Incredible and sad story of Luca Di Fulvio, a writer loved abroad and (almost) ignored in Italy

2023-06-04 12:24:00

Time.news – There is news that you will hardly find anywhere in the Italian press and which it is a heavy blow for lovers of that ‘entertainment literature’ which is both, precisely, literary and engaging.

Luca Di Fulvioone of the authors from the most mysterious path in the history of Italian publishing, is gone, devoured by ALS at the age of 66, almost ignored in death as he had been in life, but only in Italy.

Yet in countries like Germany and France – where we read much more than in Italy – he was so loved as to be a regular guest at the top of the sales charts.

But how is it possible for an author to be more successful abroad than in their home bookstores? Mysteries of the market, without a doubt, but perhaps also of a certain conformism of taste which leads to preferring to craft experiment with alchemical formulas of writing schools. Philosopher’s stones – or presumed such – which generate in series thematic waves ranging from the training story to existential intimacy trying to substantiate themselves more in the references and winks to the ideological fashions of the moment than to the real substance of what – from what world is the world – should be the basis of any narrative: the story.

Goodbye, then, a a prince of storieswhich was precisely Luca Di Fulvio, writer and playwright, remembered with emotion more by his readers than by critics and scholars who seem to have forgotten masterpieces such as ‘La scala di Dioniso’ (published in 2006 by Mondadori) and above all ‘La gang dei dreams’ (published in 2008 by Mondadori) from which any producer with a minimum of foresight would have drawn long ago an amazing TV series.

Merit of Rizzoli if we have his latest works in Italy, ‘The girl who touched the sky’ and ‘The boy who found the sun at night’, published with great success earlier in Germany than in Italy.

“Luca is no longer here, but he will always be with me, with us. Thanks to all of you for the affection of these years and for welcoming his stories”, wrote his wife Elisa on Instagram. “Destiny has always crossed my books” said Di Fulvio in an interview, “the concept of destiny I guess was born with man. It is the story that the gods have written for us. In destiny I believe we unconsciously look for a reason to exist. A kind of geometry that justifies questions to which there is no answer. The other aspect of destiny – and this has to do with my personal sphere – is that of choice. Choose your own destiny. Plot your own way. And this aspect justifies ourselves, individually”.

He got one really bizarre fate and in many ways cruel.