Ligurian:
# Plinio Guidon (1922–1994)

Se peu dî che o Guidon o segge stæto un di pöchiscimi autoî in ligure, che seggian arriescii à attiâ l’attençion da critica italiaña [1] [2]. Fonçionäio de banca, o l’à visciuo pe tanto tempo à Romma, donde o l’à conlaborou inte varie occaxoin co-o poeta editô Mario Dell’Arco e o l’é introu in contatto con di ambienti coltuali ben ben diversci, che sens’atro an zugou un çerto ròllo inte l’arrösâlo da-i condiçionamenti de l’intellettualitæ zeneise, coscì serrâ e provinsale. Sto scrittô e studioso da lettiatua in ligure, ch’o l’açettava solo che mävoentea e pe de raxoin cronològiche, a definiçion de «neodialettale», o l’aveiva comensou a seu attivitæ letteräia inti anni Sciuscianta, in conlaboâ a-e transmiscioin regionale da RAI, pe-e quæ o l’à scrito di atti unichi in zeneise, in dâ à divedde za fin da aloa unna ciæa propenscion à sciortî da-i schemi do tiatro «dialettale» che ciù avanti a l’avieiva portou à scrive i drammi più meui, comme O Blòcco e Briscola. Into mæximo tempo, a seu euvia poetica a se destaccava segge da l’imitaçion firpiaña, segge da-a poexia sorvetutto còmica ancon in veuga à quelli tempi, con avvexinâse à unna poexia de denonçia soçiale, ch’a doveiva quarcösa a-o Pavese de Lavorare stanca; un autô che, sena paei, o l’accompagna o Guidon fin a-e seu urtime pagine, comme quande o l’evoca o destin de l’erba spâ, che «drita into sô / quande a scioisce a meue, / a meue d’amô». Tanto a produçion tiatrale, comme e poexie do Guidon, se carregan da maniman de scimboli e de alluxoin à unna veitæ ch’a stà feua do mondo senscibile, finché a piggia o sorvevento quella che lê o ciammava «fantaxia», sottiliscime imagine e figuaçioin enimmatiche, che ne convian à meditâ in sce unn’atra realitæ, parallella a-a nòstra, figuaçioin donde quello che vëgne taxuo o l’é fiña ciù importante de quello che vëgne dito, apreuvo ch’o l’alludde à tutte e cöse che no se porrian mai dî co-e poule.

[^1]: M. Chiesa, G. Tesio, _Le parole di legno. Poesia in dialetto del ’900 italiano_, Milan, 1984. [^2]: F. Brevini, _Le parole perdute_, Milan, 1990.

A cuggeita _Sette corali_ a presenta sette componimenti stæti inspiæ da sentî atrettanre corale de Bach.

A primma cuggeita do Guidon a presentava varri inganci con l’istöia secolare de Zena, ma za inte unn’òttica transfiguante e scimbòlica.

Inte l’euvia do Guidon o retorna de soventi o regòrdo da guæra e da deportaçion in Germania.

De vòtte o Guidon o s’inspia a-e arte figuative; chì coscì à L’urlo de Munch.

Atri regòrdi de guæra, into scenäio de Çinque Tære.

Inte ste doe poexie inedite, spedie a-o concorso «Lauro d’Oro» 1975, ma escluse da-e succescive accheuggeite, se peu osservâ un Guidon ancon ligou in parte a-a tradiçion zeneise da poexia soçiale, scrita inte un lenguaggio narrativo/descorscivo.

Ascì inte sto «dialogo», se alludde è unna realitæ «atra», segretta ò vellâ; à chi o parla o poeta? E de cöse? A-o Segnô? À un sò cao scompario? Tutte e domande restan in sospeiso e ne tramandan à unn’atra parte. Fòscia l’importante no l’é quello che se saian diti, e chi à parlou, ma l’atto mæximo de poñise a domanda.

[3] barca picciña da pescoei.

O reciammo à unna vitta sensa compromissi e ciù degna d’ëse visciua, contrapòsta a-o grixô cotidian de l’existensa cotidiaña, o l’é un atro di temmi favoii da poexia do Guidon.

Inti seu drammi originäi, o Plinio Guidon o repiggia cadense e stilemmi do tiatro de l’asciurdo, da-o Ionesco, a-o Beckett, a-o Pinter, con adattâli à pòsti e personaggi tipicamente liguri, inte unna mesccia straordinäiamente riescia, donde predòmina l’erlia, a dubiansa, e a mistica atteisa de quarcösa che vegnià. Beseugna reconosce a-o Guidon d’ëse anæto avanti pe-a seu stradda, into mezo de incomprenscioin da parte di cultoî tradiçionalisti coscì comme de l’ambiente critico e academico, i quæ – con pöche ben ecceçioin – no accapivan a novitæ do seu lenguaggio e de seu creaçioin, che anavan verso un zeneise comme lengua «totale»

À partî da O Blòcco, co-o quæ o l’à guägno o Premmio «Anna Caroli» do 1985, o Guidon o s’arrösa sempre ciù da-o sòlito tiatro in zeneise, e inte seu euvie, con un zeugo de frase fæte, leughi commuin, avvegnimenti incomprenscibili, senso d’erlia, i personaggi s’agguantan despiæ à unna parvensa de normalitæ, che no porrian mai ciù razzonze, finché no se compià o seu destin.

English translation:
# Plinio Guidoni (1922–1994)

It can be said that Guidoni was one of the very few authors in Ligurian who managed to attract the attention of Italian critics [1] [2]. He was a bank official, who lived for a long time in Rome, where he collaborated on several occasions with the poet-publisher Mario Dell’Arco and came into contact with very different cultural circles, which undoubtedly played some role in distancing him from the conditioning of the Genoese cultural milieu, which was so closed and provincial. This writer and scholar of literature in Ligurian, who only grudgingly and for chronological reasons accepted the label “neo-dialectal”, had begun his literary activity in the 1960s, collaborating on RAI regional broadcasts, for which he composed numerous single-act plays in Genoese, showing even then a clear propensity to break out of the mold of “dialectal” theater that would later lead him to write the more mature dramas, such as O blòcco and Briscola. At the same time, his poetic work was moving away from both the Firpian imitation and the mainly comic poetry still in vogue at the time, approaching rather a poetry of social denunciation, which owed something to the Pavese of Lavorare stanca; an author who, without opinion, accompanies Guidoni to his last pages, like when he evokes the fate of the agave that “straight into the sun, / when it blooms it dies, / dies of love”. Both Guidoni’s theatrical production and poems are gradually loaded with symbols and allusions to a truth that lies beyond the perceptible world, until what he called “fantasy” takes over – subtle images and enigmatic figurations that invite us to meditate on another reality, parallel to our own, figurations where what is unspoken is almost more important than what is said, since it alludes to all the things that can never be expressed in words.

[^1]: M. Chiesa, G. Tesio, _Le parole di legno. Poesia in dialetto del ’900 italiano_, Milan, 1984. [^2]: F. Brevini, _Le parole perdute_, Milan, 1990.

The collection _Sette corali_ presents seven compositions inspired by listening to as many of Bach’s chorales.

Guidoni’s first collection presented various connections with the secular history of Genoa, but already from a transfiguring and symbolic perspective.

The memory of the war and deportation to Germany returns frequently in Guidoni’s work.

Sometimes Guidoni draws inspiration from the figurative arts. Here from The Scream by Munch.

More war memories, against the backdrop of the Cinque Terre.

In these two unpublished poems, submitted to the 1975 “Lauro d’Oro” competition but excluded from subsequent collections, one can see a Guidoni still tied in part to the Genoese tradition of social poetry, composed in a narrative/discursive language.

Once again in this “Dialogue”, an “other”, secret or veiled reality is alluded to. To whom is the poet speaking? And what of? To God? To a departed loved one of his? All questions remain unanswered and refer us to an “elsewhere”. Perhaps the important thing is not what they will have said to each other, and who spoke, but the very act of asking the question.

[3] small fishing boat.

Another favorite theme of Guidoni’s poetry is the reference to a life devoid of compromise and more worth living, set against the grayness of everyday existence.

In his original plays Plinio Guidoni borrows the cadences and stylistic features of the theater of the absurd, from Ionesco, to Beckett, to Pinter, adapting them to typically Ligurian places and characters, in an extraordinarily successful mixture, predominated by anguish, doubt, and the mystical expectation of something to come. Guidoni must be credited with going his own way, amid misunderstandings from traditionalist devotees, as well as from the academic milieu, who – with very few exceptions – did not understand the novelty of his language and creations, which were moving toward a Genoese as a “total” language

Beginning with O Blòcco, with which he won the “Anna Caroli” prize in 1985, Guidoni moved farther and farther away from the conventional theater in Genoese, and in his works, with a play of catchphrases, clichés, incomprehensible events, and a sense of anguish, the characters grasp desperately at a semblance of normalcy, which they can never again attain, until their destiny is fulfilled.