Las “almas”de Pedro Salinas: poesía y cartografía

Vanni Scheiwiller's (1934–1999) illustrated miniature anthology Poeti stranieri del ’900 tradotti da poeti italiani (1956) is a tour de force. Read almost seventy years later, it reminds us how much the cultural world has changed. It also highlights the boldness of presenting a selection of the best European and American poets in direct translation. The anthology includes texts by French, Spanish, Catalan, and Chilean poets, representing Latin America, as well as poets writing in German, Russian, and English from both sides of the Atlantic. We may be surprised by the publisher's generosity in offering such a book as a New Year's gift in 1956. Times have changed radically. In this article, I will comment on one of the poems chosen by the anthologist: "Un'anima tu avevi" by Pedro Salinas, translated by Vittorio Bodini.