«… WITHOUT EVER HAVING BEEN THERE!» THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA IN THE CESARE PAVESE-ANTONIO CHIUMINATTO CORRESPONDENCE

Abstract

The essay analyzes the correspondence between the writer Cesare Pavese and the musician Antonio Chiuminatto. Chiuminatto, born in Rivarolo Canavese in 1904, moved to America as a child, returning to Italy, in Turin, only in 1925 to continue his musical studies at the «Giuseppe Verdi» Conservatory. To support his studies, Chiuminatto begins to give English lessons and, among his students, he meets Pavese. Upon Chiuminatto’s return to America, the two began to write to each other, forging a solid friendship that would last until 1933 and would prove to be decisive for Pavese: thanks to his American friend, Pavese was in fact able to read books still completely unknown in Italy. The correspondence is particularly interesting because, in addition to providing an overall picture of Pavese’s readings, it allows us to open interesting glimmers of the writer’s other interests, such as his passion for American cinema and music, and above all it clearly reveals the enthusiasm, the continuous amazement with which Pavese discovered America, without ever really reaching it.