Two brothers who have been rivals since childhood, an event to be forgiven and in the background the Romagna of the post-war years, the 1950s relived by the memories of the two protagonists. Many stories in a single story, this is the plot of Giancarlo Domenichini’s new book “Remember to forgive me”, published by Cartacanta of Forlì, entered in the 62nd edition of the prestigious Campiello literary prize.
A surprise for the writer himself, former principal of Versari Macrelli first and then of the Monti high school, who thanks to his retirement was able to dedicate himself to his passion: writing. His debut novel “The Adverse Circumstances” dates back to 2022, but Domenichini confesses that he has always written: «When I was headmaster I let off steam with circulars – he says smiling – Now when I’m not being a grandfather I can dedicate myself better to this passion of mine. I really enjoy writing, it’s not tiring for me. It’s tiring to find the time to do it and I hope that the pleasure I get in writing is the same in reading me. I certainly didn’t expect to find myself enrolled at Campiello. I received an email from the prize organization saying that my book had been entered. So I immediately called my publisher in Forlì who confirmed that he wanted to try by sending my book because he deserves it.”
And it really deserves it, as Domenchini, with fluid writing rich in visual and emotional sensations, immerses the reader in the characteristic atmosphere of Romagna in the 1950s, populated by the typical characters found in our parents’ stories, all connected to each other from the main story.
It is the story of two brothers who have been rivals since childhood, jealous of each other, especially the eldest who considers the second son, Beniamino, the parents’ favourite. The book is set in the years from 2003 to 2016, but unfolds between the memories of these two brothers, which hark back to the 1950s, in an unspecified neighborhood of Cesena, and the father who would like to forgive them and return his son home younger, who ran away years earlier because he felt guilty of a painful episode.
All these memories, as in a modern Boccaccio Decameron, give life to a series of episodes which see the inhabitants of the neighborhood as non-secondary characters. «It is partly an autobiographical novel, but a lot of it is inspired by imagination because when you start writing you are carried away by the story and by some characters that you like best – says Domenichini – My initial idea was to write short stories linked by the story of the two brothers, but the events led me to create almost a hybrid, halfway between a collection of short stories and a novel. I would say a fairly innovative experiment.”
Among the characters, funny, tragicomic or desperate, there are some that the author loved the most, as he himself confesses, such as «old Jacmin, in Romagna Giacomino, an old man over 70 years old who is afraid of dying and is funny because he would like to die in one fell swoop, so as not to suffer, but he lives constantly waiting for this event which terrifies him, in a then conflictual but deeply loving relationship with his wife. An old anticlerical republican from Romagna and I must admit that in this character, quite the opposite of me, there are instead some traits of my character and my fears.” The book, released in March and already reprinted, will be presented on Sunday (21 April) at 5pm in the main hall of the Malatestiana in its national premiere. Gianfranco Lauretano will be in conversation with the author, introduced by Leonardo Belli and with readings by Denis Presepi.
Tags: Book entered Campiello Prize principal schools Cesena
