Lorenzo Chiuchiù - Il demone meridiano di Van Gogh

So, rather than giving in to despair, I opted for an active melancholy—or rather, for as much as my strength allows; in other words, I preferred the melancholy that hopes, aspires, and seeks, over that other kind which, dark and stagnant, despairs. There is a silent melancholy, certainly. Thank God—though I do not know if we are yet permitted to experience it (as you see, I say *we*—I, no more and no less than you). Our father wrote to me recently: “Melancholy does no harm, but it allows us to see things with a more sacred eye.” That is the true silent melancholy, the pure gold; but we are not yet at that point—there is still a long way to go.” — Vincent van Gogh, Letter 155 to his brother Theo.

Lorenzo Chiuchiù was born in 1973 in Perugia, where he still resides. He has published studies on Hoffmann, Hölderlin, Baudelaire, and Char in the journals *Estetica* (Il Melangolo) and *Davar* (Diabasis), as well as an essay in *Sergio Quinzio, il messia povero* (Diabasis, 2004). He edited Albert Camus’s *Metafisica cristiana e neoplatonismo* and *La devozione alla croce* (Diabasis, 2004 and 2005), and Jean-Paul Sartre’s *Mallarmé, la lucidità e il suo volto d’ombra* (Diabasis, 2010). He is an editor for *Davar*. In the *Niebo* series, he published *Iride incendio* (La Vita Felice, 2005). *Sorteggio* (Marietti, 2012) is his second book of poetry.