Clo Duri Bezzola

A l’ur dal di

«Meis cheu es svessa üna balla da savun, vöda e ligera. Ella as stacha dal culöz, s’alvainta vers la fanestra, penetrescha il vaider, as sfraidischa, dvainta üna nüvla chi’s giovainta cul vent sü i’l univers staili, dvainta ün guot, ün granè da tampesta, challa e crouda per terra cun fracasch.»

«A l’ur dal di» (At Day’s Edge) is a collection of short prose pieces which Clo Duri Bezzola composed in Vallader (Rhaeto-Romanic). The 38 stories are self-contained and describe the everyday life of the narrator. With an ever-critical point of view he comments diary-like on what provokes his thoughts, surprises or aggrieves him, and on what makes him suffer.
As a teacher he puts himself on equal footing with his students: «I tell them that middle school is like secondary school, just with a different goal, My students don’t believe me, and I try to understand them.» While mowing the lawn his neighbour makes him livid with his little motor. «Wrrng, wrrng, the entire time!» As a father he wishes to relearn to dream just like his son does and is aware «that my fantasy cannot keep up with yours.»
And so «At Day’s Edge» gathers short texts from the sharp and entertaining pen of a sensitive-critical mind, who jots down all those things that are on the tip of his tongue. Always from the viewpoint of an alert observer – in Bezzola’s expressive and sometimes ironic style.

(Bettina Vital, trans. by Simon Froehling)

Translation of title: At Day’s Edge

Ediziun Il Chardun, Zernez 1984