Diego Rossi

Abstract

Renga, a very ancient Japanese form of poetry, is characterized by its particular composition, that is called linked (Japanese «ren») because the single stanzas, written by different authors, are woven together according to very precise, based on a long tradition, rules. In many aspects, it is a poetic form with no similar in the world, and that induces a reflection about the general meaning of the poem, since it breaks with the very western idea of the writing as an essentially individual, even solitary, form of expression. This essay intends to offer a brief introduction to the world of renga, underlining, at the same time, some aesthetical traits of this fine form of poetry. Such traits represent, in a comparative sense, an interesting philosophic clue, in order to stimulate an interest for the Japanese poetry that would go beyond the diffusion of haiku and an enlargement of the poetic horizon in a transpersonal perspective.

Diego Rossi collaborates with the chairs of History of ‘800 and ‘900 Philosophy, History of Contemporary Currents of Thoughts, and Philosophy and History of Culture, at the University of Naples Federico II. He works also as educator and expert on philosophy, and conducts many activities in the third sector, managing, amongst other things, poetry and creative writing workshops. He has published various academic articles and essays, concerning body, technics, phenomenology, cyberspace, as well as the book L’estasi dell’uomo sperimentale (Aracne, 2010).