Neo-Orphic and neo-experimentalists, minimalists and neo-crepusculars,
mannerists and post-modernists (that I mentioned in more detail in the
half-mocking and half-serious list I posted a couple of months ago to
Poetryetc) are all there struggling to make the language of poetry renovate
its codes and tools, often consuming authentic vocations in this effort.
But having, on the other hand, the duty to do so. The links between the
poet and the literary/cultural theorist is somehow unavoidable. I myself
do not believe in spontaneity and I hope that behind each poet there is a
project not merely a vent of words, an outburst of tears or joy, the desire
to give find expression for one’s wrath.
The baroque mask is there, for me, to suggest the artificiality of
such “post-modern” assimilation of genres and styles, the mendaciousness,
if you want, of the vicissitudes of literary theories, and therefore, in my
opinion, the elaboration of a mannerism that would dominate the all, and
this surely can suggest a return to a kind of disconcerting yet soothing
order. The mask is there to typify the clash of these elements with the
unpersuasive reconciliation of the self with its stereotypes. As Richard
Dillon is noticing, I am making a point to merely represent what I am
writing and what I aim to do…I was not describing what is going on. It is
my personal response to postmodernity and a turning point from my
collection Macchina (that is what Mistici will be). But yes, it is true
that especially in visual arts we are in the realm of postmodernist neo-
baroque. (?)
Thank you for getting involved in this discussion.I know that the majority
might disagree.
Erminia
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