In Danger: A Pasolini Anthology

by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jack Hirschman (Editor)

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) was a major cultural figure in post-WWII Italy, well-known as a poet, novelist, communist intellectual, and filmmaker. In Danger is the first anthology in English devoted to his political and literary essays, with a generous selection of his poetry. Against the backdrop of post-war Italy, and through the mid-'70s, Pasolini's writings provide a fascinating portrait of a Europe in which fascists and communists violently clashed for power and where journalists ran great risks. The controversial and openly gay Pasolini was murdered at the age of fifty-three; In Danger includes his final interview, conducted hours before his death.

Genres: Poetry, Film, Essays, Italy, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Art

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Italian poet, novelist, critic, essayst, journalist, translator, dramatist, film director, screenwriter and philosopher, often regarded as one of the greatest minds of XX century, was murdered violently in Rome in 1975 in circumstances not yet been clarified. Pasolini is best known outside Italy for his films, many of which were based on literary sources - The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales...

Pasolini referred himself as a 'Catholic Marxist' and often used shocking juxtapositions of imagery to expose the vapidity of values in modern society.
His essays and newspaper articles often critized the capitalistic omologation and also often contributed to public controversies which had made him many enemies. In the weeks leading up to his murder he had condemned Italy's political class for its corruption, for neo-fascist terrorist conspiracy and for collusion with the Mafia and the infamous "Propaganda 2" masonic lodge of Licio Gelli and Eugenio Cefis.

His friend, the writer Alberto Moravia, considered him "the major Italian poet" of the second half of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember that scene in Pier Paolo Pasolini's film SALO: THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM where the Fascists forced their young captives to eat excrement? This is not an indictment of Mussolini's Fascism but rather of what Pasolini labeled "the consumer fascism" of the modern world. We all eat shit every day, from consumer products to education/indoctrination. That was Pasolini, the ultimate agent provocateur and enfant terrible in one person, cursing both left and right for having abandoned the classical world for sterile ideologies and higher production---of cockroach Coca-Cola. This terrific anthology is the best introduction to the writings of a man whose own contradictions fueled his thought, fired up his life and may well have caused his untimely death. What contradictions? I once told a Marxist friend of Maoist leanings, "the best cinematic life of Jesus is Pasolini's THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW; the work of a homosexual-communist-atheist". (Actually, Pasolini was expelled from the Italian Communist Party (PCI) for being openly homosexual, but his political contributions have outlived the PCI's.) Pasolini, who once interviewed Ezra Pound for Italian television, agreed with Uncle Ezra that "today's youth need for courage than ever and they can find that courage in nature." In a twenty-first world in danger of being swallowed up by the market, Pasolini's polemics are more timely than ever.

[City Lights Booksellers & Publishers · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pasolini writes with touching vulnerability of his youth, his mother, and his sex life, as well as the more universal themes of loneliness, aging, anger, disappointment, and fear. At the same time, concerns with poverty, revolution, and the class struggle are pervasive. . . . Semiotics and philosophical speculation are regularly intertwined with political thought."
--Mark Gustafson, Rain Taxi
http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2010wi...

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

FC: So why do you think that for you some things are clearer?

PPP: I don’t want to talk anymore about myself, maybe I have already said too much. Everybody knows that, as a person, I do pay for what I say. But there are also my books and my films that end up paying for me. Maybe I’m wrong after all, but I keep on thinking that we are all in danger.

FC: Pasolini, if you see life in this way – and I don’t even know if you will accept this question – how do you think you will avoid danger and risk?

It was late and Pasolini hadn’t turned on the light, so it became difficult to take notes. We leafed through my notes. Then he asked me to leave my questions with him.

PPP: There are some bits that sound a bit too definite. Let me think about them, let me go through them and let me think about a conclusion. I do have something in mind to reply to your question. I find it easier to write than to speak. I will give you back the notes I’m adding tomorrow morning.

The day after, on a Sunday, the lifeless body of Pier Paolo Pasolini was in the morgue at Rome’s police headquarters.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pier Paolo Pasolini lived during dangerous times and his assassination in 1975 served as a bloody sacrament to the Gladio strategy of tension and the death of social democracy for the republic. The state-sponsored murder of its own citizens, false-front terrorism and the primacy of the neo-right had Italy listing in the Adriatic Sea and created the fetid swamp which would spawn Silvio Berlusconi a generation later. In fact, Mr. Berlusconi was literally a part of the crypto-fascist groups suspected in Pasolini's death. In Danger, the City Lights anthology of the poet, filmmaker and essayist's varied work, gives the new reader a solid mix of the man's work.

In the war, he was a young partisan. Later, he was local Communist Party leader who was hounded out when it was disclosed that he was gay. He spoke with a purity of honesty that made him an enemy of the left as well as the right. His tone was often harsh and one wonders whether proximity to him might elicit a toxic reaction. Underlying that harsh tone was a beauty that transcended his times and, maybe, even his personality.

There were two essays that I found quite interesting. The first, The Hippies' Speech, succinctly deconstructed the "long hair" movement and its symbol, first of rebellion, then fashion and finally its merger with the young neo-fascists who wore the same hair as the leftists. I found the aesthetic of that essay to match up with Frenchmen Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard, although with a more worldly, urbane tone than the Gallic philosophers.

The second to last essay, What is this coup? I know, literally lays out the support structure of Gladio, years before it was ever talked about in public by those who feared being treated the same way as Americans who retreat from those with tin foil hats and alien abduction stories.

Thirty years later, we now know that Pasolini's hunch was correct. In Danger deserves to be read by those who, regardless of political belief, seek to cleanse the sins of their nation from their blood-stained soil.

[Wakinglife]

Hayır, çünkü faşist bir çağda ve faşist bir dünyada doğmuştum ve tıpkı bir balığın suda yaşadığını farketmemesi gibi faşizmin farkında değildim.

PASOLİNİ İLE TRAJİK SONUNDAN BİRKAÇ SAAT ÖNCE YAPILAN SON RÖPORTAJ
HEPİMİZ TEHLİKEDEYİZ

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[Hans Ostrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Essays, interviews, reviews, poems. The voice is so direct, the views complex. His assessment of Pound is original and spot on but no doubt infuriating to devotees. He takes on friends with whom he disagrees (like Calvino) fearlessly but generously. He seems to understand Americans, Italians, and himself very well. Haunting and horrific that mere hours after his last interview, he was assassinated. The book certainly enriches an appreciation of his films (I just watched "The Gospel of Matthew--wow).

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

To care that much about social justice and then get none in return. A cruel fate. A cruel fate.

[Nur Seza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Son röportaj, ölmeden bir gün önce yapılan, ahh dedirtti.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

永远做个诗人，永远站开一步说话。所以大概也应该站开一步来听。编选不佳，不过杂文名篇还不少，包括Il Pci ai giovani和Io so全文，有助于破除许多断章取义的解读。

[Calvin Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compendium of essays is a particular lovely introduction to Pasolini’s work, much of which is presented here in English for the first time. His essay on religion and revolution in the United States is easily one of the most brilliant and insightful studies of American religion I have ever read, and it alone is worth the entire price of purchase. A brilliant and criminally underread thinker, I will be citing him for the rest of my life!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very uneven and structurally poor collection of texts written by self-labelled intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini. Jumping from miscellaneous writings to various early poems to literary critique back to poems and finally closing on two quite different extracts, clearly there was some thought put into the structure of this collection but it ends up feeling like a mess and each new chapter opens with some of Pasolini's weaker work (as a result of each chapter featuring a vague chronological order and Pasolini's writing improving as he got older). His literary critique is very well reasoned and his later poetry is really quite inspiring, but the vast majority of his political discourse felt beneath what one would expect of Pasolini given his insight elsewhere and largely fall back on baseless accusations about the opposition. I do greatly respect Pasolini as a filmmaker, activist and writer and I don't disagree with many of his political stances, but the writing in this collection comes across as ignorant and the structure of the collection makes it difficult to finish.

[Pasquale Verdicchio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good selection of translated works by Pasolini... some new translations of important pieces such as his last interview done the evening before his eventual murder. Edited by Jack Hirschman, long time Pasolini translator.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was pretty great. Very dense and I didn't get everything, but it was coooool. Pier Paolo Pasolini is like my new (one of my new) favorite people. And did you know that Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers did a few of the translations in here?!

[Thadius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book...

While reading this book, I thought to myself:

Did he know what he was doing? Although he did not know about Goodreads, Pasolini was very much aware that he and is work would be discussed and studied for generations. As an artist, he was a success. I wrote this review and you are reading it now. Think about it. Art is meant to confront ourselves. All art is fraud?!

Pasolini lived and died as an artist.
To be an artist, must one be in danger?

[Quinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of essays, poems, and interviews from Italy's most controversial filmmaker. Pier Paolo Pasolini is a super fascinating figure in film history, as he was not only a much-lauded writer-director, but an out gay man and Communist, which in the 60's and 70's was nearly unheard of – especially for someone of his level of notoriety. He's got a lot of interesting ideas, the bulk of which I am too dumb to fully grasp. Should have maybe read a biography about him for more context first.

[Michael O'sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good collection to get an introduction to Pasolini outside of the films that he's more well known for these days.

[Bleu]

I need another read he has so many interesting thought and ideas that need me to watch interviews and documentaries about him to fully. review it

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good.

[Abs]

honestly wasn’t a big fan of these, which surprised me as i’ve really found his films so enjoyable and interesting to watch