Nottetempo’s collection of poems is a nice little book but despite its plain appearance there’s nothing simple about it, because it contains Emily Brontë’s world summarized in 33 of her poems chosen and translated into Italian by Ginevra Bompiani. We hadn’t had any new Italian translation of Emily’s poems for a long time before it, and it was such a great surprise that we wouldn’t miss it for the world.
The strenght of this book is certainly the passion of Ginevra Bompiani, who translated the poems when she was younger and then decided to edit them and republish them at a more mature age, trying to maintain the original structure of the work. Emily’s poems are extremely complex, and the translator shows a deep knowledge of the author when she writes that Emily Brontë had always lived “elsewhere”, and that “Her poetry is private. It’s hard for those who read to find themselves and their own experience in it; her poetry is more secret than a mystical song that involves every mystical experience, more than a confession that shares all its faults, her poetry hasn’t been written for anyone”.
Just like poetry, also translation is a matter of interpretation sometimes and reading this book by Nottetempo is discovering the interesting personal approach of the translator to Emily’s mystery, which is enclosed in these poems that are so difficult to understand but so strong to the souls of all readers.
Selene
Are you looking for other Brontë readings? Here is an interesting suggestion: In The Reading Room: Charlotte Brontë, A Passionate Life (Una Vita Appassionata) – A Review
