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Dante Alighieri, one of us
Memories of a life between history and legend
(Solfanelli - Chieti)
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| The birth of the story |
This story is dedicated to my father and my mother |
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James Joyce |
During an interview with a US biographer, James Joyce declared that he "loved Dante almost like the Bible. He is my spiritual food. The rest is just ballast ". That's right, in no uncertain terms, Joyce used the word "ballast". But we cannot forget the affection, I would say almost the devotion, of two great popes towards Dante Alighieri: Pope Benedict XV and, closer to our days, Pope Francis. Benedict XV, in the letter "In Praeclara Summorum" of 1921, addressed to boys and teachers, wrote as follows: "Love this Poet that We do not hesitate to define the most eloquent singer and herald of Christian thought". And Pope Francis adds: "Dante is a prophet of hope, a herald of the possibility of redemption, of liberation, of the profound change of every man and woman, of all humanity".
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Rivers of books, essays, short stories and biographies have been written all over the world about Dante Alighieri. Even today, seven hundred years after his death, his presence chases us every day. Every day new documents come out, new hypotheses, new details about his person and his works. Just click on Google and you are overwhelmed by a myriad of texts about it.
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Sherlock Holmes on the traces of Dante Alighieri
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Moreover, during the presentation of my detective story Sherlock Holmes on the traces of Dante Alighieri - the mystery of the Robumani, published by Effatà, some of those present had asked me to complete the fiction with "something streamlined and engaging" that would help to deepen the life and thought of our most celebrated poet. |
But was there really a need to write another book about him? Aren't there enough of them already? I asked myself this too and, after doubts and reflections, I told myself that yes, that perhaps there was a small hole left in which to wedge to listen to his voice for a moment.
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J. W. Waterhouse - Dante e Matilda
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Thus was born Dante Alighieri, one of us - Memories of a life between history and legend. A fiction that is not a fiction, a diary that is not a diary, a biography that is not a biography but which, probably, is all these things put together. More simply I would call it a rewind, a rewinding of memories during the last days of his life.
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H. Holiday - Dante meets Beatrice
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