Capitolo Zero

Originally published by Lerici Editore, Rome, in 1969, Capitolo Zero is Giovanna Sandri’s first book-length work: an experiment in new reading operations, composed with dry-transfer lettering instead of a typewriter, Capitolo Zero dissolves poetry into single letters and punctuation marks—the atomic particles of language—rearranging them in new combinations that preclude conventional meaning. Reading the book is a game for the eyes.

A key figure—and one of the few women—in the Italian neo-avanguardia of the 1960s and 1970s, Sandri (1923–2002) was renowned for the fearless experimentation of her visual poetry, rooted in the fractured language of Dada. Long out of print, this reissue of Capitolo Zero embodies DABA's commitment to art, experimental writing and visual poetry. [publishers’ note]