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Menotti Lerro | |
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Born | Omignano, Italy | 22 February 1980
Occupation(s) | Teacher, writer, poet, playwright |
Movement | Empathism (founder) |
Menotti Augusto Serse Lerro (22 February 1980) is an Italian poet, writer, playwright, librettist and Anglicist academic. His work explores matters of social alienation and existentialism, the physicality and vulnerability of the body, the interpretation of memories, the meaning of objects and the philosophical importance of human identity. In 2015 he published Donna Giovanna, l'ingannatrice di Salerno , a feminized bisexual version of the mythical figure of Don Juan, El Burlador de Sevilla. In 2018 he wrote Il Dottor Faust , an original version of the character of Faust. In addition he is the author of a New Manifesto of Arts and the founder of the Empathic Movement (Empathism) that arose in the South of Italy at the beginning of 2020.
Menotti Lerro was born to Omignano in the Salerno Province. Son of Pietro Lerro, a carpenter, and Rosanna Pinto, a seamstress, he started to write poems when he was seventeen, as he stated in different volumes and interviews. The first componiment was titled "Ceppi incerti" (in English: "Uncertain stumps"), wrote in front of the fireplace of his parents' home. With this, he wanted to suggest both: that his life was as difficult to burn well as those wooden logs in the chimney pot, and that his poetry was still not really ready. He went then to study at Università degli Studi di Salerno where he got his first degree. [1] He has got three sisters older than him: Melinda, Romina and Lucrezia. Lucrezia is also a poet and writer. [2] [3] Large part of his work is dedicated to the figure of his father. In particular there are clear autobiographical references in the semi-autobiographical novel Augusto Orrel: memorie d'orrore e poesia (Joker: 2007) and in the poetry collections Il mio bambino (Genesi: 2011) and Nel nome del padre (Genesi: 2012). In addition, strong allusions to his father and his chronic health problems are also in the theatrical volumes Il gorilla (Genesi: 2015) and Donna Giovanna (Zona: 2015). [4] [5] In 2020 the native municipality gives him the title of Honorary citizen. In that occasion, one of his aphorisms, written in a mosaic, was put on the wall of the council chamber, saying: "Non bisogna aver paura dei sogni, ma di chi non vuole farci sognare" (In English: "We shouldn't be afraid of dreams, but of those who don't want us to dream"). [6] [7]
Lerro studied English and Spanish languages and literatures at University of Salerno, starting in 2000, and received his degree in 2004. [8] [9] During this time he spent seven months in Oxford as an exchange student. [10] [11] In 2006, after working one year in Milan for Mondadori publishing house, he received a scholarship from the University of Salerno to study abroad and began his masters' degree in "The Body and Representation" at the University of Reading [12] under the supervision of Carolyn Williams Lyle. [13] He later received the expert status of “Cultore della Materia” at the University of Salerno [14] [15] and in 2010 became visiting scholar at the University of Reading, where he undertook postgraduate teaching. [16] Later, after completing his PhD in English and Spanish literature at the University of Salerno, under the supervision of Maria Teresa Chialant and Giuseppe Gentile (academic), he became a visiting scholar at the University of Warwick (2014) [17] and at the University of Edinburgh (2020). [18] He taught English Culture and Civilization and English Literature at Ciels University of Milan for four years (2014–2018) [19] before moving to Padua to teach the same subjects. He collaborated and taught lessons at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Accademia Albertina and IULM University. [20] [21] In 2022 he received a degree in Italian Studies (In Italian: "Lettere"). [22]
Enrolled in the register of journalists since 2005, in 2022 he started writing opinion pieces for the Italian newspaper Affari Italiani. [23] [24]
According to Andrew Mangham: "Menotti Lerro is one of the most interesting poets in modern-day Europe". [25] Lerro has also been praised by the Italian influential critic Giorgio Barberi Squarotti, who defined him as "brillant". [26] In addition, the same Squarotti, wrote a preface at Lerro's collection of poetry titled Gli occhi sul Tempo, Manni editore, 2009. [27] In 2012, Roberto Carifi referred to Lerro as "one of the most interesting poets of the current Italian panorama" in the magazine "Poesia" (Crocetti editore). [28] Moreover, Alessandro Serpieri (writer), known for his work about William Shakespeare and Emeritus Professor at the University of Florence in the end of his preface at Poesie scelte of Lerro (Zona: 2010) stated that "Between despair and dreaming, the poetic voice of Lerro shows a peculiar, expressive power modulated with images (that are often surprising) and a techniques in rhyme and metre that is often masterful". [29]
One of his 2015 dramas, Donna Giovanna, l'ingannatrice di Salerno , was the subject of a Master's degree from a student of the University of Palermo. The same dissertation became the basis for a critical volume about the figure [30] [31] [32] of a female [33] [34] and bisexual Don Giovanni, [35] first performed at the Biblioteca Marucelliana. [36] [37] [38] Maria Teresa Chialant, Professor of English Literature at the Università degli Studi di Salerno stressed the "deep complexity" of Lerro's writing in the review of his dystopian novel 2084: Il potere dell'immortalità nelle città del dolore . [39] In 2009, in the critical volume Gli occhi sulla critica (Zona: 2009) edited by Maria Rosaria La Marca, Nelo Risi stressed that in the poetry of Lerro there were "few illusions, and minimal comforts"; Cesare Segre defined Lerro's poetry "challenging"; Valerio Magrelli affirmed he was "particularly struck by Lerro's poems"; Guido Ceronetti sent his "best wishes to this melancholy twilight voice"; Alessandro Serpieri (writer) said that Lerro had "an authentic poetic voice". [40] In 2008 Mondadori’s literary magazine Nuovi Argomenti selected Lerro as one of the poets to represent the new generation of poets born in the 1980s. [41] [42]
Lerro has written several books of poetry and prose. Some of his works have been translated into other languages such as Poeme Alese. [43] [44] [45] ISBN 978-8874143764 He also has visual poetry including Ritagli, consisting of 30 canvases, shown in Berlin, Milan, Florence, [46] Omignano, Vallo della Lucania and Salerno (Pinacoteca di Salerno, Santa Maria de Lama's church and ipogeo del Complesso Monumentale di San Pietro a Corte) [47] [48] [49] The 30 canvases were finally exposed in a "permanent exhibition" in Crescella Square in Roccadaspide for wish of the mayor Gabriele Iuliano. [50]
He produced the music CD I Battiti della Notte (Lerro-Krezymon) and in 2015 three concerts have been performed in Poland: Kraków, [51] [52] Warsaw [53] [54] and Gdańsk, [55] [56] organized by Italian Institute of Culture. [57] [58] [59] In 2017, he performed two concerts in Italy: Ascea and Salento, Cilento. [60] [61] In 2019 the concert was given in Vallo della Lucania. [62]
The Empathic Movement, or Empathism (Italian: La Scuola Empatica / Empatismo) [63] is a literary, artistic, philosophical and cultural movement born in Italy in 2020 [64] [65] within the ‘New Cultural Triangle of Ancient Cilento’: (Omignano – "The Aphorisms Village", [66] [67] Salento, Cilento – "The Poetry Village", Vallo della Lucania – "Seat of Contemporary Arts Centre"). [68] [69] Starting with the values and ideas expressed in the New Manifesto of Arts [70] written by Menotti Lerro and Antonello Pelliccia in 2018. [65] [71] The manifesto - launched in 2019 at the literary Caffè Giubbe Rosse [72] in Florence and at the Brera Academy in Milan [73] - places empathy and the need to feel close, at the centre of the self, in contrast to previous views as isolated artists. It proposes that any creative or didactic experimentation cannot be separated from a process of identification with other's life stories. The manifesto further implies a civil promotion of the artistic society from individual and community growth, according to ethical purposes mediated by art. [74]
Lerro developed the Cilento International Poetry Prize (Italian: Premio Internazionale Cilento Poesia), an Italian literary prize founded in 2017 [75] [76] and awarded annually in Salento, Cilento – "The Poetry Village". [77] Some of the prize awardees include: 2017 – Davide Rondoni; [78] 2018 – Milo de Angelis; [79] [80] 2019 – Giampiero Neri and Vivian Lamarque; [81] 2020 – Elio Pecora; [82] 2021 – Dacia Maraini; [83] - Valerio Magrelli [84] and Tiziano Rossi; [85] 2023 - Maurizio Cucchi and Najwan Darwish. [86] Prizes for criticism have been awarded to: 2018 – Francesco D'Episcopo; [87] 2019 – Umberto Curi; [81] 2020 – Remo Bodei. [88] Prizes for narrative have been awarded to: 2023 - Diego De Silva (writer) and Maria Rita Parsi; 2024 - Jon Fosse. [89]
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