The Reception of Srečko Kosovel in Italy

Abstract

A number of differing efforts have finally contributed to the recognition and appreciation of Srečko Kosovel, in a nationally mixed area, as a high quality poet, although his intercessors and translators are most often also of Slovene origin. These efforts provide an insight into the Trieste situation, where the Slovene minority is struggling to maintain its existence and cultural identity. Initial recognition was based on the success of his poetry in France. Although it has taken a long time for the echo of his success to overcome local boundaries, Srečko Kosovel is a Slovene poet who has appeared in some textbooks, numerous studies, papers at different conferences, and monographs. His poetry has therefore crossed the threshold to a permanent presence in Italy. He was spontaneously recognized by some prominent Italian authors (Claudio Magris, Angelo Ara, Elvio Guanini, Susanna Tamaro, Gino Brazzoduro, Ferruccio Fölkel, Carolus L. Cergoly, and so on) who we can assume have accepted the poet into their intellectual sphere; this dictates further specific research, although so far no distinguishing features can be found in their understanding of Kosovel. In the treatment of such phenomena and processes certain realizations seem to be at hand that reveal interesting conventions in the evaluation of a foreign literary work in an Italian environment and the dubiousness of literary criteria, which need support in an incontestable determination of generally acknowledged foreign, rather than Italian, authorities. The attention of the general public in central Italy has been drawn to the poet a few times, mainly in daily newspapers with a large circulation, with interpreters most often being those Slovenes or Italians who appreciate Slovene literature and come from the above-mentioned area. It is definitely of decisive importance for the fate of Kosovel’s poetry that efforts for his recognition did not end after the first success and have continued to the present.