Literary Fiction

Qualcosa di scritto

(Something Written)

Ponte alle Grazie, March 2012, pp.231

Award-Winner 2012 European Union Prize for Literature.

Pier Paolo Pasolini is at once a myth, a ghost, an obsession and an unachievable role-model in this ambitious, intimate and profound book that encompasses fiction, autobiography and literary criticism.

The novel’s protagonist, his vicissitudes, his ambitions and his whole life revolves around one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century, Pier Paolo Pasolini. This is a curious situation of “indirect knowledge”: the protagonist works at the Pasolini Foundation together with Laura Betti – a close friend of the great author and an actress in many of his films. His research focuses on Petrolio, the intriguing book Pasolini worked on from 1972 until his death. Surrounded by signs of the dead author, the protagonist perceives Pasolini as a ghostly presence. Petrolio is more than just a book: it becomes an extension of the protagonist’s body that helps him to experiment ways of life formerly inaccessible.

When looking at the great example set by Pasolini, the protagonist’s life looks like a comical and bloodless replica. He is about to turn thirty, his first novel is about to be published, and the two most important women in his life are pushing him to face up to the great author: his colleague Betti accuses him of being a spineless hypocrite while the woman he loves keeps asking him to hit her. Despite feeling guilty, the protagonist is unable to stand up to their requests.

Ponte alle Grazie, March 2012, pp.231

  • “Qualcosa di scritto turns out to be a good and unusual book… Trevi proves to be a first-rate novelist”

    Pietro Citati, Corriere della sera

  • “Qualcosa di scritto strikes disturbing chords: the story, explored with intimacy and passion that are almost scabrous, ensnares the reader viscerally, from within. Trevi’s attitude couldn’t be more different from the display of erudition characterising current literary analysis” 

    Leonetta Bentivoglio, La Repubblica

  • “The best novels contain gems and weakness, visions and leaps. Some characters don’t know what they should do, and they bump into their destiny by chance; it seems that others come from another planet, and they are here to tell us something we do not understand, and they do not understand either. Emanuele Trevi is a master of disorderly narration.”

    Marco Lodoli, La Repubblica

Rights Sold

Albania: Botimet Dudaj; Bulgaria: Prozoretz; Croatia: Vuković & Runjić; World English Rights: World Editions; France: Actes Sud; Holland: De Geus; Georgia: Agora; Hungary: Kalligram; Macedonia: Magor; Romania: Vellant; Russia: Ad Marginem, Serbia: Geopoetika, Slovakia: Kalligram; Slovenia: Beletrina;. Word Spanish Rights: Sexto Piso.

Emanuele Trevi

Emanuele Trevi (Rome, 1964) is the son of Jungian psychoanalyst Mario Trevi and it is to him that the author dedicates his new book, published by Ponte alle Grazie. He is a novelist, literary critic and essayist. He has presented various radio programs and is the author of stage plays. Alongside Arnaldo Colasanti, he has been creative director of the publishing house Fazi and edited the works of Emilio Salgari, John Fante, Goffredo Parise, Giosetta Fioroni, Giorgio Manganelli, Edmondo De Amicis and many others. His fiction debut came in 2003 with I cani del nulla (Einaudi stile libero), but it was with his memoir-novel Qualcosa di scritto (Something Written Down, Ponte alle Grazie, 2012) that he focused on a specific literary form: fiction essay, positioned between biography, fiction and personal memoir. Qualcosa di scritto recreates the days of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s death and was shortlisted for the Strega prize, going on to win the European Literature Prize, a great success with over 40,000 copies sold, translated into 15 languages. Then came Il popolo di legno (Einaudi stile libero, 2015) and Sogni e favole (Ponte alle Grazie, 2019), (winner of the Premio Letterario Viareggio-Repaci). However, it was with Due vite (Neri Pozza, 2020), a fiction-biography and homage to the memory of two writers and friends, Pia Pera and Rocco Carbone, that Trevi won the Strega in 2021. His other books include Viaggi iniziatici. Percorsi, pellegrinaggi, riti e libri (Utet, 2021) and L’onda del porto. Un sogno fatto in Asia (Neri Pozza, 2022). He has been writing for many years for Il Corriere della sera and La Lettura.

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