Valentino Zeichen (24 March 1938 – 5 July 2016) was an Italian poet and writer.
Biography
Zeichen's origins are somewhat obscure, and his year of birth is unclear. In
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...
the word ''Zeichen'' means "sign", and it has been suggested that his birth name is Giuseppe Mario Moses, an almost certainly
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
surname. Zeichen, however, denied this claim
Born in
Fiume
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
, Italy, (now ''Rijeka'', Croatia), the son of an Italian-speaking
Istrian gardener, Zeichen moved with his family to
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
as a refugee. In 1950 they moved to Rome, where Zeichen lived for the rest of his life, next to the
Via Flaminia.
He began to write poems at the age of 18, influenced by
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
authors like
Breton and
Prévert. His first work was published in 1969 on the literary review ''Nuova Corrente''. Zeichen's first novel, ''Tana per tutti'', was released in 1983.
Zeichen's poetry has been praised for its ability to quickly hook the reader, and has a subtle humour within it. A literary award named after him, the ''Premio Zeichen'', is held every December in Rome. Zeichen himself was the only member of the jury.
Bibliography
*''Area di rigore'' (1974)
*''Ricreazione'' (1979)
*''Tana per tutti'' (1983, novel)
*''Museo interiore'' (1987)
*''Gibilterra'' (1991)
*''Metafisica Tascabile'' (1997)
*''Ogni cosa a ogni cosa ha detto addio'' (2000)
*''Matrigna'' (2002, novel)
*''Passeggiate romane'' (2004)
*''Poesie. 1963-2003'' (2004)
*''Neomarziale'' (2006)
*''Il palazzo della scherma'' (2006)
*''La Refezione'' (2007)
*''Aforismi d'autunno'' (2010)
*''Poesie giovanili. 1958-1967'' (2010)
*''Il testamento di Anita Garibaldi'' (2011)
*''Casa di rieducazione'' (2011)
*''Macchie dipinte'' (2014)
*La sumera (2015, novel)
References
External links
Page about "the poet living in a hut next to the river"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeichen, Valentino
1938 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Italian poets
Italian male poets
Writers from Rijeka
People from Rijeka
21st-century Italian poets
21st-century Italian male writers
20th-century Italian male writers