La sensibilità giapponese nell'immaginario poetico di Michael Donaghy

The poetry of the contemporary Irish-American poet Michael Donaghy reveals a great fascination for foreign cultures. Among these, one of the most elegantly investigated and reproduced seems to be the Japanese. The explorations within this cultural perspective are self-consciously led by the author, who always keeps in mind the starting point of his own Western mentality, which he feels as a natural (not negative) limitation. By introducing the portraits of Japanese society and scenarios, he communicates a different sensitivity to the Western reader, who is then able to recognize it in other poems which do not seem to contain any Japanese element at first sight. Japanese fictional narrators tell their stories and behaviours indirectly explaining their point of view. In the same fashion, Western characters confront themselves with the foreign lifestyles they sometimes do not understand but always respect.