Roberto Saviano’s books banned from libraries in Northern Italy

Photo by altemark

Italian journalist Loredana Lipperini writes on her very influential blog Lipperatura:

Let’s call her “Em”.

I have erased and replaced her name also in previous comments by her and by other readers.

“Em” works in a public library of the Province of Treviso, I will not tell in which town. I want to protect her identity, and also to thank her for her courage.

“Em” has told here, and then privately, a story regarding libraries, once again. The day after the Speranzon Case (on which you can find an important article [in Italian] by Massimo Carlotto on Carmilla, by the way), a breach is opening: many librarians are contacting me and writer Michela Murgia, in order to denounce explicit or underlying forms of censorship.

“Three unforgettable days” for MatchBoox

I’m very happy to announce that my short story for the MatchBoox project is out. MatchBoox are handmade books folded intricately into a tiny concertina that fits inside a matchbox. Authors including Ramsey Nasr, Abdelkader Benali and Joke van Leeuwen have created short, short stories for their own MatchBoox and artists have transformed their words into beautifully illustrated works of art that tuck snugly inside the box.

I especially recommend my story—ups and downs of a tumultuous love affair—as a comforting message to lovers and former lovers. Three unforgettable days is in the English language (translation by Laura Watkinson) and has been beautifully illustrated by Marion Bloem, who made my story into a miniature work of art.

• Order the book

See also:

• Matchboox
• Marion Bloem
• Laura Watkinson.

Mozart’s Sister Reader’s Group Guide

Mozart's Sister: A Novel, by Rita Charbonnier.

I received a few emails through the Contact form on my main site asking me if there is a Mozart’s Sister reading guide available for book clubs. Of course! You can find it in the paperback edition on pg. 323 and even below. Thanks and enjoy the discussion!

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The name Mozart is synonymous with musical genius, calling up the powerful notes of The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, and The Marriage of Figaro, reminding us that what is now classical was once revolutionary. But most of us don’t know that standing in Wolfgang’s shadow was another talented musician who played and composed at his side for many years before the two parted ways–his own sister Maria Anna, nicknamed Nannerl. In Mozart’s Sister by Rita Charbonnier we experience life as the other Mozart child, an equally passionate musician who, though eclipsed by the sun of her brother’s greatness, eventually found her way back to the music they both loved. This reader’s guide is intended as a starting point for your discussion of her story, Mozart’s Sister.

Mozart’s murder: “Look for the guilty woman”

You may read this article on Rita Charbonnier online also.

Unnamed Sorrow by xchanttelx.

As we all know, there is nothing concrete to explain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s early death (in 1791), and so, over the centuries, speculation has mounted. Last summer, streptococcus was mentioned, for the first time I think. Other hypotheses include nephritis, mercury poisoning and syphilis. It is probably true to say that, whatever the illness, it was the treatments administered by the doctors that led to his death.

Writers have always been fascinated by the mystery, starting with Aleksandr Puškin who, in his play Mozart and Salieri (1830) immortalized the idea that Antonio Salieri had a role in Mozart’s death – an idea that became massively popular thanks to Amadeus (a film I have already talked about here).

Some time ago, we started talking about murder again. But Salieri had nothing to do with it this time. Here is the disturbing idea that one of the readers of my Italian blog told me about.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 K 271, “Jeunehomme”

I mention various pieces by Mozart in my novel, Mozart’s Sister, but only two of them have any real bearing on the story: one is the Fantasia in D minor K 397, the other is the Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major K 271, ‘Jeunehomme’.

The term in French means ‘young man’ but it actually refers to a woman, because that was the name of the famous French pianist who arrived in Salzburg in 1777, fresh “from the big world outside, to make the city reel with the scent of high society” – according to one of Mozart’s biographers, Bernhard Paumgartner. Mozart was born in 1756. He therefore wrote this magnificent Concerto when he was little more than twenty years of age, inspired by a foreign “muse”.

Information regarding Jeunehomme stops here unfortunately: we know little else about her. In other works we find other references but most of it is hypothesis and little is known for certain. Who was this mysterious young woman? Was there some kind of romantic attachment between her and Mozart? Was she blind? And was she really called Jeunehomme or Jenamy as some academics have claimed? We almost wonder whether she really existed at all?

>> Read full article on Rita Charbonnier Online. Thanks!

(You may also listen to the Third Movement, Rondeau, and watch a video.)

Sicily – a mix of ancient and modern

The Fountain of Arethusa, in the Ortygia island. Photo by Leandro's World Tour.

It was twenty years ago that I first set foot in Sicily. I had passed the auditions and managed to get into the School of Classic Theatre which is in Syracuse. My idea of what Ortygia might be like was a bit far-fetched: people had told me that it was like a little island joined to the city by a bridge which, for some reason, I had pictured as a wooden drawbridge. Young and defenceless, with a rather bizarre imagination, I was convinced the place was going to be lush and green, a kind of savanna landscape complete with monkeys and baobab trees. The reality was much more exciting.

I started wandering round the baroque buildings and historical landmarks, enjoying these echoes of the ancient, sophisticated society that inspired them, and digging deep for memories of the myths this civilization produced. Myths which, as you know, responded to man’s need to control the uncontrollable aspects of nature – thus a natural spring, emerging near the sea, became a nymph that managed to escape the clutches of an over-insistent god. And that nymph was there, in front of me, living in peace.