Italian poet Francesco Benozzo nominated for the Nobel Prize 2019

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Michael Rickets

New member
The Portugues Pen Club International announced that the Italian poet, musician and philologist Francesco Benozzo has been nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 by the "Pen Clube Português".
Nominated since 2015 by another branch of the Pen Institution for his poetry in defence of natural places and for his use of techniques belonging to the ancient tradition of oral poetry, in 2016 Benozzo was consecrated on the official webpage of the Swedish Academy as the most worthy author for the prize itself. This is the second year that the Portuguese Pen Club indicates Benozzo as his candidate.

Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Benozzo
http://www.penclubeportugues.org
 
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Ater Lividus Ruber & V

Ater Lividus Ruber & V

我ヲ學ブ者ハ死ス
"in 2016 Benozzo was consecrated on the official webpage of the Swedish Academy as the most worthy author for the prize itself" is grossly misleading and inaccurate. What this refers to is a (now-defunct) section of the site that had visitors write comments on who they believed should win the prize.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180215141213/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/who-deserves.html
 
Daniel del Real

Daniel del Real

Moderator
First time I've heard of this writer. He is rather young to get the Nobel, but as you know, nominations can start decades ahead authors are really considered as potential winners. So if he is that good, I think it's a good start.
 
redhead

redhead

Blahblahblah
I'm curious why so many people wrote his name on the Nobel's comment section. Does he really have that many fans or was that brigading? Granted, I can't really go through Italian language websites too easily, but I get the impression he isn't a literary superstar or anything.
 
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Michael Rickets

New member
I think he is not a literary superstar, but for sure he has a lot of followers as harp player and songwriter (he also won several prizes in this field). His recent international tour (“YtIddo”) reached many countries (including US, Canada, England, Spain and Cuba) and confirms his reputation as a performer. Moreover, it seems that he is a kind of “misterious” character: in a recent book published in Italy and dedicated to his poetry and music, critics point out his secluded and uncatchable way of living, in a remote place up in the mountains of northern Italy, and also the existence of fans who worship him for his peculiar and anarchist way of conceiving his own poetry (apart from a Facebook fanpage, there are fan clubs associated to his name).
Maybe that the persons who wrote his name on the Nobel comments’ section don’t even know his poetry, but choose him as an alternative and maverick candidate.

Here is a link to the book I quoted: http://edizionikolibris.net/index.p...bia-dellepica-sullopera-di-francesco-benozzo/
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
SO funny to meet again Francesco Benozzo's name related to the Nobel Prize! I really don't understand how is that possible considering that he's basically unknown in my country and in the circles of poetry (where I hang out): I actually work in the literary field and I can assure you that his name is not known. If you check his website you'll be welcomed by a huge pop-up message that says: "FRANCESCO HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR 2018 NOBEL PRIZE!". That's pretty self-aggrandizing, isn't it? Also, I've noticed that from time to time enthusiastic comments appear on literary forums to endorse him from nowhere, just to spread his name around (like abrupt threads dedicated to him from completely new users, lol). I strongly suspect that behind many of those comments there is Benozzo himself. Just my two cents.
 
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Michael Rickets

New member
Well, for sure I am not Francesco Benozzo! I don’t know a lot about him, I was a student in Bologna 7 years ago and his name was quite popular among students there. I don’t know if he’s famous as a poet in Italy but as far as I can undedratand, this is not the point. I am not an expert of poetry circles and salons, and I assume that if Benozzo has been nominated by a Poetuguese (and not Italian) branch of the Pen club there must be a reason which has not to deal with his notoriety in italy.
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
I'm not implying that you're Benozzo, lol. I just find really fun that his name is always Nobel-linked and never on any other relevant cultural magazine in here. I'm also not surprised to hear that he was well known in Bologna since he's still a university researcher there! I'm actually sure he has many supporters here and there, but all the hype around him sounds just artificial. Probably his small publisher is just doing a great work behind the scenes, considering that even the smallest comment about him is published as an international praise on their website: http://edizionikolibris.net/index.php/2017/03/25/5302/ (Yes, also our forum ;))
 
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Michael Rickets

New member
Ok, you know better than me the situation there. And actually I am not very interested in this subject. Nevertheless, it’s a fact, and not a fake, that he has performed in well-renowed international literary and poetry festivals, such as the Madeira one, and also - in Italy - at the poetry festival in Genova and at “Ritratti di poesia” in Rome (there are videos on YouTube about this). He also performed with Wislawa Szymborska in Rome (a video on YouTube shows this). And I suspect he has not many friends in Italy among his colleagues (poets and writers), being such a different character from the “star sistem” promoted by the main national publishers. But I don’t know actually. I just find your considerations a bit resentful and out of context.
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
It's a forum about Literature and a thread about Nobel Prize, so why am I out of context? I already said that for sure he's somebody involved on a cultural level, I just don't understand from where he gets all this popularity since he''s not so known in Italy.
Also, I already explained why I'm curious about Benozzo's case and this is only my opinion. :) Who keeps dedicate all his posts to validate Benozzo's popularity (even if you're "not very interested in this subject" and also citing a Youtube video as a source) isn't me, my friend.
 
redhead

redhead

Blahblahblah
Wait, back up, did someone literally take a forum post from here, lay it out like it's an article, and actually publish it??? Jeez. I hope they at least asked the poster first.
 
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Michael Rickets

New member
I finally think you’re right.
With “out of context” I only wanted to point out that there is possibly no correlation between a Portuguese nomination of an Italian poet for a Nobel prize based on the idea of his performative and oral poetry and the fact that he is famous in the Italian written editorial context. To me, one thing would actually exclude the other.
But I am a research fellow in economy with the passion of literature and who loves Italy, and I’m no expert in this whole thing.
 
Daniel del Real

Daniel del Real

Moderator
"I'm not really interested on this, but this guy has been in this and that festival and performed with this and that author and I find your comments resentful and out of context"

This guy is really funny ;)
 
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