Antonio Scurati

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Antonio Scurati
Scurati in 2016
Scurati in 2016
Born (1969-06-25) 25 June 1969 (age 54)
Naples, Italy
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • essayist
  • journalist
  • academic
LanguageItalian
Alma materUniversity of Milan
School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences
University of Bergamo
Years active2002–present
Notable worksM: Son of the Century (2018)
Notable awards
Website
antonioscurati.com

Antonio Scurati (born 25 June 1969) is an Italian writer and academic. A professor of comparative literature and creative writing at the IULM University of Milan, mass media scholar, and editorialist for the Corriere della Sera, Scurati has won the main Italian literary prizes. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Strega Prize for his novel M: Son of the Century (2018), which is part of a planned tetralogy dedicated to Benito Mussolini and Italian fascism. It was at the top of the charts for two consecutive years, was translated into over forty countries, and is set for a television series produced by Sky Original in 2024.

Early life and education

Scurati was born in

professore a contratto (contract professor) at Bergamo, where he coordinated a centre for studying the languages of war and violence.[2] At Bergamo, he also taught the theory and elements of television language.[2] In 2005, Scurati became a researcher in Cinema, Photography, and Television. In 2008, he moved to the IULM University of Milan,[4] where he became an associate professor and conductor of a creative writing seminar and a seminar in orality and rhetoric,[2] as well as co-director of the "Arts of the Story" writing master's course, together with film critic Gianni Canova, dedicated to epic and document-based narrative writing.[5]

Career

From early writings to collaboration with the Corriere della Sera

In 2003, Scurati published the essay Guerra. Narrazioni e culture nella tradizione occidentale, which was a finalist for the

historical novel Una storia romantica.[5] In the same year, Scurati produced a documentary film for the Italian company Fandango.[5] The film La stagione dell'amore investigates themes of love in contemporary Italian society, and continues the investigation conducted by director Pier Paolo Pasolini in his film Love Meetings (1965).[6]

In 2009, Scurati published Il bambino che sognava la fine del mondo, a novel that mixes reality and fiction and is fierce criticism of mass media and the information economy as a whole.[5] In 2010, Scurati published Gli anni che non stiamo vivendo. Il tempo della cronaca, a collection of articles on contemporary topics of crime, politics, and current affairs.[5] In the same year, he addressed the same topics in the column "Lettere dal nord" within the television program Parla con me [it].[5] In 2015, he published Il tempo migliore della nostra vita, a biographical novel dedicated to the life of Leone Ginzburg.[5] It was awarded the Viareggio Prize,[5][nb 3] and was a finalist for the Premio Campiello.[5] On 20 September 2019, it was announced that Scurati would begin writing a column for the Corriere della Sera.[5][nb 4] His first article, concerning euthanasia, appeared in the newspaper on 28 September 2019.[5][nb 5]

M tetralogy, TV series adaptation, and commentary

In September 2018, Scurati published the novel

Italian Fasces of Combat was founded, and ending in 1945.[5] The novel concludes with Mussolini's speech to the Chamber of Deputies on 3 January 1925, which officially established Italy as a dictatorship following the political crisis caused by the murder of Giacomo Matteotti.[5] The first edition of the novel contained eight historical errors (in names, dates, and quotations) that were detailed by Ernesto Galli della Loggia [it] in the Corriere della Sera,[7] where he criticized Scurati for having "retouched the history" with his novel.[2] Scurati responded to the controversy in a column also published in the Corriere della Sera. In it, he argued that the current era requires "a cooperation between the rigor of historical accuracy and the art of the novel", and that "telling is an art, not an exact science".[2] The controversy also involved Pierluigi Battista, to which Galli della Loggia wrote again, stating that "creative license does not authorizes betraying the truth of history".[2][nb 6] In an interview to Il manifesto that was printed on 23 April 2019, Scurati stated that "giving a voice to Mussolini serves to free us from him",[2] and added: "Above all it means dealing with the repressed collective conscience, fascism as one of the matrices of national identity and doing so through a new popular and inclusive narrative, according to the vocation of the novel form. I was driven by the belief that, after the historical fall of the anti-fascist prejudice, a novel about Mussolini was possible and, therefore, necessary precisely to renew the reasons for anti-fascism."[2][nb 7]

On the night between 4 and 5 July 2019, M. Il figlio del secolo was awarded the prestigious Strega Prize,[8] and Scurati commented: "I dedicate the victory to our grandfathers and fathers, who were first seduced and then oppressed by fascism, especially those among them who found the courage to fight it with weapons in hand. I would also like to dedicate the award to our children, with the hope that they will not have to go back to experiencing what we experienced a hundred years ago, especially to my daughter Lucia."[2] The novel was a success,[5] selling over 600,000 copies by April 2022,[9][10][11] when it was being translated for publication in 46 countries and in production for a television series adaptation,[12][13][14] which is produced by Sky Original and directed by Joe Wright, with Luca Marinelli as Mussolini, and scheduled for 2024.[15] The English translation by Anne Milano Appel was published by Harper on 5 April 2022.[16]

In September 2020, M. L'uomo della provvidenza, the second volume of the quartet was published.

Italy's entry into World War II.[5][nb 10] The series was initially planned as a trilogy;[20] by 2022, it was projected as a tetralogy.[21] In October 2022, Scurati commented: "At this point it is clear that I will need a fourth and perhaps a fifth to complete the parable."[22] In October 2023, about the TV series adaptation, Scurati commented: "It will have black comedy tones. But Mussolini is not a hero."[23] About the making of the script, he said: "The book was successful, many politicians keep it on their bedside table. But in the writing of the screenplay there were moments of disagreement, even conflict."[23]

After the results of the

Le Dauphiné Libéré, he had observed that "what is happening today in Italy is not a repetition of the past. But the resounding victory, in Italy, of a party that has its cultural and ideological roots in fascism is a fact. Italy is threatened by those parties that are the heirs of Mussolini not so much as fascisms, but as inventors of populism."[24] For the 25 April celebrations (Liberation Day) of the Italian resistance movement to Nazi–fascism in 2024, Scurati was scheduled to deliver a monologue for the Italian public television RAI, warning that "the specter of fascism haunts the house of Italian democracy".[25][nb 11] He was subsequently removed from the Rai 3 programme Chesarà... hosted by Serena Bertone,[26][27] who criticized the government's choice and said no explanation was given;[28][29][nb 12] this prompted criticism from parts of the Italian press, which published his monologue, and outcry from the opposition,[33] as well as censorship accuses,[30][34] which were denied by the Meloni government and RAI.[35][36][nb 13] In a letter published by La Repubblica, Scurati responded to Meloni, who had published his monologue,[38] describing it as violence and rhetorically asking: "Is this the price you want to make those who express your thoughts pay?"[39][nb 14]

Works

Novels

Essays

Documentary

Personal life

Scurati grew up in

Napoli SSC footballer Diego Maradona, who died in 2020, he said: "Plus ultra on the pitch. Diego brought great joy, a man who became a myth like Hercules or Achilles. Superhuman and subhuman. However, a city that feeds on myths is destined for the worst. After all, the mythological message leaves man enchanted to destroy him. It makes me angry to see Naples like this, with all its contradictions. But it is love's anger."[40]

Notes

  1. ^ See "Premio Campiello, opere premiate nelle precedenti edizioni". Premio Campiello (in Italian). 2011. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. ^ See "Albo d'oro". Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa (in Italian). 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2024. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. ^ "Vincitori edizione 2015". Premio Letterario Viareggio Rèpaci (in Italian). 2015. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  4. ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  5. ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  6. ^ For the full timeline and discussion of the controversy, see:
  7. ISSN 0025-2158
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  8. ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  9. ^ See "M, l'homme de la providence". Prix du Livre Européen (in French). 26 August 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  10. ^ See "M. Gli ultimi giorni dell'Europa" (in Italian). Bompiani. 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  11. post-fascism in Italy, stating: "These two concomitant mournful anniversaries – spring of 1924, spring of 1944 – proclaim that fascism has been throughout its entire historical existence—not only at the end or occasionally—an irredeemable phenomenon of systematic political violence, murder, and massacre. Will the heirs of that story recognize him once and for all? Unfortunately, everything suggests that this will not be the case. The post-fascist ruling group, having won the elections in October 2022, had two paths before it: repudiate its neo-fascist past or try to rewrite history. They have undoubtedly taken the second path."[25] Scurati then discussed the incumbent Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni's role in neo-fascist political culture and her lack of anti-fascist commitments, such as never stating to be anti-fascist, commenting: "After having avoided the topic during the electoral campaign, the Prime Minister, when forced to address it by historical anniversaries, obstinately stuck to the ideological line of her neo-fascist culture of origin: she distanced herself from the indefensible brutalities perpetrated by the regime (the persecution of the Jews) without ever repudiating the fascist experience as a whole, she blamed the massacres carried out with the complicity of the Republican fascists on the Nazis alone, and finally she ignored the fundamental role of the Resistance in the Italian rebirth (to the point of never mentioning the word 'anti-fascism' on the occasion of 25 April 2023)."[25] Scurati's monologue concluded with a warning about the state of Italian democracy, arguing: "As I speak to you, we are once again on the eve of the anniversary of the Liberation from Nazi–fascism. The word that the Prime Minister refused to pronounce will still throb on the grateful lips of all sincere democrats, be they left, centre, or right. Until that word – anti-fascism – is pronounced by those who govern us, the specter of fascism will continue to haunt the house of Italian democracy."[25]
  12. ^ Giorgia Meloni commented: "RAI responds that it simply refused to pay €1,800 (the monthly salary of many employees) for a minute of monologue."[30] The parliamentary supervisory commission described it as "a very serious case of violation of editorial autonomy".[30] Serena Bertone read the text Scurati's monologue at the beginning of the broadcast,[31] explaining that Scurati had given his support for her to read it.[32]
  13. ^ This was not the first time that the Meloni government had engaged in censorship, or had been accused in doing so as part of a right-wing cancel culture, such as with Peppa Pig. For instance, Roberto Saviano commented: "What did you expect? They're controlling everything."[29] For the first time, Mediaset surpassed the public broadcaster RAI, and public television in Italy under Meloni was described by critics and part of the Italian press as "TeleRegime" and "TeleMeloni".[37] The intervention of the government in the mass media in Italy was also observed and reported by the international press, including among others Le Figaro, The Guardian, Libération, Le Monde, El País, and The Times. See:
  14. ISSN 2499-0817
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  15. ISSN 2499-0485
    – via PressReader.
  16. ^ Scurati said: "My dad passed on his Juventus support to me. And as kids we do little crazy things. Like when in Campo San Lorenzo we set up a tent with my friends to watch the 1983 Champions Cup final with Hamburg on TV together. It was raining and we risked being electrocuted by the electrical wires hanging from the building, while Magath marked our disappointment. That support then vanished when Juve let Zidane leave. I have always been fascinated, like Platini before, by these talented players who make their gestures epic."[43]

References

  1. ^ "Scurati, Antonio". Lessico del XXI Secolo (in Italian). 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  2. ^
    ISSN 2499-3980
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  3. ^
    ISSN 2704-8039
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Scurati, Antonio". Treccani (in Italian). 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2024. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Lo scrittore e giornalista Antonio Scurati si rilassa a Ravello, suo luogo del cuore". Positano News (in Italian). 15 August 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  6. ISSN 2499-0817
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  7. ^ Lanza, Cesare (18 October 2018). "M di Scurati, Galli Della Loggia conta 8 errori, Cesare Lanza: 'Piace a destra...'". Blitz Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  8. ISSN 2499-0817
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  9. ISSN 0042-2738
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  10. ISSN 0018-3660
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  11. ^ Endre, Dora (11 April 2022). "M. Son of The Century: What to Expect from the Mussolini-Based Drama". MovieWeb. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  12. ISSN 0042-2738
    . Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  13. ^ "M. Il figlio del secolo, Luca Marinelli sarà Benito Mussolini". Sky TG24 (in Italian). 18 October 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  14. ISSN 1078-3148
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  15. ISSN 2499-3093
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  16. ^ "M: Son of the Century". HarperCollins. 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  17. ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  18. ISSN 2262-4694
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  19. ISSN 2650-5363
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  20. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived
    from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  21. ISSN 2641-9599. Archived
    from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  22. ISSN 2499-3891
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  23. ^ a b Santacatterina, Manuela (3 October 2023). "M. Il figlio del secolo, dal romanzo alla serie secondo Scurati". The Hollywood Reporter Roma (in Italian). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  24. ^ "Giorgia Meloni, il giudizio di Antonio Scurati: 'L'erede di Mussolini'". Business.it (in Italian). 29 September 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  25. ^
    ISSN 2499-4944
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  26. ISSN 2499-0817
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  27. ISSN 2499-3980
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  28. ISSN 2499-4693
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  29. ^
    ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  30. ^
    ISSN 1122-1763
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  31. ^ "Stop della Rai al monologo sul 25 aprile, scontro tra Scurati e Meloni" (in Italian). ANSA. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  32. ^ "Serena Bortone legge il monologo di Antonio Scurati sul 25 Aprile". Repubblica TV (in Italian). 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  33. ^ "La Rai taglia il monologo di Scurati sul 25 aprile. Opposizioni all'attacco: 'Da TeleMeloni a TeleRegime'. Bortone legge il testo in prima serata". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  34. ISSN 0046-0524
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  35. ISSN 2499-4944
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  36. ISSN 2499-4642
    . Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  37. ^ Raimo, Alfonso (20 April 2024). "Peggio di Peppa Pig. La censura più citrulla della storia". HuffPost Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  38. ^ "Meloni pubblica il monologo di Scurati 'cancellato' dalla Rai. 'La sinistra monta un caso'. La replica dello scrittore: 'Questa è violenza'". Quotidiano Nazionale (in Italian). 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  39. ^ "Antonio Scurati risponde a Meloni: 'Questa è violenza. È questo il prezzo che vuol far pagare a chi esprime il suo pensiero?'". HuffPost Italia (in Italian). 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  40. ^ a b "Scurati: 'Mi fa rabbia vedere Napoli così, con tutte le sue contraddizioni. Ma è rabbia d'amore'". Il Napolista (in Italian). 19 December 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  41. ISSN 2499-0817
    . Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  42. ^ Cozzi, Martino (19 December 2021). "Scurati: 'Il mio tifo per la Juve svanì quando Zidane andò via'". Tutto Juve (in Italian). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  43. ^ "Scurati, scrittore napoletano che tifa(va) Juve: 'Quando vendettero Zidane...'". Il Bianconero (in Italian). 19 December 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2024.

External links

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