Ligurian:
# Carlo Malinverni (1855-1922)

Pe tutta a vitta o l’é stæto impiegou da Cascia de Risparmio e o l’ combinou sta seu attivitæ con træti da poeta maudit; repubrican e mazzinian cado da zoeno, o l’à ammiou dapeu à sti ideali con ciù destacco inta seu maturitæ. O l’à comensou a seu attivitæ poetica con de cheuggeite de poexie in italian de stampo politico e sociale, pe dedicâse dapeu a-a lengua zeneise, con portâghe drento e tematiche di segondi romantichi e di scapigliati, in veuga à quelli tempi. Inta poexia do Malinverni, l’attençion a-e cöse picciñe, a-e usançe tradiçionale zeneixi, a-o mondo de l’infançia, a-i spettacoli da natua revisciui con parteçipaçion e senscibilitæ, a se mesccia co-a compascion pe-i patimenti di pövei e di escluxi, espressa inte unna muxicalitæ ch’a pâ vegnî feua da çerto melodramma verista, e à unna retòrica tardo resorgimentale che de vòtte a no se peu comportâ, mascime inte poexie de propaganda scrite a-i tempi da primma guæra mondiale. Stæto tegnuo da tanti pe un capposcheua, comme quello che a-i primmi do secolo o l’aiva dæto torna a-a poexia zeneise e seu poscibilitæ serie, con anteçipâ o Firpo, o l’à ciù che atro adattou çerte tematiche euttoçentesche a-a Zena di seu tempi, un pittin comme o Vigo. Segondo o P. Guidon, «e compoxiçioin do Malinverni rivelan træti de un intimiximo venou de malinconia donde se sente echi de contemporanie espeiençe in lengua, sensa che sto fæto o l’interferisce ciù de tanto in sce unna inspiaçion prinçipalemente debitoa de atmosfee locale. À tutte e mainee, con sto autô, modesto ma de ciæe vixoin, a poexia in zeneise a se caratterizza torna comme un fæto cultuâ autònomo, pe-a reconquistâ consciensa do possesso de un seu pròpio instromento esprescivo»[^1]. De fæto, o Malinverni o l’òpea unna modeâ purificaçion do lenguaggio, che, comme s’é dito, o l’ea vegnuo pin de italianiximi, mascime co-o Baçigalô e i seu imitatoî.

[^1]: P. Guidoni, _Saggi sulla poesia genovese_, A Compagna, Genova, 1997.

A frequente cantabilitæ do verso, a neccia de temmi sentimentali pöcassæ lagrimoxi, veddan o Malinverni arente a-o gusto de armonie «in grigio et in silenzio», che l’ea in veuga tra o pubrico di seu tempi e a-e scituaçioin borgheixi e demisse tipiche o melodramma verista; comme inte sto caxo, donde l’ambientaçion, o climma pscicològico e fiña o nomme da protagonista pan stæti tiæ feua da-o repertöio puccinian, con tutto che a vexenda a ven straportâ in ambiente zeneise.

[^2]: Staggen: localitæ donde se treuva o Çimitëio Monumentale. [^3]: terrapin: in sciâ colliña derê à Zena, destin de campagnate in primmaveia.

L’uso frequente de l’onomatopea, a parteçipe osservaçion da natua, stæta elezua à scimbolo di stati d’animo do poeta, poñan o Malinverni inta scia di imitatoî do Pascoli, ch’o l’é un di seu evidenti modelli.

[^4]: o tempo o l’é in candeia: o s’é misso a-o bello stabile. [^5]: Baciccia di Cöi, nomme de unna maccetta çittadiña, vegnuo à ëse o scimbolo do popolan zeneise pe eccellensa.

Unna ascosa sensualitæ a core sotta i versci do Malinverni, e a se fa ciæa solo che de semme in semme, comme inte sto sunetto, pe-i seu tempi ben ben audaçioso, tanto che un di seu primmi lettoî, G. Macaggi, o doveiva discimolâ l’imbarasso, in commentâ a-o propòxito che «l’arte a redimme l’ardî».

[^6]: G. Macaggi, prefaçion à C. Malinverni, _Due brocche de viovetta_, 1908.

Quande o l’é mòrto o Pascoli, o Malinverni o l’à dedicou sti versci a-a memöia de quello ch’o tegniva pe un seu grande meistro.

A verscion locale che o Malinverni o ne dà do spleen baudelairian a l’é a «gnagnoa», poula ch’a no tradue exattamente l’italian «noia», ma a gh’azzonze un senso de ascidio e tòsto de erlia pe-o doman. Appossou inta consapevolessa da vanitæ di seu sfòrsci, fiña in ponto politica e arte, e no rescciæou l’avvegnî da quarche speransa religiosa, o poeta o se lascia anâ à de melancòniche conscideaçioin in sciô seu destin e in sce quello da seu poexia.

[^7]: beuga-bugagna: cantilena pe fâ zugâ i figgeu.

Tipico do Malinverni o l’é l’interesse pe-o mondo de l’infançia, de soventi unio a-a rievocaçion de tradiçioin nataliçie, donde o poeta o l’arriësce à inmæximâse con grande natualessa e scimpatia.

English translation:
# Carlo Malinverni (1855-1922)

He was employed all his life as a clerk at the Cassa di Risparmio, and combined this occupation with an attitude as a maudit poet. He was a fervent Republican and Mazzinian in his youth, and later looked at these ideals with greater detachment in his adulthood. He began his poetic activity with a few collections of poems in Italian with political and social overtones, later devoting himself to the Genoese language, transposing into it the themes of the Second Romantics and Scapigliati, which were in vogue at the time. In Malinverni’s poetry, attention to small things, to traditional Genoese customs, to the world of childhood, and to the spectacles of nature relived with participation and sensitivity, is combined with compassion for the sufferings of the humble and the outcast, expressed in a musicality that seems to come from a kind of veristic melodrama, as well as with a late Risorgimento rhetoric that becomes unbearable at times, especially in the propaganda poems written during World War I. Considered by many a leading figure, as the one who at the turn of the century had restored Genoese poetry to its serious possibilities, anticipating Firpo, he adapted more than anything else certain nineteenth-century themes to the Genoa of his time, somewhat like Vigo. According to P. Guidoni, “Malinverni’s compositions reveal traits of an intimism tinged with melancholy in which one can hear echoes of contemporary experiences in the language, without interfering much with an inspiration that is mainly indebted to local atmospheres. However, with this modest but clear-visioned author, poetry in Genoese once again becomes characterized as an autonomous cultural fact, due to the regained consciousness of possessing its own expressive tool”[^1]. Indeed, Malinverni operates a moderate purification of language, which, as mentioned above, especially with Bacigalupo and his imitators, had become saturated with Italianisms.

[^1]: P. Guidoni, _Saggi sulla poesia genovese_, A Compagna, Genova, 1997.

The prevalent singability of the verse, the choice of vaguely lachrymose sentimental themes, place Malinverni close to the taste for the “in grigio et in silenzio” harmonies that were in vogue with the audiences of his time and to the dim, bourgeois situations typical of veristic melodrama – as in this case, where the setting, the psychological climate and even the name of the protagonist seem to be taken from Puccini’s repertoire, although the story is transposed to a Genoese setting.

[^2]: Staglieno: location of the Monumental Cemetery. [^3]: terrapin: on the hill behind Genoa, common destination for spring outings.

The frequent use of onomatopoeia, the participatory observation of nature elected as a symbol of the poet’s moods, place Malinverni in the wake of the imitators of Pascoli, one of his clear models.

[^4]: o tempo o l’é in candeia: the weather has settled beautifully. [^5]: Baciccia di Cöi, the name of a city minstrel who has become a symbol for the quintessential Genoese commoner.

An ill-concealed sensuality runs beneath Malinverni’s verses, making itself explicit only from time to time, as in this sonnet, so daring for its time that one of its earliest readers, G. Macaggi, had to dissimulate embarrassment, commenting on the subject that “art redeems daring”.

[^6]: G. Macaggi, preface to C. Malinverni, _Due brocche de viovetta_, 1908.

Upon Pascoli’s death, Malinverni dedicated these verses to the memory of the man he considered his great teacher.

The local version Malinverni gives us of the Baudelairian spleen is the “gnagnoa”, a word that does not exactly translate the English “boredom”, but adds to it a sense of annoyance and almost anguish about tomorrow. Immersed in an awareness of the vanity of his efforts, even politically and artistically, and unclouded by any religious hope for the future, the poet indulges in melancholy considerations about his own fate and that of his poetry.

[^7]: beuga-bugagna: children’s lullaby.

Characteristic of Malinverni is his interest in the world of childhood, often combined with the evocation of Christmas traditions. In it, the poet manages to identify with great ease and sympathy.