Cicchetti

Comment by Vittoria repetto on April 29, 2008 at 11:43am

Ciao Mary,
Thanks for the chemo info; I'm saving it in case.
Hope things are going well w/ you!
Vittoria

Comment by Mary Cappello on April 30, 2008 at 3:59pm

Sure, Vittoria, I hope you find it useful to share, but I certainly hope it won't be something you'll need to consult for yourself. On the other hand, _not_ getting cancer seems these days to be the exception rather than the rule. I still rely on your wonderful guide to calcium supplements by the way. Hope this finds you well.
writer-sister,
Mary

Comment by Mikhail Epstein on May 7, 2008 at 12:30pm

I like the Cicchetti idea: snacking a short invigorizing thought in the intervals of more laborious enterprises. I'd like to share an experince of a cognate genre: "palminations" (cf. ruminations, divinations). It came from from my "Palm book," a micro-computer that easily fits a palm. I traveled with it to New York in 2001 and called my short trip notes, in the size of the screen, or in the size of a palm, - palminations. Unfortunately, in the end of my trip I got under a heavy rain and lost all my palminations (as well as Palm itself which became disfunctional). This added to my feeling of the imminent
brevity of our life and thought. The few
palminations that survived are below.


There are two sorts of universities: Ivy League and Envy League.

Organic approach to reality is not enough: it should be orgasmic.


Any definition should include an undefinable moment: an infinition.

Comment by Mikhail Epstein on May 7, 2008 at 1:00pm

A practical suggestion: to set a limit on the size of a cicchetti (or a palmination). Any prudent limitation energizes the genre and makes it more "sexy." Look at the Japanese haiku that is limited to three lines with five, seven, and then five syllables. This makes it infinitely variable and causes the desire to flesh it out again and again, precisely because it has a firm skeleton.
I would suggest to limit the length of cichetti to the size of 5 to 13 words only. Less than 5, it's merely a phrase, just chewing in passing, without even sitting at the table. More than 13- it's already a substantial meal, a long conversation, a lunch or a dinner.
I am especially attracted to these numbers because they comprise the golden section proportion: the whole relates to its larger part as the larger part relates to the smaller one. The best approximation among the integers is this: 13 relates to 8 as 8 relates to 5. Thus I imagine cichetti to be formally within this size. Or we can agree that cichetti can go only in three sizes: 5, 8 and 13 words (micro-, midi- and mega-). This will make the genre more distinctive and open to many new contesters.

Comment by Mary Cappello on May 10, 2008 at 1:41pm

I feel invigorated by Misha’s proposal, but what else is new? Where would we be without Epsteinian inspiration? “Infinition” meets the unmet need, to be sure.

I like the idea of the number 13: my understanding is that it is a “lucky” number in Sicily (as opposed to it’s being an unlucky number in the US). I like the number then, for its over-valuation in either direction. I’m also ok with the idea of Cicchetti being 5, 8, or 13 words.

I’m not so sure about the need for the form to be “sexy”—and the combo of prudence and sexy feels a bit oxymoronic.

I have questions for “the group”:

1. Should we communicate using the comments section of this page or by using the “Discussion” thread section (see above where Lorraine DeLucca and I already got a great deal of discussion going on the subject of Cicchetti).

2. Are there notes worth culling from the discussion session that we can incorporate into our continued devising of a Cicchetti aesthetic? I’d like to revisit some of what’s there.

For now, an 8 word Cicchetti, with Misha’s palminations in mind:

Water in my palm evaporates; what will, remains.

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