2023-12-10 16:49:25
by JESSICA CHIA
A novel published by Sellerio that recalls the ideals and tragedies of the seventies. Annalena Benini wins the Esordienti award with her «Annalena» (Einaudi)
«More than in other novels, here the irreverent magic of literature excites us and forces us to reflect». This was the announcement of the winning book of the 4th edition of the Mastercard Prize, awarded on 9 December in Rome to Dario Ferrari (Viareggio, 1982) and to him Recreation is over (Sellerio). Annalena (Einaudi) by Annalena Benini was awarded the Mastercard Literature Award for Newcomers (motivation: «It forces us to imagine that our life, even if so simple and filled with a thousand small commitments, can be better, more attentive to others, at least a little more noble. We need exceptional stories, and this is it.”
Hosted at the 22nd edition of Più libri liberi (the small and medium publishing fair, which ends on 10 December at the Nuvola dell’Eur), the Prize jury welcomed Ferrari’s novel as «a perfect narrative machine which, page after page, transports an inept modern-day young man to research a terrorist from the seventies. Minimal daily events are intertwined with a little-represented period of Italian history.”
«The idea for the book was born because while I was teaching history in high school – Ferrari told the “Corriere” immediately after the award ceremony – I realized that something from the Seventies didn’t come back to me. I didn’t understand them well, in particular I didn’t understand that disproportion between the ideals and the results, even bloody ones, of that period. So to understand them I used the incompetent voice of a student combined with that of the academic world.” The author, who teaches History and Philosophy at the Plinio high school in Rome, has written a novel in which the protagonist is Marcello Gori, a thirty-one-year-old who grew up listening to the band 883, after attending the University of Pisa, who manages to obtain a doctorate in Literature . And whose training is accomplished through the study of the Years of Lead and by investigating a former terrorist author, Tito Stella, whose parable the young man will become passionate about. “In the book I also made fun of the Seventies a bit, as well as the academic world,” the author said during the ceremony.
«It was an unexpected prize, I felt placed among writers that I admire and read – added Ferrari who also placed tenth in the Quality Ranking of “la Lettura” with Recreation is over – and I was already happy with be there. It was an extra pleasure to have won an award linked to charity.”
The Mastercard Prize was created with a humanitarian purpose. In addition to a prize of 10 thousand euros awarded to the winner, another prize worth 120 thousand euros is allocated divided between 5 humanitarian organizations proposed and financed by Foundation 153: Busajo Ngo; Caritas; Operation Smile; Rwanda Project; Save the Children. According to the regulations, one third of the sum goes to the organization chosen by the winner – Ferrari selected Progetto Rwanda for its commitment to children’s education – and the remaining two thirds will be distributed equally among the other organisations. «Why is it still important to tell students about the Years of Lead? Because I would like – concluded the winner – for young people today to have the perception of having an impact on the world. That in some way history can also depend on them. We are not passive, but we can change things.”
Michele Centemero, Country Manager Italy of Mastercard, commented: «This year too we celebrate the talents of the Mastercard Prize. It is a great privilege to support an initiative that allows us to continue to express our closeness to the passions of Italians and the values of solidarity that we share. It is very important to continue to support the diffusion of culture and literature to project us towards an increasingly fair, digital and sustainable future.”
During the awards ceremony – which was conducted by Marco Lodoli, Sebastiano Nata and Valeria Parrella – the other five finalists were also presented, chosen by the jury chaired by the writer Marco Lodoli: «We had to choose five titles among many notable novels, a sign that contemporary Italian literature always knows how to talk about private and collective hardships, and also some hypotheses of salvation”.
Among the five finalists who presented their titles on the evening of December 9th was the television writer and editorial director of the Accent brand, Matteo B. Bianchi with La vita di chi resta (Mondadori). An autobiographical novel that tells the story of a suicide, that of his ex-partner, with whom he had lived a love story that lasted seven years: the protagonist discovers that death in the house where the two lived together before breaking up.
Antonella Lattanzi with Things that Don’t Tell (Einaudi) deals with her failure to become a mother: the journey of a writer and screenwriter who, for the love of her work, decides to put aside the desire to have a child until she it is too late and that “natural” desire is transformed into the difficult experience of assisted procreation.
Francesco Pecoraro with Only real is the summer (Ponte alle Grazie) tells the story of Biba, who in July 2001 is in Genoa to take part in the protests on the occasion of the G8 summit and her 3 friends-lovers (all little more than thirty-year-olds) who instead remain at the seaside: a book that speaks of disenchantment and which will mark a turning point in the lives of the protagonists and in our time.
Finally, Francesco Piccolo, in La bella confusion (Einaudi), talks about his love for screenwriting and starts from the world of the cinema of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti to undertake a journey through the Italy of the fifties and sixties, with a tribute also to actress Claudia Cardinale, when she found herself acting in both Il Gattopardo and e 8½ (both in 1963), by the two directors.
10 December 2023 (modified 10 December 2023 | 16:29)
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