Tra identità e alterità: la parola poetica di Philippe Jaccottet e il paradosso del traduttore trasparente

Abstract

In the poetics of Philippe Jaccottet the concept of ‘transparency’ is both an ethical and an aesthetic value. Inspired by this principle, the poet renounces any ambition to know reality and to represent it, since he distrusts the mediating function of language and images as an obstacle to the transparency of the poem. The poet constantly revises his text by means of precise procedures, in order to let the poetic word express the essence of its sound and the truth of nature. Inseparable from poetic creation, translation is for Jaccottet a precious opportunity to re-evaluate his own writing in the sign of transformation and renewal. The aim of this article is to investigate how the work of Jaccottet in its different forms reveals the traces of other poetic traditions. Both in writing and in translation the poet always remains a discreet presence, not absent but rather 'transparent', whose self-obliterating experience will allow another poetic voice to sound clear.