Italian
In this idyllic context, the library Lovat has decided to organize four special evenings dedicated to the beauty of words and places, titled Tales and Collections, where we gather “we bring the flowers and the books,” because beyond the benches set up for the audience, one can also lie down on the grass.
And indeed, you arrive at a very crowded parking lot, because at the same time as the meeting with the author, from Nonno Andrea there are food stands, the little train, and above all the sunflower picking, which lasts until midnight, with the offer of a pruning shear for a deposit of 5 euros.
It’s time to take a look at the book stand of Lovat, not only those by the author but also those he will mention in his talk, and the conference by Nicola Lagioia has begun, titled I will soon know who I am.
The author, a writer and intellectual among the most authoritative in the contemporary Italian cultural scene. Winner of the Premio Strega with La ferocia, he was the director of the International Book Fair in Turin from 2017 to 2023, spoke from a stage covered in hay bales and sunflowers, starting by quoting two famous poems, one by Montale, titled Portami il girasole, which fits the theme of the evening, and the famous one by Ungaretti that speaks of the night he spent at the front next to the corpse of a comrade, and absurdly at that moment he had never loved life so much.
This opening helped me highlight how only literature can perform the magic of storytelling, because all other arts like music or cinema must be experienced through a specific medium. Art can be narrated but must be seen; instead, literature has the human mind as its medium.
Moreover, literature does not just provide us with information. As the famous Eduardo De Filippo, Italian playwright, director, actor, and poet, said, “If I had wanted to deliver a message, I would have become a postman.” Literature instead conveys emotions, and these are very slippery to communicate, as they tell us about our contradictory nature. As Walt Whitman said,
“Do I contradict myself? Certainly I do. I am large, I contain multitudes.”
In fact, when reading a book, we often find our most hidden emotions and feel reassured, because we no longer feel alone, and the same happens when we approach poetry: we find expressed emotions and sensations that we have experienced but did not know how to articulate.
And to do this, literature must start from the fundamentals: for example, the quoted poem by Ungaretti uses imagination, starting with the words “For an entire night.” It also relates two more than concrete elements: from the gritted mouth towards the full moon. And likewise, “the congestion of the hands penetrated into my silence.”
Then Nicola Lagioia wonders when the year of literature was born. His answer is that of Vladimir Nabokov who wrote Lolita, who said it was born when a boy shouted: “wolf wolf.” And what does this tell us: that literature is undoubtedly invention.
But essentially literature is an honest lie. Just think of The Metamorphosis by Kafka, who certainly did not have the experience of transforming into an insect. Or Dante himself, who seems almost megalomaniacal in having one of the greatest poets of antiquity accompany him on his journey. However, this allows the reader to have a suspension of disbelief, something that those who claim to tell us the truth do not allow: and this is nothing but the language of power.
The second aspect that characterizes literature: how to convince everyone that the wolf is real. So, the skill in description. But that’s not enough yet: you must simulate the state of mind. And here comes into play the almost demonic ability of the writer, who, even without having ever experienced a situation, manages to describe it perfectly and empathize with it. Think of Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment, where he talks about the emotions of a murderer. But he certainly has never been one.
Nicola Lagioia then talked about the most hated book in school: The Betrothed. He emphasized how from the opening of the novel, which describes the environment, one arrives at the pure cinema of the encounter between Don Abbondio and the thugs, which he believes would be effective even if translated into all dialects.
“He put his index and middle finger inside the collar and looked back” and again Don Abbondio responds to the pressing questions of the thugs with a that is, which represents the moment when the priest places between his true self and his loss of dignity.
Third aspect of literature: it is born oral. The striking example is the cry “wolf, wolf.” And precisely for this reason, the birth certificate of Western literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey, tales of war and journey, which originate from the oral storytelling of the bards.
Writing has one more thing. There is always a missing piece. Either the writer is dead, or the reader is not yet there. Moreover, we usually go to bed with books: and all this feels very intimate. The author then concluded by asking: what is the purpose of transmitting emotions? Does it perhaps serve to change the world? Certainly not, because unfortunately authors like Thomas Mann with his The Magic Mountain could only be Cassandras in a nation like Germany, which then faced the tragedy of Nazism and war.
But it is precisely thanks to writers that we still recognize ourselves as human beings, as the act of speaking up for those who cannot do so. Because literature makes us better. Nicola Lagioia interspersed this subtle and refined reasoning with personal anecdotes (his 107-year-old grandmother, his first radio experience, his meeting with the famous publisher and writer Roberto Calasso), which entertained the audience and made them reflect with a smile.
An evening in harmony with nature, under the stars and among the sunflowers, which not only allowed for a harmonious and natural situation for the bodies but also enabled the minds and hearts to nourish themselves with Beauty and Intelligence.
At Racconti e Raccolti a valuable presence
On a warm summer evening, where to go to refresh a bit?
A valid alternative is the farm of Nonno Andrea, which became famous during the pumpkin season for Halloween, but then offers the wonders of nature in every season: tulips in spring and sunflowers in summer.
In this idyllic context, the Lovat library has decided to organize four special evenings dedicated to the beauty of words and places, titled Tales and Collections, where people come together to share a unique experience under the stars and among the sunflowers. The slogan of these meetings is
“Bring a blanket, we’ll bring the flowers and the books,” because besides the benches set up for the audience, you can also lie down on the grass.
In this idyllic context, the library Lovat has decided to organize four special evenings dedicated to the beauty of words and places, titled Tales and Collections, where we gather “we bring the flowers and the books,” because beyond the benches set up for the audience, one can also lie down on the grass.
And indeed, you arrive at a very crowded parking lot, because at the same time as the meeting with the author, from Nonno Andrea there are food stands, the little train, and above all the sunflower picking, which lasts until midnight, with the offer of a pruning shear for a deposit of 5 euros.
It’s time to take a look at the book stand of Lovat, not only those by the author but also those he will mention in his talk, and the conference by Nicola Lagioia has begun, titled I will soon know who I am.
The author, a writer and intellectual among the most authoritative in the contemporary Italian cultural scene. Winner of the Premio Strega with La ferocia, he was the director of the International Book Fair in Turin from 2017 to 2023, spoke from a stage covered in hay bales and sunflowers, starting by quoting two famous poems, one by Montale, titled Portami il girasole, which fits the theme of the evening, and the famous one by Ungaretti that speaks of the night he spent at the front next to the corpse of a comrade, and absurdly at that moment he had never loved life so much.
This opening helped me highlight how only literature can perform the magic of storytelling, because all other arts like music or cinema must be experienced through a specific medium. Art can be narrated but must be seen; instead, literature has the human mind as its medium.
Moreover, literature does not just provide us with information. As the famous Eduardo De Filippo, Italian playwright, director, actor, and poet, said, “If I had wanted to deliver a message, I would have become a postman.” Literature instead conveys emotions, and these are very slippery to communicate, as they tell us about our contradictory nature. As Walt Whitman said,
“Do I contradict myself? Certainly I do. I am large, I contain multitudes.”
In fact, when reading a book, we often find our most hidden emotions and feel reassured, because we no longer feel alone, and the same happens when we approach poetry: we find expressed emotions and sensations that we have experienced but did not know how to articulate.
And to do this, literature must start from the fundamentals: for example, the quoted poem by Ungaretti uses imagination, starting with the words “For an entire night.” It also relates two more than concrete elements: from the gritted mouth towards the full moon. And likewise, “the congestion of the hands penetrated into my silence.”
Then Nicola Lagioia wonders when the year of literature was born. His answer is that of Vladimir Nabokov who wrote Lolita, who said it was born when a boy shouted: “wolf wolf.” And what does this tell us: that literature is undoubtedly invention.
But essentially literature is an honest lie. Just think of The Metamorphosis by Kafka, who certainly did not have the experience of transforming into an insect. Or Dante himself, who seems almost megalomaniacal in having one of the greatest poets of antiquity accompany him on his journey. However, this allows the reader to have a suspension of disbelief, something that those who claim to tell us the truth do not allow: and this is nothing but the language of power.
The second aspect that characterizes literature: how to convince everyone that the wolf is real. So, the skill in description. But that’s not enough yet: you must simulate the state of mind. And here comes into play the almost demonic ability of the writer, who, even without having ever experienced a situation, manages to describe it perfectly and empathize with it. Think of Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment, where he talks about the emotions of a murderer. But he certainly has never been one.
Nicola Lagioia then talked about the most hated book in school: The Betrothed. He emphasized how from the opening of the novel, which describes the environment, one arrives at the pure cinema of the encounter between Don Abbondio and the thugs, which he believes would be effective even if translated into all dialects.
“He put his index and middle finger inside the collar and looked back” and again Don Abbondio responds to the pressing questions of the thugs with a that is, which represents the moment when the priest places between his true self and his loss of dignity.
Third aspect of literature: it is born oral. The striking example is the cry “wolf, wolf.” And precisely for this reason, the birth certificate of Western literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey, tales of war and journey, which originate from the oral storytelling of the bards.
Writing has one more thing. There is always a missing piece. Either the writer is dead, or the reader is not yet there. Moreover, we usually go to bed with books: and all this feels very intimate. The author then concluded by asking: what is the purpose of transmitting emotions? Does it perhaps serve to change the world? Certainly not, because unfortunately authors like Thomas Mann with his The Magic Mountain could only be Cassandras in a nation like Germany, which then faced the tragedy of Nazism and war.
But it is precisely thanks to writers that we still recognize ourselves as human beings, as the act of speaking up for those who cannot do so. Because literature makes us better. Nicola Lagioia interspersed this subtle and refined reasoning with personal anecdotes (his 107-year-old grandmother, his first radio experience, his meeting with the famous publisher and writer Roberto Calasso), which entertained the audience and made them reflect with a smile.
An evening in harmony with nature, under the stars and among the sunflowers, which not only allowed for a harmonious and natural situation for the bodies but also enabled the minds and hearts to nourish themselves with Beauty and Intelligence.
