Claudia and Francesco are two complementary souls. From an early age they observe each other, seek each other, attract and repel each other. She is defiant, with red hair and a tie. He is ignited by a dogmatic and uncertain faith at the same time, but always inclined to erotic curiosity. Both grew up in Martina Franca, in the province of Taranto, at a certain point they choose two different paths: she runs away from the province and leaves for London, then Milan and Berlin. He who has stayed at home in the meantime will join her in the European capital of transgression, where they will begin to explore each other, finally free. Almost.
“Spatriati” is the latest novel by Mario Desiati, winner of the 2022 Strega Prize, in which he tells of an irregular, fluid, uprooted generation: his. An acknowledgment that was not sought, busy as he was in Germany writing his next novel. Yet, the Apulian writer, born in 1977, was chosen among the five finalists of the highly coveted literary prize with 166 preferences.
For the evening at the Nymphaeum of Villa Giulia, he presented himself with a black lace around his neck which, as the author himself explained before stepping off the stage, “represents the world of clubbing that the two protagonists Claudia and Francesco live in Berlin”. Under the Valentino dress, a white silk blouse “who with these sashes recalled the stoles of priests, because in the first part of the book there is also a lot of Christianity seen from the point of view of an expatriate”. On the feet the rainbow shoes that match the pochette, “because I have always felt part of the LGBTQ community”.
But before taking the plunge, he worked as a political and sports reporter for Martinese newspapers such as Il Corriere della Valle d’Itria. In 2003 he moved to Rome, where he was managing editor of the magazine Nuovi Argomenti, and junior editor of Mondadori. From 2008 to October 2013 he was in charge of the editorial management of Fandango Libri, now merged into the independent group Fandango editore. From one of his novels the homonymous film “The country of happy brides” was drawn, for which he did not collaborate as a screenwriter.
On the evening of Sunday 27 November, the final one of the Festival Pazza Idea, in the Ghetto of Cagliari, Desiati presented his latest novel in the panel “So far, so close” in conversation with Irene Soavi. It is the first time that the author shows up in Sardinia, a land that he has also got to know through the novels of Sergio Atzeni. “He’s one of my favorite authors, I love ‘The Son of Bakunin’”he says before getting on the ad hoc stage. “I always recommend him to those who don’t know him, because he is one of the most interesting Italian writers of the last part of the twentieth century: for his gaze on history, on his own present, but also for a certain sorrow, which is never feeling sorry for yourself” , adds.
Start the presentation. A sincere confrontation, in front of an attentive public, with a real state of mind: that of the “expatriate”.
Let’s start with your latest novel, winner of the 2022 Strega Prize. Who are Mario Desiati’s “expats”?
Expatriates are people who do not belong to a pre-established idea, to the dominant thought. They are the irregular ones, those who do not want to define themselves. “Spatriato” in Italian refers to someone who has gone away, but in this case, in my Apulian dialect, it has an extra meaning that has to do with irregularity, with not wanting any label. It seemed to me a bit like a way of describing Claudia and Francesco, two people who are looking for themselves but don’t want to adhere to the form that others choose for them.
Treccani also added it to the author’s neologisms, emphasizing the lack of points of reference. How did you take this news?
When I found out I was very happy, it was a bit of parochial pride because it is one more word that enters the vocabulary which for once comes from the Apulian and not from the Florentine [sorride].
But how can you live without reference points?
Let’s say that this is an additional nuance of Treccani. I am referring to those who live outside the box, which happens to some extent in all communities. Today there is a term, “queer”, which perfectly represents this concept, with a meaning mainly linked to the sexual sphere. “Spatriato” on the other hand can also be used in other areas, such as the social, political and religious one.
You said that reading is a spiritual exercise, that sometimes it has ruined you and sometimes it has saved you. How does it work?
Yes it is a definition that I stole from Goethe. Effectively when we read we collect ourselves, and this allows us to make contact with our body, with our spirituality. Ruin because sometimes reading makes you see things that it was better not to see, but then it also gives you the strong difference of having an extra look at the life you lead. Because looking at the world having more words, even to name an evil, an emotion, is fundamental. Not naming an emotion makes us lose touch with ourselves.
You spent this autumn in Berlin, which has always been home to expatriates. Where do you get inspiration in the city?
There are some places I am very attached to, which are the same ones I told about in the novel. There are parts of the city where you can still feel a bit of pre-gentrification Berlin, especially in the suburbs. And then there’s a night club that I really like, that I go to often, which is the KitKat, where I often find inspiration for my stories.
You have already anticipated that in your next novel there will be a lot of Taranto, where do you come from. Does the expatriate go home?
No no that too will be a book halfway between Italy and Germany. The Italian base will be precisely Taranto. Then there will be a historical part, an element close to a psychological and genealogical reconstruction of this new story.
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