Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

natural attachment to the past. The

discovery of a consumer society in the very

simplicity of children, the awareness that the

rural world is about to disappear and the

discovery of the selfishness and

individualism characteristic of a

technological civilization (Nigro, 1981).

On June 29, 1986, the mayor of Ruoti

promoted a “Prize for dialect poetry from

Basilicata,” which went to Antonio

Santangelo, Gaetano Genovese, Pasquale

Colucci, Lucia Sileo and Rina Bernardi

(reported in Matera’s Bollettino). For a

concise and informed literary synthesis,

Albanian poetry included, one should

consult Basilicata (Brescia, La Scuola, 1987)

by Tito Spinelli who, with anthological

passages, places the history and geography

of regional literature in an elegant and

informative framework.