EYES WIDEN, EYEBROWS RAISE

There's a sonnet by Belli which consists of almost nothing but various names for the male member, which must present an interesting task for the translator. Here's a little snippet from Gore Vidal's Point to Point Navigation which may throw light on why - a Roman preoccupation, or simply a male one?

[Federico Fellini] was certainly a phallophobe in a culture rooted in phallophilia. He had even done a book of caricatures of phalluses, with such labels as "the happy cock", "the snobbish cock", "the angry cock". He entertained ladies with these drawings.

Whether or not this is normal behaviour for a phallophobe is beyond me.

BELLI STOCKS RISE

Awful, I know. An informative and enthusiastic review for the new translation of Belli's sonnets at textualities.net (formerly the Scottish Book Collector). Translator Mike Stocks' website is here.