Nikos Kavvadias dal Mediterraneo agli Oceani

Nikos Kavvadias (1910-1975), a different poet, - a sailor - uses his travels as metaphors. Charles Baudelaire and the poètes maudits influenced his work, which is connected to the Symbolism movement and recalls memories of the poet in words and music. In the first collection stories emerge that took place at sea (Marabù) and in the various ports visited, in which the poet reproduces characters marked by boredom, apathy and evil spirits, in the wake of Baudelaire's Spleen. In later collections (Pousi and Traverso), myth becomes involved with reality, images become more nuanced and words evocative. His only novel (Turno di guardia) is a chronicle of the journey through the cursed life of sailors, as they themselves call it, but on the other hand they accept it and seek it out. The poet, with a great narrative skill, conveys a heavy atmosphere, in which, the destination of this journey offers the traveler nothing but desolation, prostitution, sickness and death. Life is a continuous journey, all sea and poetry, but it is not utopian or non-existent. The inner map is in constant motion, supported by readings and experiences, by real and concrete contacts but also with images and sensations. In this way, he captures not only the Mediterranean air but also that of more distant horizons, tuning the rhythms of his life to the rhythms of the sea.