Ligurian:
# Sergio Sileri (1919–1983)

Severa e dramatica a conceçion da vitta che o l’aveiva o Sergio Sileri (1919-1983), quella de un òmmo ch’o l’ea stæto misso a-a preuva in scê caladde do pòrto, inte fabriche e, in sciâ fin, inti scagni de unna Zena ben ben despægia da quella da giornâ d’ancheu e ciù dua pe coscì, de vedde piccâse contra a seu fede crestiaña, e seu speranse e inluxoin, co-a dua realitæ. Ma, a-a fin da föa, à tegnîne in vitta e a dâne a fòrsa de tiâ avanti, o saià delongo l’amô, «unica reixe de l’eterno ëse / o sangue pe vive a-o de là da mòrte». O Sileri o fa parte de quella veña de poexia ligure impegnâ, chi comensa a-a dreitua con o coscì dito Anònimo zeneise, a passa pe-o Poulo Foggetta e o Luiggi Pedevilla, pe arrivâ fin a-i nòstri tempi con di autoî comme o Giannon e o De André, e o ne conta de unna çittæ in crixi à reo; da zeneise e da òmmo de mâ o l’é desgustou e inrouxio de fronte a-a descheita da çittæ in caxon de l’aviditæ de dinâ e a-o desandio, mascime di zoeni, «contestatoî da barca e do nostròmmo» – lägni che fan ascordâ e cöse che inta vitta contan pe d’in davei: «chi vëgne o no conosce / a paçiensa di fòrti / a fadiga di mòrti». E coscì, o barco Elettra o saià fæto à tanti menissi in nomme do dinâ, apreuvo che i òmmi s’ascòrdan «glòria e abbandon / giöia e magon» insemme co-a seu dignitæ e co-o «vanto de un travaggio finio», tanto da fâ braggiâ a-o poeta: «beati i mòrti che no an dæto ninte / che almeno se ne stan pe sempre in paxe». Verso a fin da seu vitta e do seu cammin spiituale, o Sileri o se confia ancon de ciù a-e speranse ch’a n’exibisce a religion, ma sensa sciortî mai à attaxentâ pe in davei o seu cruçio personale. O l’é stæto ascì un ciù che aprexou attô do tiatro in zeneise, e tanti se ô sovvëgnan pe-a voxe espresciva e fonda, ch’a paiva fæta à pòsta pe leze e poexie, e seu e di atri, e mettine in evidensa o senso drammatico.

A descriçion de Zena «pòrto de mâ», che à di atri a l’avieiva podama fornio l’occaxon pe de remerse nostargie e de cheite into bossettiximo, a vëgne à ëse, into Sileri, o laccion pe de raxoin ciù in areo in sciâ vanitæ di sfòrsci umen; fiña a proverbiale onestæ e sccettessa di zeneixi no peuan ciù ëse verdiñe da strisciâ.

E inluxoin di figgeu à confronto con l’amao dexincanto de l’etæ avansâ son chì trattezzæ sensa sciato.

O lägno do poeta pe-a descheita da çittæ van da-a mæxima con l’erlia pe unna zoentù ch’a mostrava unna debilitæ morale e pscicològica da mette poia, e ch’a prefondava inte aberraçioin da dròga, do beive, da politica estremistica, into terroriximo di «anni de ciongio», ò adreitua inte grinte da denlinquensa commun. O Sileri o no l’à trattou sti argomenti a-a ciæa, ma da veo poeta pe mezo de alluxoin e de imagine suggestive.

Tipico do Sileri un rigoriximo porale, ch’o l’à fòscia e seu reixe inte quella veña de religioxitæ ciù che tutto prattica e luvega, presente inte tutta l’istöia de Zena, caratteristica de chi segge de longo in façion à perde e seu ricchesse e a seu vitta in mâ, ma infloensâ ascì da di rianetti de gianseniximo, ch’a se peu attrovâ ancon into penscê do Mazzini e de un Eustachio Degola (sto segondo o l’é stæto, no s’ascordemmo, o l’é stæto o præve zeneise fautô da converscion do Manzoni a-o catoliçeximo, ma – ben apòsta – inte un contesto quæxi d’erexia). A condaña da cecitæ umaña de fronte a-o peccou, inte unna poexia comme sta chì, a piggia de vòtte di toin da profeta da Bibbia, e a va pe coscì ciù in la de quelli che son sempre stæti i limiti de poetiche «dialettale».

L’istöia ascì do barco Elettra a vëgne à ëse l’occaxon pe un descorso ciù grande in sciâ desconoscensa di òmmi, e l’insenscibilitæ di tempi neuvi de fronte a-i valoî do travaggio, de l’abnegaçion, do sagrifiçio.

A-o de là de tutti i problemi, i patimenti, i sapelli da vitta, a l’arresta a speransa crestiaña, rebattua da-o Sileri inte trei distichi gnòmichi d’effetto.

English translation:
# Sergio Sileri (1919–1983)

Stark and dramatic was Sergio Sileri’s (1919-1983) conception of life, that of a man who was put to the test in the docks, in the factories and finally in the offices of a Genoa very different from today’s and much harsher, seeing his Christian faith, his hopes and illusions clash with harsh reality. But, in the end, what keeps us alive and gives us the strength to go on will always be love, “the only root of eternal being / the blood to live beyond death”. Belonging to that vein of committed Ligurian poetry, which even begins with the so-called Genoese Anonym, passes through Paolo Foglietta and Luigi Pedevilla, and arrives up to the present day with authors such as Giannoni and De André, Sileri describes a city deeply in crisis; as a Genoese man and a man of the sea, he is saddened and annoyed at the city’s decadence due to the greed for money and the misguidedness – especially of the young, “protesters of the boat and the boatswain” – cares that make us forget the really important things in life: “he who comes does not know / the patience of the strong / the toil of the dead”. Thus, the ship Elettra will be torn to pieces in the name of money, because men forget “glory and abandonment / joy and pain” along with their own dignity and “the boast of work accomplished”, so much so that the poet exclaims: “blessed are the dead who have given nothing / who at least are forever in peace”. Towards the end of his life and his spiritual itinerary, Sileri relied even more on the hopes offered by religion, but without ever really succeeding in silencing his personal torment. He was also a highly appreciated actor in the Genoese theatre, and many remember him for his expressive and deep voice, which seemed to be made especially for reading poems, his own and others’, and highlighting their dramatic meaning.

The description of Genoa as a “seaport”, which to others would perhaps have offered the occasion for sterile nostalgia and yielding to stereotyped depictions, becomes in Sileri the source of more general considerations on the vanity of human endeavour; not even the proverbial honesty and straightforwardness of the Genoese can be trump cards any more.

The illusions of childhood compared with the bitter realisation of adulthood are soberly sketched here.

The poet’s preoccupation with the decadence of the city went hand in hand with his anguish for a youth that was demonstrating a disturbing moral and psychological weakness and sinking into the aberrations of drugs, alcohol, extremist politics, the terrorism of the “anni di piombo”, if not into the coils of common delinquency. Sileri did not deal with these topics explicitly, but as a true poet by means of allusions and suggestive images.

Typical of Sileri is a moral rigorism, which perhaps draws its origins from that vein of essentially practical and sombre religiosity, present throughout the history of Genoa, characteristic of those who are always ready to lose their possessions and their lives at sea, but also influenced by rivulets of Jansenism, which can still be found in the thought of Mazzini and Eustachio Degola (who, let us not forget, was the Genoese priest responsible for Manzoni’s conversion to Catholicism, but indeed in an almost heretical context). The condemnation of human blindness to sin, in a poem like this, sometimes takes on biblical prophet-like tones, going far beyond what have always been the limits of “dialectal” poetics.

Even the story of the ship Elettra becomes the occasion for a broader discourse on human ingratitude, on the insensitivity of the new times to the values of work, self-denial and sacrifice.

Beyond all the problems, sufferings and obstacles of life, there remains Christian hope, reaffirmed by Sileri in three effective gnomic couplets.