The New York herald., 1921-12-18
Poets Latest Book
Written in Hospital
% book has been awaited in re-
cent years by the Italians with
such curiosity as THE Noe

has Just been issued in Rome. For
five years. with the exception of many
prose compositions of a polemical and
political character on the war the
peace. the policies of the Powers and
italy, nothing of a literary character
has appeared from the pen OF the lead
ing Italian poet and prose writer.
These effusions, while in his always
splendid style, were intended as he
stated in them, as propaganda and
justification for his various actions.
His last book, rLeda Without the
swan" was published in 1916, but its
character appears to have been over
Whelmed by the war, as was its in
tcrest to the public. In reality the
warrior first, and afterward the rebel.
had excluded at first sight D'Annunzio
from his real role as litterateur. That
this was not actually the case is seen
from the history of "Nocturne," the
larger portion of which was written
through those dreadful months when
he was tied prisoner TO his bed with
the possibility Of completely losing
his eyeSight
THE Nocturne" is not. therefore,
pest war book, the renewal of his ac-
tive literary life after the violences of
war. Its conception and scheme were
contemporary with the battles and it
is built on them and draws its life
blood from them The book, to quote
phrase of DAnnupzio's referring to
his companions who came to his bed
SIDE to bring him notices of the
progress of events. smells of battle as
a butcher does of blood and har-
vester of hay"
Wounded as the result Of an avia-
ton incident during the war 1916),
he ran the risk of losing his eyesight
completely, and to avoid this he was
ordered to lie immovable and in COM
plete darkness II have the eyes
handaged. am fiat in bed, with my
back immovable. with my head little
lower than my feet l raise slightly
the knees to incline the board which
is placed there. 1 write on a narrow
slip of paper with raised lines. l have
between the fingers a pencil. The
thumb and middle finger of the right
hand, resting on the line of the sheet
makes ii run along as the words are
written. l feel with the fiange of the
little finger the lire underneath and
this acts for me a. guide TO keep
the direction. Inc elbows are nelu
firm against my fanks. 1 try TO give
the movement of my hands an extreme
lightness in order that their play shall
not go beyond the pulse, thau no shud-
der may reach the bandaged head. |
feel i'm my attitude the rigidity of an
Egyptian scribe carved in basalt. The
room is free from any light. | write
i'm the darkness. trace my signs
L..
my ribs like mailed board" In this
manner was this extraordinary book
written. Homer and Milton were blind,
but surely this is the first time that
book has been written under such
conditions.
"Aegri Somnia' he places on the first
page of the book. and that is the
books justification and its intimate
spirit. It explains the disorganzed
character of the work which will be
found especially noticeable in the arbi-
trary manner in which the episodes
arc arranged. From page to page
the reader fits as in dreams. Bizarre.
mad conceptions pass by so rapidly
and with so little obvious conjunction
that II would seem that they were
aerial. with no existence in conscience
and without any apparent reason for
being recorded There is only one CEN
trail idea and that so vague and in
definite. but it is to be found in every
episode. the brain of the sick man,
constructing with almost dlabolical
swiftness, n pictorial structure, which
disappears. to reanpear again in an
other form which IN its turn crumbles
10 pieces and out of this mass OF
ruins there hardly appears { NY splen-
did aesthetic figure but in the rare
delicacv OF the prore and its inimitable
lneness there is To the reader dis
harmony and an obeession which forms
the contrast.
Tho book was commenced in 1915
and q large portion Of II was written
before April of that year. Ton thou
sand slips Of paper were covered by
the author and he compares tho slips
70 the sheets Of the Sibilln ON which
short phrases were written. afterward
10 he carried away by the wind His
daughter. Renata. who was his de-
voted nurse undertook the work OF
deciphering these sheets. no easy task
considering the conditions under which
they were written and that tho writing
graduated according 10 the suneriugs
NJ The writcr. and i'm many cases when
hc was passing through tho worst
days fines were superimposed one on
top OF anothey 1Ic records with an
ruish the Interruptions which dis
,lrbcd Tho trend Of The visions. and
once the vision was gonc 10 could not
bc recalled for new vision was al
ready I'm it's place urging n hc at
tended TO- Many Of no sheets were
not numbered and infinite care had 20
no taken 10 got them IN proper order
for the deciphoring of the whole.
other sheets especially Of parts which
particularly appealed 10 him. as the
vision of his mothers face. he handed
to his nurse and arnsnuensis 90 be