Patrizia Cavalli and the value of poetic irony

The encounter "'Se ora tu bussassi alla mia porta'. Patrizia Cavalli e lo spazio della poesia" (If you were to knock on my door now: Patrizia Cavalli and the space of the space of poetry) was recently held at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) as part of the series on women in literature "Cosa può la letteratura, e come. Lo spazio delle donne", proposed by the Institute of Italian Studies (ISI). Sara Sermini, Post-doc at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at USI and speaker of the event, together with Vega Tescari (Lecturer at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society), delved into Patrizia Cavalli's life and work on the radio show Alphaville (Rete Due, RSI).

Patrizia Cavalli was born in Todi in 1947 and, in the 1960s, moved to Rome, where she studied philosophy. The Roman house plays a central role in her life and her poetic work, as Sara Sermini explained to Alphaville. "Patrizia Cavalli's poetry drew inspiration from her home and the objects within it. Her house served as a mythical meeting space, filled with items she collected over time. Through her work, Cavalli undoubtedly helped create a myth around her persona and the environment she inhabited". Cavalli's biography has attracted the attention of not only literary critics but also filmmakers and artists.

The speakers at the encounter aimed to transition from the house's space to her poetry, which often recedes into the background but deserves more detailed analysis. Sara Sermini observed, "When discussing female authors, critics often place significant emphasis on their personal lives, creating almost mythical biographies. It is common for women writers to gain recognition only if they have led exceptional, often tragic lives, such as in the case of writers who died by suicide. As a result, their works frequently receive less attention than their life stories". During the lecture, Sara Sermini and Vega Tescari wanted to reverse the trend: "The space of the home is central in Cavalli's poetry, so instead of starting from her life, we decided to start from her poetry, reasoning about why this space becomes central in her work".

The connection developed by the poet with objects shows a strong interest in the material. This aspect is emphasised in a book she released in 2011, aptly titled "Flighty Matters." In this book, Sermini explains that the focus is on clothing—specifically haute couture—viewed as objects of art. These garments are then depicted as the main subjects in several of the poems. The body is also fundamental in Cavalli's poetry, and the bodies in her verses deeply connect with matter. "This vision of the body comes from the feminist sphere; although Patrizia Cavalli does not define herself as such, she has almost become a flagbearer of this movement," explained Sara Sermini. As has always been the case with the feminist movement, for Cavalli, "the body is everything".

One notable characteristic of Cavalli's poetry, as Sara Sermini highlights, is its use of irony. This irony has been a defining feature of her work since her debut collection, which was published with the encouragement of the esteemed patroness Elsa Morante. The collection is titled "Le mie poesie non cambieranno il mondo" (My poems won't change the world): "Someone told me / that of course my poems / won't change the world". Through irony, Cavalli was able to question a certain political frontality, precisely in the 1970s, i.e. in years of heated militancy. Political practices of feminist origin subtly permeate Cavalli's verses through an ironic tone and an anti-elegiac language.

Cavalli, who passed away in 2022, thus plays an important role in the contemporary poetic scene. Her person as well as her work have made it possible to delve into specific issues concerning the space of women, which Daniela Brogi spoke about in the opening lecture of the ISI reading series, shedding light on the space that women occupy, do not occupy or are not allowed to occupy within the literary field.

During the series "Cosa può la letteratura, e come. Lo spazio delle donne" ISI gave voice to numerous female authors: starting with the great names of classicism, such as Sappho, reread by Jolanda Insana and Anne Carson, the encounters went through the writings of the medieval era, with Christine de Pizan; the pictorial work of Artemisia Gentileschi, studied through the words of the writer Anna Banti; the writings of the mystics, from Maddalena de Pazzi to Veronica Giuliani; the 'hidden' writings of apparently marginalised eighteenth- and nineteenth-century figures active in the open spaces between the academy and salons; the intercultural mediation practices implemented by little-known twentieth-century authors, such as Elma Baccanelli or Eleanor Pettinos; the works of writers who have inhabited the space between different languages, such as Anna Felder, or who have narrated the space of migration, such as Igiaba Scego, Erminia Dell'Oro and Jhumpa Lahiri.

The complete interview with Sara Sermini, broadcast on Alphaville (Rete Due, RSI) is available at this link (Italian only).