KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ The Autobiography of Emanuel Carnevali: Part 1
Analog Audio
Event Type
Spoken WordOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
AM.1975.09.15Program Length
36 minDates
1975-09-15 | broadcast| 402 | created
Description
Kay Boyle introduces a series of readings taken from the autobiography of the Italian American poet Emanuel Carnevali. Born to a morphine addicted mother and abusive father, Carnevali wrote poetry that spoke to the disillusionment he felt as an immigrant in America. He never seemed to hold down a job for very long and had a number of disastrous love affairs. Although well respected by such poets as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, and Carl Sandburg, Carnevali was never financially successful. In 1922 he was stuck down with encephalitis lethargica, an illness that causes the victim to shake and to convulse uncontrollably and continuously, until death intervenes. He soon returned home to Italy as an impoverished and disabled man where he died in 1942. These essays provide a telling account of his early childhood and offer insights into how a tragic beginning is often just a prelude to a tragic end. And yet, as with his poetry, the beauty of his words often belay the painful subject matter that they relate.Genres
LiteraturePoetry
Musical Selections
My Aunt (15:17) -- My Mother (8:00) -- My Father (6:17) -- My Grandmother (1:58)Performers
Ian Franckenstein, readerSubjects
Authors, American -- 20th century -- BiographyItalian Americans -- Biography
Acknowledgment
Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by the GRAMMY Foundation.Related places
Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Boyle, Kay, 1902-1992Carnevali, Emanuel
Franckenstein, Ian