Laura Klinkon

Millay's Fatal Interview love affair began in 1928 while at the University of Chicago on a reading tour. She immediately fell in love and began a relationship with the recently graduated, yet critically acclaimed poet who introduced her, George Dillon. She was 36, married, and living at her country estate in Austerlitz, New York, while George was 22 and working as the associate editor of the important magazine Poetry in Chicago. The relationship was striking for several reasons other than immediacy, age, and marital status: Millay's husband, believing with her in the concept of "open marriage" condoned the relationship, and the book Fatal Interview that followed the affair to its end was published only three years after its start. Il rapporto amoroso esplicato nella sequenza Colloquio Fatale di Millay ebbe inizio nel 1928 all'universit di Chicago mentre lei faceva un giro di recitazioni. Si era innamorata di colpo, entrando in una relazione con Giorgio Dillon, un poeta appena laureato ma gi criticamente noto, che era incaricato a presentarla. Lei aveva 36 anni, era sposata, e abitava nella sua tenuta ad Austerlitz, New York, mentre Giorgio aveva 22 anni e lavorava come editore aggiunto della rivista Poetry di Chicago. Il rapporto amoroso si pu dire eccezionale per l'impetuosit , le differenze d'et , e i stati civili diversi della coppia, ma ancora di pi per la tolleranza dello sposo di Millay, che con lei atteneneva all'idea di "matrimonio aperto," e il libro Colloquio Fatale, che segu la relazione fino alla fine, fu pubblicato solo tre anni dal suo inizio. Even though the sonnet sequence is seen as a traditionally masculine genre due to its supposedly "sublime" or "heroic" characteristic, Millay's Fatal Interview sequence does, in fact, exhibit "heroic" qualities, often expressing courageous determination. Criticized in her time for being too sentimental, Shakespearian, or romantic to be a modern, Millay nevertheless was a diva of poetry during the Roaring Twenties, such that she could hardly be denied the Pulitzer Prize in 1923, conferred even prior to Fatal Interview (1931), which the translator of this collection sees as among Millay's more mature works. Anche se la sequenza di sonetti vista dalla tradizione come progetto maschile per il suo carattere "sublime" o "eroico," la sequenza Colloquio Fatale di Millay, esibisce, in fatti, delle qualita eroiche, spesso mostrando una determinazone ardita. Criticata ai suoi tempi per essere troppo sentimentale, o shakespeariana, o romantica e perci non moderna, Millay, nondimeno, era la diva dell'arte poetica dei "ruggenti" anni venti, tanto che non si poteva fare a meno di conferirle il Premio Pulitzer del 1923, che avvenne anche prima della pubblicazione di Colloquo Fatale (1931), e che, secondo la traduttrice di questa raccolta, conta fra i suoi pi maturi lavori.

In how many ways can Americans or humans in general not communicate? Looking Askance illustrates some ways from the standpoint of someone who is sorely offended by this common and persistent failing. Beginning with a sensitive individual who, in wanting to score a social success, is demoralized by "hypocrisy guilt," it moves to the person who withdraws from socializing due to ulterior motives that interfere with the simple need to socialize; then there is the person who in seeking connection through social media, feels the futility of communicating in a two- or even one-dimensional environment. Eventually in this collection, frustration becomes more interpersonal and intense. Varying style-wise, rhyme and alliteration are used as satirical instensifiers, while direct invective uses exaggerated comparisons to make its most egregious points. On the other hand, at least one poem recognizes the evasiveness inherent in communication as necessary, while another decries our vulnerability to distortions in the political arena. We can surmise that writing about frustration in communicating may be one way to rise above it or at least temporarily relieve it; nevertheless, it may be that in the current new century, we humans are becoming more removed from each other and stifled in our need to connect.

This collection of poems comes from the author's state of mind as both mother and daughter while coping with the care-giving and eventual loss of her own mother who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. In her own words: ".... During the timespan of this volume, I was acting on a few basic principles that today may be thought of as romantic or impracticable: I believe that parents should be honored and taken care of, that children should not simply be left to their own "growing pains," and that families should try to stay together. "In Trying to Find You, I am not proselytizing, but reporting, on how it felt to follow these principles over its approximately seven-year span.... I hope that readers who have experienced similar times, may at least find companionship in these poems, while those who have not had such experiences may gain some insight into what they may mean existentially."