{"id":57419,"date":"2016-05-03T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/langhe.net\/57419\/pavese-langhe-questione-lingua-parte-1\/?lang=en"},"modified":"2016-07-29T08:29:06","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T06:29:06","slug":"pavese-langhe-language-issue-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langhe.net\/en\/57419\/pavese-langhe-language-issue-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Pavese & the Langhe: the language issue \u2013 part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the pivotal points around which Pavese\u2019s relationship rotates with the Langhe<\/strong> is, most certainly, the use of language, both in its entire production in \u2018Feria d\u2019agosto\u2019 (August Holiday) and \u2018La luna e i fal\u00f2\u2019 (The Moon and the Bonfire).<\/p>\n

The use of the Piedmont dialect<\/h2>\n

At a first glance, the incision of the dialect<\/strong> in these two works does not appear to be too different from the influence of the Piedmont language which some of the writer’s novels are affected by: an example, perhaps the most noteworthy, is found in \u2018Paesi tuoi\u2019 (Your villages)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In addition to this novel, even in the poem \u2019I mari del sud\u2019 (South seas)<\/strong>, which Pavese often refers to in \u2018Il mestiere di vivere\u2019 (This Business of Living<\/a>)\u00a0as a solid point of his production, there is a strong propensity to mix the Piedmont dialect with the literary language<\/strong>; a project that provides evidence of Pavese\u2019s objective.<\/p>\n

In this respect, therefore, The Moon and the Bonfires<\/a>, Pavese’s last novel, does nothing more than close a circle that had already begun earlier on; before this novel, however, August holiday reveals in advance the ways in which the linguistic operation will be completed, clearly drawing from various moments of earlier works.<\/p>\n

August Holiday and the Moon and the Bonfires<\/h2>\n

In La Langa<\/strong>, a tale from August Holiday<\/strong>, perhaps one of the most felt by Pavese and certainly one of the closest to the Moon and the Bonfires, there is an interesting fact from which one can start in order to outline the action plan (at a language level) of the works in question.<\/p>\n

In this story a first person narrator talks about the return to his town of origin<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Io sono un uomo molto ambizioso e lasciai da giovane il mio paese, con l’idea fissa di diventare qualcuno. Il mio\u00a0paese sono quattro baracche e un gran fango, ma lo attraversa lo stradone provinciale dove giocavo da bambino.\u00a0Siccome – ripeto – sono ambizioso, volevo girar tutto il mondo e, giunto nei siti pi\u00f9 lontani, voltarmi e dire in presenza\u00a0di tutti: \u00abNon avete mai sentito nominare quei quattro tetti? Ebbene, io vengo di l\u00e0!\u00bb Certi giorni, studiavo con pi\u00f9\u00a0attenzione del solito il profilo della collina, poi chiudevo gli occhi e mi fingevo di essere gi\u00e0 per il mondo a ripensare\u00a0per filo e per segno al noto paesaggio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this point the proximity to Anguilla<\/strong>, the protagonist of the Moon and the Bonfires, is decidedly remarkable<\/strong>: in fact, in the novel\u2019s opening chapter, the first thing which the protagonist speaks about is precisely the Langa where he spent his childhood and youth<\/strong>, in Santo Stefano Belbo<\/a>, and the places where he used to live as a boy.<\/p>\n

After leaving in search of fortune throughout the world, he returns, without knowing whether he was actually born there, and finds himself thinking in retrospect of the time that had gone by between his departure and his return:<\/p>\n

Cos\u00ec questo paese, dove non sono nato, ho creduto per molto tempo che fosse tutto il mondo. Adesso che il mondo\u00a0l’ho visto davvero e so che \u00e8 fatto di tanti piccoli paesi, non so se da ragazzo mi sbagliavo poi di molto. Uno gira per\u00a0mare e per terra, come i giovanotti dei miei tempi andavano sulle feste dei paesi intorno, e ballavano, e bevevano, si\u00a0picchiavano, portavano a casa la bandiera e i pugni rotti.
\nCesare Pavese, La luna e i fal\u00f2, capitolo I.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Images in literature<\/h2>\n

The “local” propensity of the novel, of which La Langa represents a plausible draft, is also found in some of the thoughts in The Business of living<\/strong>, comparable to \u2018October of 1935\u2019. During this period Pavese reflects in depth on the “great power of images” of literature, particularly on the landscape and the presence of nature in literature<\/strong>, and analyzes the relationship (but also the contribution) of the perception of the environment (and” towards”) the literary production, arriving at exquisitely critical considerations.<\/p>\n

What emerges from this is how the landscape component<\/strong> in his poetry, as far as Piedmont is concerned, is important<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Certamente dev’essere possibile, anche per me, far poesia su materia non piemontese di sfondo. Dev’essere, ma
\nsinora non \u00e8 stato quasi mai. Ci\u00f2 significa che non sono ancora uscito dalla semplice rielaborazione dell’immagine\u00a0materialmente rappresentata dai miei legami d’origine con l’ambiente: che, in altre parole, c’\u00e8 nel mio lavor\u00edo poetico, un\u00a0punto morto, gratuito, un sottinteso materiale, di cui non mi riesce di far senza. Ma \u00e8 poi davvero un residuo oggettivo o\u00a0sangue indispensabile?
\nCesare Pavese, Il mestiere di vivere, 10 ottobre 1935.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The importance of “outbursts\/naturist distractions” in Pavese’s poetry is thus more than remarkable, pushing the writer to the point where he questions the lifelong relationship in an almost compulsory form: “what\u2026 like town, like me?”.<\/p>\n

Pavese & the Langhe: the other articles<\/h2>\n

Below is a list, in order of publication, of articles dedicated to Pavese\u2019s relationship with the territory, language and literature:<\/p>\n