Crossing Bridges

Descrizione

Il libro

In this bilingual publication, the author once more celebrates a sort of idealized sisterhood between two cultures and two languages that are united by a unique poetic and narrative message, as was the case in his previous collections Beyond Boundaries and From Italy. The title itself, Crossing Bridges, thus seeks to lay an ideal bridge across the Atlantic Ocean in an original attempt at global communication. Three short stories and nine poems which cover various topics, but which have one thing in common: Tanzj’s relationship with the United States, and in particular with New York, starting with the New York Public Library (in the short story by the same name, inspired by the tragic vicissitudes of the young Italian immigrant Pascal D’Angelo) which, as John Ordman writes, “encapsulates the essence of these qualities” as a fundamental reference point for international literature. Stories and poems written at different times, which nevertheless pursue one another through narrative realism and dreamlike visions, like, for example, in The Vibrant, or in the poetic tributes to Bob Dylan (Unnished Poem For Old Bob) and Allen Ginsberg (Bye Bye Allen), representing Tanzj’s connection to American literature. And finally crossing the bridges once more, from Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

L’autore

Francesco Paolo Tanzj, born in Rome on August 14, 1950, for years he has directed Readings di Poesia Contemporanea with Luigi Amendola, Plinio Perilli, Dario Bellezza, Maria Luisa Spaziani, Alberto Bevilacqua, Dacia Maraini, Stanislao Nievo, Luigi Fontanella, Jessica d’Este, Paul Polansky, Amelia Rosselli, Anna Maria Frabotta, and more. Publications: In prose, Elogio Della Provincia (1999), Un Paradiso Triste (2007), L’uomo che ascoltava le 500 (2014), Tutta la vita da vivere (Graus edizioni 2021), and the e-book Ci vediamo da Jole (2019). In verse: Aggregazioni (1974), Oltre (1995), Grande Orchestra Jazz (1996), Per dove non sono stato mai (2002), Oltre i conni – Beyond Boundaries (2008, co-written with London-based poet Jessica d’Este), L’oceano ingordo dei pensieri (2012), and From Italy (2014, with parallel English-Italian text, already submitted to Stony Brook University and to the Westchester Italian Cultural Center of New York). In 2017 he contributed to a book of collected articles entitled La scrittura, in which he talks about what writing means, in all of its various aspects. In 2019 and 2021 he curated the poetry-photography anthologies Scatti di-versi and Nel verso della foto, in which poets and photographers mutually inspire one another, creatively weaving together these two art forms. A video, poetry, and music CD-ROM entitled Ad Alta Voce (2001-2010) is a testament to his recurring leap into the world of multi-media. His works are also available on You Tube. www.francescopaolotanzj.it