Remembered as a great writer and journalist, Vincenzo Cardarelli has actually made himself unforgettable through his poetics. Let’s find out the story of his career and the path that led him to be an award-winning author.
Who was Vincenzo Cardarelli
Nazareno Caldarelli, known as Vincenzo Cardarelli (Corneto Tarquinia, 1 May 1887 – Rome, 18 June 1959), was an Italian poet. He grows up near Viterbo together with his father, who manages the buffet of the city’s train station and imposes himself as only parental figure. The absence of the mother, who leaves the family when she is still very young, is felt throughout her childhood and adolescence.
He is not very consistent at school e prefers self-training to school fees.
As a young rebel at the age of 17 he decided to flee home and take refuge in Rome where he adapts to any type of profession to survive. His is important role of proofreader at the well-known newspaper “Avanti!” which over the years will transform into the profession of editor. He also collaborates with some magazines such as “Lirica”, “La voce” or “Resto del Carlino”.
Beginning of Vincenzo Cardarelli’s career
He continues on this path even when he moves to Florence where he works at “The voice” knowing important exponents of the sector.
He resumes collaborating with the newspaper “Il Tempo” and publishes his own first collection of poems entitled “Prologues”. In 1919 he began working for the nascent “La Ronda” where he wrote together with six other exponents of the world of culture including the composer Bruno Barilli.
The following year he published his second collection of poems for Vallecchi entitled “Travel in time”. In the meantime, the rondista collaboration ends and he dedicates himself to the newspaper “Il Tevere” with the role of theater critic to then devote himself to the literary field. During this period he also dedicated a lot of time to friends and intellectuals at the well-known Caffè Aragno in Rome, the same one that is represented by Amerigo Bartoli in his painting “Amici al caffè”.
Poetics by Vincenzo Cardarelli
Her publications they continue in 1931, the year in which three highly successful volumes are released. But the book that allows him to really achieve fame is “The sun at peak” which contains verses and prose and wins the Bagutta Prize. Over the course of his career he obtained numerous other awards such as the Strega Award for “Villa Tarantola” and the Naples Prize with “A poet’s trip to Russia”.
It is said of him that he is a rather severe man of letters and that he is used to one lonely life it leads him to have an austere aura with him. Her poetic it deals with past memories and is always expressed through a profound and linear language. Inspired by great authors such as Pascal, Baudelaire and Nietzsche, he is often compared to Giacomo Leopardi.
Halfway between the avant-garde of the ten and the twenties is strongly affected by what are the traits of the current, thus touching on themes such as travel, adolescence, the search for identity, combined with a form of expressive transgression. Here is an example taken from the poem “Waiting”:
“Today I was expecting you
You did not come.
And your absence I know what it tells me,
your tumultuous absence,
in the void you left,
like a star.”