SOURCE: "The Word Beside Itself," in Stanford Italian Review, Vol. II, No. 2, Fall, 1982, pp. 54-71.

In the following essay, Agosti presents a phenomenological analysis of Pasolini's poetry, seeing his verse as both conservative and innovative.

It is probable (it is, at least in part, already an established fact) that an attempt at historical collocation of Pier Paolo Pasolini's poetry—considered in terms of its most significant and most striking achievements: Le ceneri di Grantsci, 1957; La religione del mio tempo, 1961; some sections of L'usignolo delta Chiesa cattolica, published in 1958 but containing work of the period 1943-1949—would lead to its finding itself firmly placed on the side of experiences that might be termed conservative as opposed to innovative or "eversive" experiences in twentieth-century literature; nor need this imply any doubt of its intrinsic worth if one admits that a considerable part of significant twentieth-century Italian literature (the perfect example...