Description
The first bilingual (Corsican-English) poetry collection of native Corsican Patrizia Gattaceca. Well-known worldwide as a singer-songwriter, active in the Reacquistu, the Corsican cultural revival movement, and founder, with Patrizia Poli of the female polyphonic singing trio Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Courses, Gattaceca’s poetry is remarkable: the imagery of moons and mountains and sea and underneath it all, the taut sensation of loss and sorrow, the heartfelt exploration of the loneliness of the human condition, and, as her poetic teacher and mentor Ghjacumu Thiers describes, “the infinite within the finite.” Throughout her poetry, echoes are heard of Gattaceca’s modest and humanitarian nature. By publishing Isulu d’anima/Soul Island, we pay homage to a truly remarkable modern woman, her exquisite poetic voice, her language and the culture that continues to thrive and inspire.
ISULA D’ANIMA / SOUL ISLAND, poems by Patrizia Gattaceca; 6″ x 9″ Trade Perfect Bound; 120 pages;
ISBN 978-0-983581-37-6 (TRP-018); $15.00, September 2012
About Patrizia Gattaceca
Patrizia Gattaceca is a Corsican poet and a singer. She began singing in public when she was a 13-year-old secondary school pupil and set her first poem to music. She is co-founder of the Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses, a female trio singing traditional Corsican songs. This trio, which became internationally known after performing at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. They have sung with famous performers including John Cale and Patti Smith. As Gattaceca’s music has its roots in Corsican tradition, so does her verse. Not only does she write in the language of Corsica, the island with its mountains and surrounding sea is ever present in her verse: “Nostalgic clouds / Watercolour of the night / Over the hills waits / A wayward people. Gattaceca’s poems often resemble lyrics. She writes in regular forms and her lines are melodious. In much of her writing poetic and musical talents combine: classical verse forms such as the rondeau and the villanella are used to tell a story of well-nigh mythical proportions. Patrizia Gattaceca was awarded the Grand Prix du Livre Corse in 1998.
