On the moral imperative to translate Wendell Berry into Italian

Purtroppo, le poesie di Berry non sono state (finora) tradotte in Italiano, privando i suoi lettori della musicalità dei suoi versi, della bellezza semplice e poco pretenziosa delle immagini che prendono vita tra le strofe.

Edizioni Lindau ha annunciato su Twitter, qualche giorno fa, la prossima pubblicazione di un’altra opera di Berry, che rimane tuttora top secret, lanciando l’hashtag #TotoBerry.

Nella speranza che qualcuno raccolga la sfida, che poi è un imperativo morale, e pubblichi una traduzione delle sue poesie (si, amici di Lindau, vi sto facendo l’occhiolino), vi propongo una mia modestissima traduzione di una della poesie che preferisco, The peace of wild things (La pace della cose selvagge).

Read more (and an Italian translation of "The Peace of Wild Things") at Impressions Chosen from Another Time.

Google Translation of this page.

Unfortunately, the poems of Berry were not (so far) translated into Italian, depriving its readers of the musicality of his verse, simple and unpretentious beauty of the images that come to life between stanzas.

Edizioni Lindau announced on Twitter a few days ago, the forthcoming publication of another work of Berry, who is still top secret, launching the hashtag #TotoBerry .

In the hope that someone pick up the challenge, then that is a moral imperative, and publish a translation of his poems (yes, friends Lindau, I'm winking), I propose a translation of my modest one of my favorite poems, The peace of wild things (Peace of Wild Things).

An Italian response to Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter

Questa è una delle rare occasioni in cui la copertina mi colpisce prima di conoscere la trama: una scala di verdi e terra si armonizza perfettamente e che introduce al scenario bucolico di Port William. 

Ho letto recensioni entusiaste sul precedente lavoro di Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow, non potevo farmi sfuggire Hannah Coulter edito sempre da Lindau sapendo già che mi sarebbe piaciuto. Lo scrivo così mi tolgo il pensiero ed evito di tergiversare. Oltre la storia ben costruita, la sorpresa viene dalla scrittura dell'autore americano, concreta, calata nel contesto. Il discorso di Berry è più complesso di quel che sembra: non raccoglie solo le memorie di una vecchina, ma di una comunità. E non si dimentica l'amore per la vita agreste e il rispetto dei valori umani.

Read more at Little Miss Book

Google Translate:

This is one of the rare occasions when the cover strikes me before knowing the plot: a scale of greens and earth harmonizes perfectly and introduces you to the bucolic scenery of Port William. 

I read rave reviews on the previous work of Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow, I could not miss Hannah Coulter published by Lindau always knowing that I would have liked. I write so I take my thoughts and I avoid beating around the bush. Besides the story well built, the surprise comes from the author's writing American, concrete, lowered into context. Berry's speech is more complex than it seems: not only collects the memories of an old woman, but of a community. And do not forget the love of rural life and respect for human values. 

Wendell Berry cited on the Power of Protest

Still, I wondered, what difference could such a group make by confronting a governor who was known to support the blasting of mountaintops? Did they really imagine he would withdraw his support from the powerful coal industry because they had shown up with banjos and signs, demanding that he protect their land and water?

So shortly before the protest began, I approached Berry, who had a toothbrush in his jacket pocket in case he was arrested, and asked: “Do you really think this protest will make a difference?” His answer surprised me — and stuck with me to this day.

“I don’t know if it will make a difference,” he said. “But that’s the wrong question. The right question is: Is it the right thing to do? I know it is the right thing to do.”

Read more at Mom's Clean Air Force

A Unique Honor for Wendell Berry

Tom Eblen writes:

When the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning announced plans in July to select the first living member of its Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, I wrote that the process should be a search for Wendell Berry.

Kentucky has many fine writers working today, but none can match the range, craftsmanship and international acclaim of Berry, 80, who writes and farms in Henry County, where his family has lived for five generations.

So the Carnegie Center's announcement this week should come as no surprise. Berry will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 along with five deceased writers, who will be identified that night.

Read more at Kentucky.com  

Also at Tom Eblen's column/blog. 

See also Kentucky Kernel.

 

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative

Wendell Berry cited on Community

I don’t think social media is completely antagonistic to true intimacy. But, as Wendell Berry told me in a recent interview (one that will be published online soon), “The usefulness of electronic communication to cultivate community, I think, is tightly limited. … Community is not made just be [sic] communication. It is a practical circumstance. It is composed of people who have a place in common.” Moreover, he says, “It is made by people’s willingness to be neighbors, good and faithful servants, to one another,” and by a “recognition of their need for one another.”

Read more at The American Conservative