Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Writings on Literature and Arts: the language of cinema, the language of life
In spring, I wrote about the existence of “two Pasolinis – the Pasolini of cinephiles, and the Pasolini of bibliophiles”, an observation also inspired by what was then a still very limited number of translations of his writings into Romanian that had appeared until then. Now, at the end of the Pier Paolo Pasolini centennial (which this magazine has also celebrated in both its print and online issues), there is finally an important opportunity for the two major instances of this great intellectual – the filmmaker and the poet – to begin a long-overdue process of unification in the Romanian cultural field. At this year's Gaudeamus Book Fair, which took place last week, the Tracus Arte publishing house from Bucharest launched two volumes of his writings, which can finally serve the process of completing his image. The first one contains a selection of poems, presented in bilingual format, most of which are published for the first time in Romanian (except for the monumental autobiographical poem “The Poet of the Ashes”, published five years after his death, presented only in Romanian), and is the largest selection of Pasolini's poems to ever appear on the Romanian publishing market. Although efforts to translate his poetic work have been made in the past – notably in 1988, when the first Romanian translation by Marian Mincu appeared in the anthology titled “Italian Poets of the 20th Century", published by Cartea Românească – they have always been scattered: poems that have appeared here and there, in print or online magazines (for example, the notable translation by poet and book editor Claudiu Komartin). As such, this volume marks the laying of a long-awaited foundation for understanding not only Pasolini the poet, but also Pasolini the critic, and especially Pasolini the person, while also crucially indicating the point at which the one of the cinephiles and the one of the bibliophiles finally becomes congruent, where the two streams unite into a single flowing river.
Film critic & journalist. Collaborates with local and international outlets, programs a short film festival - BIEFF, does occasional moderating gigs and is working on a PhD thesis about home movies. At Films in Frame, she writes the monthly editorial - The State of Cinema and is the magazine's main festival reporter.
