‘I find no trace of her’: the poetics of absence in Giorgio Caproni

Abstract

The essay ‘‘Dela não encontro traço’: The Poetics of Absence in Giorgio Caproni’ explores the interconnections between loss, objects, traces, and erasure in the poetry of the Italian writer. It examines poems from the collections Congedo del viaggiatore cerimonioso & altre prosopopee, Il muro della terra, Il franco cacciatore, and Res amissa, translated into Portuguese and compiled in A coisa perdida: Agamben comenta Caproni. To delineate the role of loss and the dynamics between erasure and the persistence of traces, as well as the interplay between absence and the poetic word, the essay employs Freud's concept of the magic writing pad. This analogy between the psychic mechanisms of memory and a writing device serves as a framework. Additionally, Maurice Blanchot's theories on the poetic image are integrated with Caproni's work to highlight the image's dual role in preserving and erasing what is named in the poem. Finally, drawing on Giorgio Agamben's reflections on the relationship between naming and poetry, the essay elucidates how Caproni's poetic writing transforms the state of loss into a poem, asserting the creative power of the poetic word while acknowledging its inherent negativity.