Review of the book "Next to the tiger " Lorenzo Pavolini
Undoubtedly the surname is heavy Pavolini to carry, especially if you work in literature.
Alessandro Pavolini, the grandfather of Lawrence, author of "Next to the tiger, was a leading figure of the fascist regime, a very young age and since the first hours.
Minister of popular culture, working with Bottai, uncompromising man becomes the final stage of fascism, that tragic Salo.
Yet this is a man of culture, a fine intellectual and a promising writer.
events, however, led him to prefer the culture of political passion and sacrifice everything (and affects their lives) for it.
Lawrence, through his book, he travels to the discovery of his grandfather Alexander, overcoming the understandable reluctance family, the denigration and free apologies out of time.
Pavolini Lorenzo, with "Next to the tiger," was a finalist in the 2010 edition of the Premio Strega.
You can read my review below.
Already the sins of the fathers upon the children can not fall, as they could spoil the grandchildren?
In the collective imagination, the figure of the grandfather is the person who so loves the grandchildren, to the point, sometimes, to spoil and who devotes more attention than it had in its time accorded to children.
Not everyone was lucky enough to know their grandparents.
I, for one, I knew his maternal grandfather, but not the paternal one.
Not having known then, was looking in the memories of my father, that ring affective missing.
A photo, perhaps a grandmother's house, shows him in uniform and then the unsuspecting child wants to know more about his grandfather, but a strange reluctance family, provide only little information: it was ... an airman died in the war.
That child grows and pastry school for having a history book, where is the reproduction of a vintage newspaper with a chilling photograph: a human tide that seems to crowd around a metal tower, from which hang upside down and helpless bodies disfigured by some men and a woman.
The title of the reproduction of the newspaper, announcing the end of Mussolini el'occhiello other surnames listed among them, to Pavolini.
The same last name of the guy who was flipping through the book of history.
Alessandro Pavolini
In this way, Lorenzo Pavolini learned that Alex's grandfather was a fascist, shot Dongo and hung upside down in Milan, in Piazzale Loreto.
What I love family had tried to hide, to avoid early upsets, it was surely emerged as a result of a simple gesture.
Later, Lorenzo, already mature, is again shaken by writing on the wall: "Pavolini hero."
Since then, Lorenzo Pavolini, has begun a search of the true essence of his grandfather Alexander; path that led him to write a book entitled "Next to the tiger," edited by Fandango, with which was a finalist in the 2010 edition of the Strega Prize, won by Antonio Pennacchi with "Canale Mussolini," author also cited in the book of Pavolini.
So a trip back in time, seeking the true identity of Alexander Pavolini, despite the reluctance family, the denigration institutionalized or part of exaltation.
The gray tiger jumps agile beside me?
I think the result dell'insistito drowsiness, or the smell of gas. On the back seat of Multiple beige launched in the night I pondered the old Indian proverb that those who rides the tiger can no longer go down, if he wants to tame it. And finally here it is at my side, Tiger, already quite docile and domestic, and without the memories never be mounted on the back.
Tigre family would have said.
A journey next to the tiger, which is known to be a dangerous animal, despite its sincerity, and then demands the courage to stay there due to close. Courage that the author has had to face a painful and uncomfortable journey.
Alessandro Pavolini uncomfortable because, during the final stage of fascism, it has been the most intransigent, more determined to fight to the death, until his death.
painful, as when Lorenzo went to visit the Cemetery of Milan, the tomb of his grandfather: one of the 1432 burials of Camp X, for to the fallen of the Italian Social Republic.
However, it was a journey that has enabled Lorenzo di Alessandro discover a man of deep culture, a fine intellectual and a promising writer.
Founder of cultural magazines and observant minister of popular culture, he sacrificed his intellectual soul, the passion for politics, which had involved a very young age.
So a man not at all obvious, consistent with itself. A man from another era, with its strengths and weaknesses, merits and faults.
A trip to Lawrence ends to tackle alongside his father, with his childhood memories, his direct testimony on the figure of a parent lost just six years.
"Next to the tiger" is a great book. Well written and very interesting. It is also useful to recall, excluding finally easy slurs or unnecessary apologies, a piece of history home demonized for too long and never dealt with intellectual honesty or simply ignored, without a thorough critical analysis.
Pavolini Lorenzo was born in Rome in 1964. He is the editor of the magazine "New Topic". He has published novels: "Without Revolution" (Giunti 1997, Grinzane Cavour Beginners), "Be prepared" (Pequod 2005). He edited "ANTHOLOGY ITALVILLE: New Italian Writing" (Exile Editions, 2005) and series full of "Impossible Interviews" (Donzelli 2006). With Serafino Amato has made "massacre, the tadpoles of history" (book + DVD, Headmaster, 2008).
Author: LORENZO Pavolini
Page: 243
ISBN: 978-88-6044-145-4
Price: € 16.50
Publisher: Fandango Libri - Rome
First edition: 2010
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