review published in:
Future (July 23, 2009)
Micheli, traveler caught in the West Indies
As if to mark a continuity of themes and inspiration, the first character to Micheli Giancarlo enters the scene of the new novel is the West Indies Giacomo Puccini, and that is the figure around which the events of the previous provincial Elegy (published in 2007 by Mauro Baroni). Just landed in New York for the premiere of American Girl of the Golden West, the great composer encounters Aurelio and Erminia, a young married couple who came from Tuscany to seek his fortune in the New World. A fleeting encounter, But that seems to set the tone for the entire narrative, in which we find the magnificent style, sought to concettosità of Viareggio Micheli, born in 1967, poet and playwright, as well as narrator of strong ethical caliber. The deep moral sentiment recognizable in every page is the reason why, in the preface to the West Indies, the dean Manlio Cancogni can push to establish a parallel between the struggle for life, the struggle for survival on the end of the nineteenth century by European immigrants United States and the current global financial crisis - again - has had its epicenter in the U.S.. Although it prefers the story of the period, supported by a detailed reconstruction of historical situations and language use, Micheli never loses sight of the humanity and, therefore, the timeliness of its protagonists. Owners of a small bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, who were forced to move to Chicago and New Jersey after the restaurant was burned down by the racket, Aurelio and Erminia strive to remain faithful to each other while taking different routes: the woman scientist is converted to the Church, from whose sentimental humanitarianism feels comforted when the man discovers the cause of egalitarian socialism. These are the years of the first, dramatic trade union, on whose background the novel proceeds sent by reserving a space increasing alla figlia della coppia, la piccola Eugenia, alla quale spetterà di annodare gli ultimi nodi della trama. Un epilogo inatteso e struggente, nel quale la metafora del teatro, già evocata nell’ouverture pucciniana, si rivelerà in tutta la sua urgenza di struttura e significato. Indie occidentali è un romanzo colto e a tratti risentito (il titolo, per esempio, riprende la definizione rinascimentale del continente americano), che il lettore è invitato a percorrere con pazienza, per scoprire non soltanto i segreti nascosti nelle esistenze di Aurelio ed Erminia, ma anche certi rapidi bozzetti d’ambiente. Come quello, davvero suggestivo, del pittore senza talento che riempie di forme sghembe e colori sgargianti i cartoni recuperati the streets of America.
Alessandro Zaccuri
West Indies Giancarlo Micheli
(Campanotto publisher, Pasian di Prato UD, September 2008, ppg. 224)
http://www.ibs.it/code/9788845610042/micheli-giancarlo/indie-occidentali.html
http://www. bol.it/libri/Indie-occidentali/Giancarlo-Micheli/ea978884561004 /
http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/indie-occidentali-micheli-giancarlo-campanotto/libro/9788845610042
http://www.webster.it/libri-indie_occidentali_micheli_giancarlo_campanotto-9788845610042.htm
http://www.amazon.it/Indie-occidentali-Narrativa-Giancarlo-Micheli/dp/8845610047/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291729036&sr=1-2
radio interview with Giancarlo Micheli
transmission from RMS Authors
by Demetrio Brandi
Radio Massarosa Sound (February 2010)
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