A Farewell

Well, Edna, you apparently conquered other planets, even if only in an intellectual and aesthetic sense

The author himself describes his book thus: “The Academy of the Three Princes is a billiard room. It is an underground basement, a fabulous cave, where, under the blind gaze of the wise Borges, legendary players such as the Stinker, Elvis, Tremal-Naik, the Mummy, the Professor and Tamarind get to point their cue sticks at each other. Ashtrays get emptied and battles are counted by scores. One day Panter makes her entrance in that world of only men — she is “slim, lithe, pale”, and the legend crosses over borders. When the invincibles fall, as in a chivalrous poem, champions start coming from afar. Out of her story, Panter hands the baton to Aixi, a girl in love with her sea, and the bearer of a new challenge flooded with light and mystery. (Illustrated by Luca Ralli)”.

The Visible and the Invisible

“Phyllis is a space in which routes are drawn between points suspended in the void [...]. Your footsteps follow not what is outside the eyes, but what is within, buried, erased”. Italo Calvino, “Invisible Cities”, 1972 “菲利德是一个空间，虚无中个点之间都连接着通道……你的脚步追随的不是双眼所见的事物，而是内心的、已被掩埋、被抹掉了的事物。" ——伊塔罗·卡尔维诺《看不见的城市》

René Magritte, Le printemps éternel, 1937. Courtesy of Artnet.

Meanwhile in Arcovazzia

Stupidity has made enormous progress. It is a sun that one can no longer gaze at without blinking. Thanks to mass communications, it isn’t even the same thing any longer, it feeds on other myths, it sells at an extremely high price, it has turned good sense into something ridiculous, it spreads terror all around itself. Ennio Flaiano, “The Via Veneto Papers”, 1973

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

One day fascism will be treated with psychoanalysis. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

The Raft of Odysseus

• John Hooper, Andrea Camilleri obituary, The Guardian, July 17, 2019

Had Andrea Camilleri died in his 50s, his obituary would certainly not have been published in The Guardian. His death might have been noted in the cultural sections of the odd Italian newspaper and it would doubtless have merited a substantial article in the journal of Italy’s pre-eminent drama school, the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica, where Camilleri was for many years in charge of teaching directing. [Read more].

The Kindness of Strangers

Berlin, Germany, Saturday, February 16, 2019. Maurizio Braucci, Claudio Giovannesi and Roberto Saviano were awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 69th Berlin Film Festival for the film Piranhas (La paranza dei bambini), based on Saviano’s homonymous novel.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

Fascism is demagogic but master-like, rhetorical, xenophobic, culture-hating, despiser of freedom and justice, oppressor of the weaker, servant of the stronger, always ready to point at the “others” as the reason of its own impotence or defeat. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario degli errori”, Milano, Rizzoli, 1976 English translation by Andrea Gaddini

Darwinian Archaeology

Fascists are a negligible majority. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

One Day

One day fascism will be treated with psychoanalysis. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

Out of Date

Fascists are a negligible majority. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

One should not want to be anything but what one is

There are many ways to arrive; the best is not to leave. Ennio Flaiano, “Il gioco e il massacro”, 1970

A sea turtle swims in the water off the shore of Naqoura, a small town south of Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Photo: AFP/Joseph Eid.

Arcovazzia algorithm

They fight for the idea, not having one. Ennio Flaiano

Intelligence Is Overrated

Stupidity has made enormous progress. It is a sun that one can no longer gaze at without blinking. Thanks to mass communications, it isn’t even the same thing any longer, it feeds on other myths, it sells at an extremely high price, it has turned good sense into something ridiculous, it spreads terror all around itself. Ennio Flaiano, “The Via Veneto Papers”, 1973

I’m not smart, but I’m genius enough to know it

Il genio muore per se stesso e chiede d’esser sepolto entro memorie deboli. Genius dies for itself and ask to be buried in weak memories. Alda Merini

Antonio Ligabue, Leopard and black widow, oil on hardboard

Out of Fashion

Fascists are a negligible majority. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

Hopefully, one day

One day fascism will be treated with psychoanalysis. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario Notturno”, 1956

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Fascism is demagogic but master-like, rhetorical, xenophobic, culture-hating, despiser of freedom and justice, oppressor of the weaker, servant of the stronger, always ready to point at the “others” as the reason of its own impotence or defeat. Ennio Flaiano, “Diario degli errori”, Milano, Rizzoli, 1976 English translation by Andrea Gaddini

Red Ocean

Artwork: aeon-100

Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson certified Quaker, it’s pointless to build walls between you and words and the whooziness of the sister ready for your unlickely swooning. Strength inserts itself in strength the spade into the earth. Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson patentata quacquera, inutile mettere muri tra te e le parole e le svenevolezze della sorella pronte ai tuoi inverosimili deliqui. La forza si immette nella forza la spada dentro la terra. Alda Merini

丢脸 (Losing face)

Artwork: Arnumdrusk

Niente è più necessario di ciò che non serve. Nothing is more necessary than what is superfluous. Alda Merini