Escaping literal strings in pg_8.4

Hi all!

[using postgresql_8.4 under debian/GNU-Linux 2.6.32]

I'm trying to understand how the escape_string is supposed to work.
After writing a file ('prova12000.memo')  with this single line:
-----
Vediamo se quest''altro E'\r\n' lo riconosce come un a capo E'\r\n' e questo dovrebbe essere il nuovo rigo: ''bla bla
bla''!
-----
entered the command:

$ psql mydb -c "insert into bibl_memos values(12000, '`cat prova12000.memo`');"

and got:

ERROR:  syntax error at or near "\"
LINE 1: ...bl_memos values(12000, 'Vediamo se quest''altro E'\r\n' lo r...
                                                             ^
Both the lines 'escape_string_warning=on' and 'standard_conforming_strings=off' are commented out in postgresql.conf.

Could somebody please explain what is going wrong?

Thanks for your attention. Regards,
          ennio
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