Today, Thursday 25 January is the birthday of one of the most loved writers in Italy: Alessandro Baricco! 60 years of words between stories and events that have crossed Italian literature, between those who love it and those who just can't stand it. How can we forget his column on Repubblica where a tennis match became an instrument to get to the heart of the times we are living in? Let's retrace these 60 years of writing together with some reading tips.
Things happen that are like questions. A minute passes, or years, and then life responds.
Castles of Rabbia
Alessandro Baricco a life between writing and music
Born in Turin. Here he graduated in Philosophy with a thesis on Aesthetics and studied at the same time at the conservatory where he graduated in piano. The love for music and literature has always distinguished his works. And in fact at the beginning he begins with the essay “The genius in flight. On Rossini's musical theater ".
In 1991 he published Castelli di Rabbia with Bompiani. And it is precisely from this novel that the division of his readers begins: loved or hated, he is talked about and continues to be talked about. Some of the more attentive will perhaps remember the controversy with the literary critic Giulio Ferrone.
Not just books
Over the years Alessandro Baricco collaborates on various radio and television broadcasts. Among all, go and find on youtube the episodes of "Pickwikc, of reading and writing”, A real television-literary gem where he is joined by the journalist Giovanna Zucconi. Which will be followed by a few years "Totem".
This is followed by volumes such as Barnum, Oceano Mare, but also screenplays and the direction of hits such as Novecento and Lezione 21. Baricco also gave birth to the writing school in Turin "Holden“, Dedicated to narrative techniques.
Lost in a supermarket
Desires were tearing my soul away. I could have lived them, but I couldn't.
Then I enchanted them.
Nine hundred
It is difficult to make a ranking of Baricco's must-see productions. If you are curious and want to start reading Baricco, some personal advice. I would start from Castles of Rabbia, a surreal creature that every now and then I pick up and discover new traits of the characters and events. I would then continue with Nine hundred, smooth and short, alas too short. A book to be read aloud, and not surprisingly it became the text of a very successful play. Other advice Three times at dawn, a recent novel. The story of three different lives and existences connected to each other. And what would you recommend?
