Amba Alagia - 1941
In terms of form, subject matter and rhetoric
the Amba Alagia most closely resembles a short epic poem. The
author himself calls it a carmen conviviale (on which see
Sacré 2019: 14). It consists of 611 hexameter verses, divided by the author
into five numbered sections. Amba Alagia deals with three
military engagements which took place on or around the same Ethiopian mountain,
the Amba Alagi. The first battle, in the year 1895, saw the annihilation of an
entire regiment under Major Pietro Toselli (1878 - 1895) by Ethiopian forces.
The second engagement at the Amba Alagi took place in 1935, when Italian troops
occupied Ethiopia, and the third in 1941, when the Duca d’Aosta’s (1898 – 1942)
troops were forced to surrender to the British army. Amba Alagia was
published in the final months of 1941, under the impression of this final
defeat, as Martinelli (1941).
The poem’s first
section describes the annihilation of Toselli’s regiment in 1895. The second
part is set in 1935-6: the Italians conquer Ethiopia, including the Amba Alagi,
and are welcomed with open arms by the inhabitants. Part three depicts and
justifies Italian colonialist activities in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian population
is characterised as inherently lazy and undisciplined, and in need of guidance
from Italian colonists. Agriculture flourishes, health improves, and the
Ethiopians are converted to the Catholic faith. In part four, allied forces under
British leadership invade Ethiopia. A catalogue of the enemy troops culminates
in an antisemitic tirade. The Allies besiege the Italians on the Amba Alagi.
The fifth and final section describes the Italians’ surrender and predicts
Italian victories elsewhere in the world. The
poem unhesitatingly glorifies Italy’s wars of aggression in Ethiopia,
enthusiastically defends colonialist principles, and contains racist and
anti-semitic hate speech.
Amba Alagia is
marked by close intertextual engagement with Vergil’s Georgics and Aeneid (Reitz-Joosse
in prep.). For example, Martinelli’s descriptions of the two sieges of the Amba
Alagi (in parts I and IV) invoke the Greeks’ treacherous attack on Troy
in Aeneid 2. In part III, the construction of new buildings by
Italian colonists (esp. 224-8) refers to the description of rising Carthage
in Aeneid 1, and the settlers’ agricultural successes are
described in terms reminiscent of the Georgics (e.g. laetae
segetes, 217).
Amba Alagia also
relies heavily on intratextual links, i.e. repetitions and allusions between
the different sections of the poem. This close-knit intratextual network
reflects, linguistically, the subject matter of the poem: the memory of three
battles, superimposed on one another on the same battlefield (Reitz-Joosse).
Bibliography
Latin
Poetry (selection)
Martinelli,
Nello. 1921. Gradus ad Parnassum. Pisa: Tip. Folchetto.
———.
1931. ‘In memoriam’. Il mundo classico 2: 66–73.
———. 1941. Amba
Alagia. Vallerini: Pisa & Roma.
———. 1947. ‘Avus et
infans’. Il mundo classico 14:
167–78.
———.
1949. ‘Epicedion’. Il mundo classico 16: 103–12.
———.
1950. Valentinianus II. Carmen Nelli Martinelli Romani in certamine
poetico Hoeufftiano praemio aureo ornatum. Amsterdam: Academia Regia
disciplinarum Nederlandica.
———.
1951. Drusus III. Carmen Nelli Martinelli in certamine poetico
Hoeufftiano magna laude ornatum. Amsterdam: Academia Regia disciplinarum
Nederlandica.
———. 1953. Carmen et error. Carmen Nelli Martinelli in certamine poetico Hoeufftiano magna laude ornatum. Amsterdam: Academia Regia disciplinarum Nederlandica.
Scholarly works (selection)
Martinelli,
Nello. 1919. Lucretius in Thucydidea pestis descriptione imitanda
quatenus suus esse videatur. Pisa: in aedibus fratrum Nistri.
———. 1932. L’ode
d’Archita. Pavia: Tip. f.lli Fusi.
———. 1935. ‘Riflessi
della poesia di Longfellow nei carmi latini di G. Pascoli’. In Atti
del III Congresso Nazionale di Studi Romani, edited by Carlo Galassi
Paluzzi, 309–24. Bolognia: Licinio Capelli.
———. 1963. La rappresentazione dello stile di Crasso e di Antonio nel De Oratore. Rome: Centro di Studi Ciceroniani.
Secondary
literature
Giustiniani,
Vito R. 1979. Neulateinische Dichtung in Italien 1850-1950: ein
unerforschtes Kapitel italienischer Literatur- und Geistesgeschichte.
Tübingen: Niemeyer.
IJsewijn-Jacobs, J.
1961. Latijnse Poëzie van de Twintigste Eeuw. Lier: De Bladen Voor
de Poezie.
Reitz-Joosse,
B.L. (in prep.), ‘Vergil in Ethiopia: Nello Martinelli’s Amba Alagia’.
Sacré, Dirk. 2019a.
‘De verbanning van Ovidius uitgeklaard. Nello Martinelli’s (1889-1976) gedicht
Carmen et Error’. Kleio-Online.
———. 2019b. ‘Obitus
Nasonis. De dood van Ovidius in een Latijn
gedicht (1958) van Nello Martinelli’, no. 48: 34–50.
Bettina
Reitz-Joosse