SOURCE: Lang, Ariella. “The Sound of Silence: Words of Exile and Liberation in Ungaretti's Desert.” Rivista di Letterature moderne e comparate LIII, no. 3 (2000): 323-36.

In the following essay Lang explores the relationship of Ungaretti's verse to his relationship with his birthplace, Egypt, versus his ancestral homeland, Italy. Lang conducts this analysis by utilizing some biographical information in her discussion of Ungaretti's poem “In Memoriam.”

In his poem “In Memoriam”¹, Ungaretti reflects upon the tragic suicide of his childhood Egyptian friend, Moammed Sceab. As a young adult, Sceab, like Ungaretti, moves to France. In his desire to assimilate into the French culture of his adopted homeland, Sceab forgets the customs of his people. This amnesia culminates when Sceab changes his name from Moammed to Marcel; his rejection of ‘Moammed’, reflective of Sceab's Arab heritage and a symbol of the very origins of the Islamic religion, represents a rejection of...