ΣΑΝ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ. ΟΥΜΠΕΡΤΟ ΣΑΜΠΑ

Ουμπέρτο Σάμπα (9/3/1883 – 26/8/1957)
The bisexual poet Umberto Poli, who published under the name Umberto Saba,

wrote poems that expressed his love both of his wife and daughter

and of adolescent boys.
Α few weeks after his seventieth birthday in 1953, when he had virtually given up

writing poetry, Saba began the short novel Ernesto in which he revisited not only

the scenes but also the moods of his puberty. Autobiographical at least in part--but to

what extent is not clear--the novel chronicles a boy's sexual awakening. (glbtq.com)

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Ernesto is an autobiographical 'secret' novel by Umberto Saba, written in 1953 but not published until 1975, long after the author’s death.
Ernesto, a 16-year-old boy living in Trieste in 1898, has an affair with a 28-year-old Pederast worker simply called "the man". Ernesto subsequently has sex with the man frequently, but after an enjoyable experience with a female prostitute, he stops seeing him. He concentrates on studying the violin, and during a concert, Ernesto (now seventeen) meets a beautiful 15-year-old boy, also a violin player. He is called Emilio, nicknamed "Ilio".
Ernesto was made into a film in 1979. In the movie, the two boys start an intense intimate relationship. Emilio introduces Ernesto to his twin sister and Ernesto becomes confused, loving both the brother and the sister. This storyline is not in the main text of the novel, but reflects the reality of the complex sexuality in Saba’s life. The parts of Ilio and his twin sister are played by the same actress.

Στα ελληνικά: Saba Umberto: Ερνέστο (Παρατηρητής, 1992)

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