ALBERT RUSSO: un feu
d’artifice littéraire.
Literary criticism of the poetry
of Albert Russo, based on The Crowded World of Solitude, Vol. 2,
ISBN 1-4134-7018-1, XLibris, 537 pages, available from
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=26769.
In an age where blatant shows of
superiority are often considered a provocation, Albert Russo
presents the ailing world of literary criticism with several
challenges of mammoth proportions. His mastery of several
literary genres, his indefatigable literary output, his command
of several languages, his intellectual breadth, and the scope of
his cultural and sub-cultural personal life experiences alone
outclass the qualifications and/or capacities of many literary
critics of this century.
Albert Russo indeed shows much courage and self-confidence in
publishing such a formidable and challenging volume of collected
poems non-posthumously. Perhaps even more so considering that
poetry is not his only genre of acclaim. We live in an era where
informed (and uninformed) critics often insist upon categorizing
artists and artistic genius within a specific discipline, genre
or art form; and where he/she who attempts to be too
multidisciplinary is often considered to be “lightweight” or a
“jack-of-all-trades”. Albert Russo is an exception to all of the
abovementioned society-imposed and self-imposed restrictions,
and clearly recalls a multidisciplinary usage of talent more
particular to previous eras.
To publish one’s collected poems to-date in such a large volume,
spanning some thirty years of life experiences and literary
development, is a very bold statement in itself. Such a
collection of poems – like any other serious literary work – is
expected to be even in quality, hopefully diverse in content and
form, and appropriately polished (the degree of polish being
both intentional and commensurate with the desired expression).
In addition, writing a bilingual volume of collected poems
further adds to the complexities of such an endeavour, giving
rise to many questions and solutions regarding choice of
original language versus translation, idiom, culture, visual
communication etc.
Mr. Russo does not disappoint, and he does – in fact – both
deliver substance, and an undaunted and relentless display of
consistency in terms of excellent insight and craftsmanship. His
collection of poetry, at times biting and hard-hitting, is both
thought-provoking, amusing, intelligent and contemporary in
style and subject matter.
This collection of poems denotes a clear and masterful
demonstration of quality, breadth of content and form, political
and social awareness, mastery of storytelling, a combination of
the highly-polished and the “intentionally-raw”, and visual,
musical and philosophical expressions indicative of the author’s
rich multicultural and experiential personal history. I find in
his poetry the same literary achievements which characterize his
novels and short stories: balance of intellectual rationalism
and emotional presence, a solid command of the full palette of
language(s) used, descriptive colour, clarity, intentional usage
of abstractions, entertainment and theatrical/performance value,
humour and occasional irony, and an overall sense of when to use
poetic economy versus poetic rapture. Mr. Russo’s poetry
proclaims an almost haunting sense of musicality and visual
portrayal on a subjective level. Most importantly, I find that
his poetry has the power of arousing within the reader a sense
of personal identification, emotion and engagement – evoking a
pas de deux between author and reader, all the while challenging
the “poet” in the reader.
There are all too many references to cite, so I will choose a
few which I feel exemplify the abovementioned descriptions of
his poetic style particularly well:
From “L’Art de la Mascarade”:
et tandis que toute main est innocente et pure
certaines, lisses comme de la porcelaine
appartenaient à des voleurs à la tire
d’autres encore, duveteuses comme la nuque d’un chamois,
étaient pailletées de poudre de cocaine
And from the Hitchcock-like story poem “Revenge by Proxy”:
‘you can starve!’ she said to the rag doll
as she began popping the beautiful round fruits into her mouth
and while she ate, her mouth dripping with juice,
she rubbed a berry along the rag doll, smearing it first
all over the face and then fiercely between its legs
‘momma never wanted me as a child’, she said
in a garbled voice ‘so why should I be kind to you?’
Other poems are more philosophical in nature, but always
accessible and seldom preaching, such as the rather indifferent
but nonetheless quite powerful “Relentlessly Yours”:
you hear someone whisper
I’m going to die
and someone else reply
sorry, all the lines are busy
a moment later:
I am dead
me too, says the other voice
they both were
Or in the disturbing poem “Anima”:
and while the environment
continues to bleed
man regales it
with virtual trash
confounding the imagination
to the point in which
suicide becomes a welcome relief
While I do question the liberties Mr. Russo takes in some of
his so-called haikus, I find that many of them possess a poetic
beauty that surpasses the strict confines of what constitutes a
haiku. It would benefit the more “pedantic” literature expert to
stop counting syllables and set himself/herself more into the
essence of some of these pearls, as many function quite well as
short poems.
Mr. Russo is perhaps most in his element in his story-telling
poems, which are surprisingly devoid of sentimentality but
nonetheless crafted in such a way that the apparent simplicity
unveils many layers of descriptive complexity as each poem
progresses. One such poem is entitled “The Day of the Opening”:
He licks his thick lips
at frequent intervals
those thick greedy lips
could make a mouthful of the girl
or would he rather swallow her
like distilled wine?
her waist would disappear
under the knot of his callous hands
they’d throttle her slender neck in a jiffy
Yet he dares not touch her
for if he did, she would sting him
with a venom as deadly
as a scorpion’s
and the dark liquid
that would course
along his throat
would set his innards ablaze.
While Mr. Russo’s poetry is entirely accessible in terms of
subject matter and style, it is by no means minted for the
unintelligent or those without a sense of history, culture,
languages, politics or geography. This because of the many
references which are quietly and masterfully tucked away inside
many of the poems, and which are so effortlessly woven into the
poetic tapestry without disturbing the poem’s demeanour. One
gets the sense that each reference is most carefully considered
and weighted along with each partnering sequence of simple,
descriptive words. This is poetic craftsmanship on a high level.
There is almost no subject matter that Mr. Russo does not touch
upon, and therefore The Collected World of Solitude, vol. 2 has
most probably something for everyone. Whether one likes all of
Mr. Russo’s poems, or not – all must agree that this collection
of literary writings is a colossal feat, and perhaps that
through his intense, provocative and descriptive style Mr. Russo
has earned the title “un feu d’artifice littéraire”.
-- by Adam Donaldson Powell, copyright 2006.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
A bilingual author, Albert Russo writes in both English and
French, his two ‘mother tongues’. He is the recipient of many
awards, including among others The American Society of Writers
Fiction Award, The British Diversity Short Story Award, several
New York Poetry Forum Awards, Amelia Prose and Poetry awards and
the Prix Colette. He has also been nominated for the W.B. Yeats
and Robert Penn Warren poetry awards.
His work, which has been praised by James Baldwin, Pierre
Emmanuel, Paul Willems and Edmund White, has appeared worldwide
in a dozen languages. His African novels have been favourably
compared to the work of V.S. Naipaul, who was honoured with the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. He is a member of the jury
for the Prix Européen, and sat in 1996 on the panel of the
prestigious Neustadt Prize for Literature, which often leads to
the Nobel Prize.
ALBERT RUSSO'S BOOKS:
His last publications in English: ZANY, ZAPINETTE NEW YORK,
MIXED BLOOD and ECLIPSE OVER LAKE TANGANYIKA, all three
published by Domhan Books (NY); THE BENEVOLENT AMERICAN IN THE
HEART OF DARKNESS (which contains his three award-winning
African novels: THE BLACK ANCESTOR, MIXED BLOOD and ECLIPSE OVER
LAKE TANGANYIKA), OH ZAPERETTA! (the hilarious series, taught at
the Catholic University of Paris), and THE CROWDED WORLD OF
SOLITUDE, VOLUMES 1 & 2 (THE COLLECTED STORIES - which has just
won an honorable mention at the Writer’s Digest International
Awards - and THE COLLECTED POEMS, the latter with Xlibris
(USA)), along with about 20 books of photography; in French:
L’AMANT DE MON PÈRE (Ed. Le Nouvel Athanor), ZAPINETTE CHEZ LES
BELGES, L’AMANT DE MON PERE: JOURNAL ROMAIN, l’ANCETRE NOIRE and
LA TOUR SHALOM, all four published by Editions Hors Commerce
(Paris). His novel SANG MELE will be published in February 2007,
this time by Editions Gingko, in Paris.
See Albert Russo’s website:
www.albertrusso.com/
-- Literary criticism (2006) by
Adam Donaldson Powell (based upon The Crowded World of Solitude,
Vol. 2, ISBN 1-4134-7018-1, XLibris, 537 pages).
ADAM DONALDSON POWELL (Norway) is a literary critic and a
trilingual author, writing in English, Spanish and Norwegian;
and a professional visual artist. He has published four poetry
collections: in USA, Norway and India, as well as several short
works in literary publications in the USA, Spain, India and in
Australia. He has previously authored theatrical works performed
onstage, and he has (to-date) read his poetry at venues in New
York City, Oslo (Norway), Buenos Aires and Kathmandu (Nepal).
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