{"product_id":"i-appeared-to-the-madonna","title":"I Appeared to the Madonna","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTitle: \u003c\/b\u003eI Appeared to the Madonna\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor: \u003c\/b\u003eCarmelo Bene\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN: \u003c\/b\u003e9781940625355\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/b\u003eContra Mundum Press\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished: \u003c\/b\u003e2020\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding: \u003c\/b\u003ePaperback\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage: \u003c\/b\u003eEnglish\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdition: \u003c\/b\u003eIllustrated\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Note: \u003c\/b\u003eNew from the publisher\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher Description: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eCarmelo Bene (1937-2002) was a notorious Italian actor, writer, and director who inaugurated his theater in 1959 with Camus' \u003cem\u003eCaligula\u003c\/em\u003e then exploded onto the artistic scene with his outré \u003cem\u003eChrist '63\u003c\/em\u003e. Later, he collaborated with Pasolini, Glauber Rocha, Bussotti and others as well as philosophers, like Gilles Deleuze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1983, the fiercely polemical grand provocateur wrote \u003cem\u003eI Appeared to the Madonna\u003c\/em\u003e, a kind of \u003cem\u003ears poetica\u003c\/em\u003e and chronicle of his life, self-described as very risky, imaginary, and at the same time real. The work is founded on Bene's concepts of non-being, abandonment, and lack. As Piergiorgio Giacchè noted, \"the phrase 'I appeared to the Madonna' was never a saying but a doing of Bene's, an event that marked the body of his actor and the corpus of his works: appearing to Our Lady has become an addition to his grace and the accomplishment of his genius.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLess factual autobiography and more autobiographical poem, \u003cem\u003eI Appeared to the Madonna\u003c\/em\u003e tests the limits of lyric versification while its prose, just as Bene's films, is not writing alone but a form of music. This incendiary testament of Bene's life includes tales of his combative encounters with critics, the public, and his iconoclastic views on theater, cinema, poetry \u0026amp; more, including chapters on Salvador Dalì, Eduardo De Filippo, and Jules Laforgue as well as anecdotal elucidations of some of his plays and films. True to Bene's character, \u003cem\u003eI Appeared to the Madonna\u003c\/em\u003e is at once furious, incandescent, comic, and brutally sarcastic; it resounds with beautifully fierce contempt for stupidity and a hallowed view of his own brilliance -- finally, fulfilling Dalì's prediction, he overcame the suffering of the artist and became a genius.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso included herein is Bene's \"An Autographical Portrait\" (the \u003cem\u003ebios \u003c\/em\u003ehas been subtracted), which was conceived as an introduction to his complete works. In this portrait, Bene \u003cem\u003erehearses\u003c\/em\u003e again\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Contra Mundum Press","offers":[{"title":"I Appeared to the Madonna | Carmelo Bene | Quality | 9781940625355 | New | Memoir 1282009","offer_id":50550567174402,"sku":"1282009","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0609\/3327\/5906\/files\/51JHs81Ms_L.jpg?v=1790469281","url":"https:\/\/boswellsbooks.com\/products\/i-appeared-to-the-madonna","provider":"Boswell's Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}