I received an Icarus email this morning just as I was putting a research idea together on an Icarus theme. Then serendipitously I was looking at the blog of a good friend of mine and there he was again, flying though my sky in the strangest image, for it was a song. Such a strange thing but I confess I think he is going to be with me for a long time. In thinking about Icarus though, I was reminded too of something Italo Calvino wrote, for I have been reading a lot of his stuff recently. He ends a piece on exactitude by saying, "I leave you this image... so that you may carry it in your memories as long as possible, in all its transparency and its mystery." And I am so taken by that idea, the transparency and the mystery wrapped together, the clear; lucid; simple; precise and intelligible twinned with the ambiguous; secret; obscure; vague and unintelligible. 
It is precisely that Icarus idea, the constant tension between the known and the unknown, the knowable and the unknowable, how high is too high, and flying so close to the sun because, 'O sole mio, its my own sun and that is such a nice Icarian image too. I stole the clip that accompanies this from another's blog and I have included the Neapolitan and English translation of the lyrics because they speak of an Icarian moment to me - love this, it is musical sunshine, transparent mystery - such joy!Neapolitan lyrics
Che bella cosa e' na jurnata 'e sole
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare già na festa
Che bella cosa e' na jurnata 'e sole
Ma n'atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne'
'O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase 'na malincunia;
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.
Ma n'atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne'
'O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
English translation
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day,
The air is serene after a storm
The air's so fresh that it already feels like a celebration
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day
But another sun,
that's brighter still
It's my own sun
that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I almost start feeling melancholy;
I'd stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
But another sun,
that's brighter still
It's my own sun
that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare già na festa
Che bella cosa e' na jurnata 'e sole
Ma n'atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne'
'O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase 'na malincunia;
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.
Ma n'atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne'
'O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
English translation
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day,
The air is serene after a storm
The air's so fresh that it already feels like a celebration
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day
But another sun,
that's brighter still
It's my own sun
that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I almost start feeling melancholy;
I'd stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
But another sun,
that's brighter still
It's my own sun
that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
