school, in one of my essays  I
> described the island of Rhodes so vividly, - remembering his drowned
> Colossus, his sunny parks with their free wandering deer, the Turkish
> quarters, the deep turquoise see, the loccumie (?)(cubes of rose jam sunk
> into a bed of icing sugar ) - that the teacher phoned my father to warn
him
> of the fact that on my school documents there was a mistaken town of
birth.
>
> I adored Rhodes so much I also learned from my father how to say a few
> sentences in modern Greek to make real my fake nationality (since then, I
> never stopped making up personas).
> My father died in 1987 having still in his heart the fervent desire to
> return to Rhodes . I imagine him there, now, seated on a bench by the sea.
>
> Erminia
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Henry <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 6:12 PM
> Subject: The Rhodian Manifesto
>
>
> > THE RHODIAN MANIFESTO
> >
> >                          'I wonder why in Rhodes they tie up their cats
> >                          with string.  I saw one attached to a front
door-
> >                          knob this morning.'
> >                                - Lawrence Durrell, *Reflections on a
> Marine
> >                                                           Venus*
> >
> > ** Who Are the Rhodians? **
> >
> > The Rhodians are an association of poets who do not live on the Island
of
> > Rhodes, but might like to. (The Island of Rhodes is not to be confused
> with
> > Rhode Island, a small state in the USA.)
> >
> > ** The Rhodian Credo **
> >
> > OF MINIMALISM.      The Rhodians accept a simple definition of poetry,
> ie.:
> > Poetry = rhythmic/measured language.  The features often attributed to
> > poetry, such as imagination, intellect, emotion, pathos, unity of
affect,
> > knowledge, communication, dream, and so forth, are understood to be
> > features of consciousness and language in general.  Poetry bears the
> > imprint of both consciousness and language, but its distinguishing trait
> > is rhythm, pattern, measure.  The Rhodian approach precludes
tendentious,
> > apologetic or polemical appropriations of features of general
> consciousness
> > into specialized definitions of what poetry *should* or *should not* be.
> > Rhodians believe that the compositional attributes of poems are all free
> > additions to the simple nature of poetry so defined.
> >
> > OF CONTINUITY.      The Rhodians believe that poetry as an art form is
> > distinguished by its continuity.  "Poetry is avant-garde because it
> > doesn't change much."  Rhodians declare that each poet and group of
> > poet-friends is responsible for, and eligible to inherit, the bequest
> > of past poetry in its entirety.  Poetry as simply defined passes through
> > the hands of its makers to its audience of hearers and other makers; it
is
> > molded by their personalities and the experience of their time on earth.
> > It is a human art form, perhaps shared to some extent by other
creatures.
> >
> > OF PURPOSE.         The Rhodians maintain that there is no particular
> > "correct" way to make poetry.  But this does not preclude the Rhodians
> from
> > choosing certain principles and orientations.  One such principle is
that
> > poetry-making involves a limited, but sufficient - and self-sufficient -
> > autonomy.  If the process is not valuable for its own sake it is not
worth
> > doing at all, since it makes no claim to be valuable for any other
reason.
> > (Here the Rhodians follow the orientation of fellow Rhodian, and former
> > Cranston native, Ted Berrigan.)  Another such principle is that poetic
> > autonomy is linked with a realistic approach.  Rhodians reject sceptical
> > trends which question our ability to posit the existence of a real world
> > outside our verbal formulations (even though Rhodians would like to
reside
> > on an island).  Rhodians assert the ability to make treu statements
about
> the
> > real world, and assent to the influence of that capability on their
> poetry.
> > In fact, Rhodians believe that the human impulse to respond to reality,
> > in all its consciousness and specificity, is something of an artistic
> > opportunity for which they can be grateful.  Finally, the Rhodians
reject
> > theories of poetics which devalue the communicative function, reifying
> > denatured words upon the page.  For the Rhodians, language is
essentially
> > communicative - assertive, interrogatory, evaluative, expressive sign-
> > making.  Within the continuum of these gestures, words play a
combinatory
> > and supportive role.  While recognizing the special quality of language
> > in art and poetry - the 'focus on message' or reflexive aspect described
> > by Jakobson - Rhodians aknowledge the fundamental semaphoric aspect of
> > the medium.
> >
> > - Henry (Rhodian with cat)
> >
>


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%