The Honey

Renowned for his collaborations with Tarkovsky, Fellini, and Antonioni, poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra sets his story of two aging brothers in a surreal landscape woven from memories of a rural way of life on the wane. Drawing on dialect from the Emilia-Romagna region and images from his childhood, Guerra paints a world of sacred bridges and weird locals, odd weather and ghostly animals, lonely hens and glasses brimming with rainwater. Guerra's poetry went hand-in-hand with his screenwriting and, in his later career, the two began to fuse, reaching an apotheosis in his collaboration with Andrei Tarkovsky on the film Nostalghia. During production, the poet and director travelled throughout Italy, discussing art, literature, and cinema. These two great artists formed a deep intellectual and creative connection, a bond which mirrors that of the brothers in The Honey. Originally published in 1982, it is only the second of Guerra's poetic works to appear in English translation.