MetaÃlice and the multifaceted authors. We enter the literary world of Eugenio Pattacini, met by chance during a book presentation on the web at Andrea Ansevini’s Serata d’Autore.
According to Eugenio, and also in our opinion, nothing happens by “chance”, so the path of the author of this interview crossed ours. And he surprised us.
MetaÃlice – First of all, let’s hear from him who Eugenio Pattacini is. During the meeting you mentioned a journalistic experience, at least in how you described the research for your latest book. What have you done in life and what do you do today?
Eugenio Pattacini – In reality I only had some occasional journalistic experience for the production of some articles. Today I am retired, after working in a bank for 42 years. The passing of the years has taught me to rid my life of everything that takes time away from what matters. Among other things, I am strongly involved in my passion for writing. Hence my twelve published books, my songs, my literary salon”Agora: I’ll tell you a book”, the many collaborations with libraries, literary prizes, author friends. With them, “Amici di Pizza Letteraria” was born which is nothing official, but consists of the union of many friends who, precisely in the name of passion and friendship, join forces to support each other.
MAÃ – What led you to writing books? Do you find differences with journalistic work?
EP – I am a writer and lyricist but, for the things I write, I believe there are very few similar aspects to journalism. I could refer to my latest book “Le Ali di Hariel” which, being a biography, saw me engaged in long interviews with those who had known the protagonist and “Mille Battute” an anthology of stories of various genres with the characteristic of containing the entire narrative in a thousand words, that is, half a page. In the first case therefore the interviews, in the second the summary, so important in journalism. Regarding the writing style, however, I believe it is almost impossible to find connections between my books, my songs and journalism. Totally different approaches.
MAÃ – What genres have you tried your hand at so far?
EP – I am mainly a mystery writer, although I have also tried my hand at interior novels, stories of various genres, up to the biography, the subject of my latest book. On several occasions I have also tried to enclose the emotions of the book in songs that aim to be concise brushstrokes of what is narrated. For the songs I only edited the lyrics while the music and performances were edited by Eros Campanini, Giuliano Lasagni And Gilioli paradise. Writing becomes a sort of addiction, a wonderful addiction. What drove me? My works, despite the lightness of complex and captivating plots, contain many references to profound values. When I wrote my first book, the intention was to leave something of my thoughts to my children. A sort of union with them towards infinity.
MAÃ – In your readings, what are the themes and texts you prefer?
EP – I have Giorgio Faletti as my favorite author, but I really read everything. In particular, however, I am very attached to the authors’ first works, in which great energy is usually found, an energy that is not always found in even the beautiful subsequent works. Precisely for this reason I love to read in depth the works of the authors that I interview on my YouTube channel in the literary salon “Agorà: I’ll tell you about a book” and draw insights from them for further study even beyond the specific text.
MAÃ – In your YouTube channel you interview emerging authors, and also yourself and, therefore, as you say, you compare yourself with other writers. What is Agora for you?
EP – “Agora: I’ll tell you a book” is a wonderful experience of pure passion. Nobody pays and nobody collects, the only filter is the fact that I only present the books that I liked. This is because I would never allow myself to express unpleasant opinions towards those who have put passion and commitment into their project. On the one hand I don’t want to speak badly of them, on the other I don’t want to be insincere. Furthermore, in Agorà I give space to authors or, more generally to artists, but also to those who want to try their hand at being an interviewer or reviewer. It is called Agorà precisely because it wants to be a forum for discussion open to all.
Comparisons and exchanges with other writers are numerous and daily. I recall here the experience of Pizza Letteraria that I have already spoken about, but also Simona Coppolino as a representative of everyone. She is the one who has supported me in all my works and in all my roles. Proofreading, editing, plot comparisons and everything in between. Simona is an excellent pen but she never wanted to publish anything. I don’t agree, but it is her choice and as such it should be respected. For my part, I cannot fail to underline all the importance of her which even led me to hypothesize the pseudonym Simenio Pattalino which is nothing other than the mix of our names and surnames.
MAÃ – Do you self-publish or with publishers and, if you have experience with both, what do you think about self-publishing compared to standard publishing with a publishing house?
EP – This is a beautiful question that requires a lot of clarity to answer. I have published both with publishers, with many of whom I have wonderful friendships, and independently. I have opted for self for some time because, in my specific case, but I underline in my specific case, I don’t see any real added value deriving from the presence of the publisher. Basically, from a study that I set up with a publisher friend, in order to effectively support the diffusion of the work even only at a regional level, it would be necessary to have a budget of no less than 30 thousand euros. Consequently, if we exclude the most important publishers, with whom however the passion must necessarily become a profession, it is not conceivable that this will actually happen. Even the difference determined by the availability of distributors is in my opinion purely theoretical because, without the necessary promotion, given the 200/300 books that are published every day, it is almost impossible not only to be chosen by booksellers, but also just to be noticed. I repeat, other friends of mine have made opposite choices and are happy about it. For this reason I fully respect their choice. I chose self and jokingly (but not too much) use “Friends of Literary Pizza” as an editorial brand.
MAÃ – Let’s come to your latest literary effort: “The Wings of Hariel”. A very particular biography that must be explored in depth to understand its meaning. Who is Hariel and why did you dedicate yourself to his biography?
EP – Hariel is the “lane claun” name of Rossella Grasselli who is the protagonist. Rossella was also a painter, her paintings are characterized by the Wings, this is the reason for the rest of the title, by profound spiritual paths, and once again the Wings, this time of the Angels, was devoted to others despite a precarious physical situation. Page by page I became convinced that her life was aimed at earning her Wings. In the end, however, I discovered that Rossella had always had wings.
MAÃ – You did a great job, deepening your knowledge of a person who continues to live today, despite no longer being physically present. By writing about him you learned who he is and to understand his world, which for many is unattainable. Has this experience changed you? How do you think it will be useful to those who read it?
EP – It really changed me. I learned about a spirituality different from my own which allowed me to understand many things. Furthermore, again because nothing is by chance, Anna Fermi, owner of the Academy of Angels, best-selling writer and producer of the Mediaset Angels program, gave us the preface. An important friendship was born, also a harbinger of another facet of spirituality. I came to this biography when it was presented to Roberta, Rossella’s mother, by a friend, a precious bookseller. I immediately asked myself how a crime writer could have anything to do with this biography then, in a few minutes, I had the feeling that it was Rossella’s life that had chosen me to be written. And so it went. In the hours and hours of interviews that I conducted and transcribed to write the individual chapters, all my interlocutors spoke of a living Rossella, just as if death had not interrupted anything.
You yourself are my witness having witnessed, in the program in which we participated, how my speaker, William Mauti, who entered the project with the book already published, in order to be present at Andrea’s living room, stopped in a car park by connecting from the car. And this too cannot be a coincidence.
Rossella unattainable? I would not say. Anyone who reads the book and has the opportunity to learn about her life will understand that none of the things she did were a “super-hero” action. These are things that everyone can do, perhaps with a different way of implementing them. And the comparison with that difference is the best gift that Rossella can give to the reader.
MAÃ – Where do we find this and your other books and how can we find you?
EP – On Amazon and the main online channels. Some are also distributed in bookstores, but you can’t go wrong with online stores. For the moment there are some more difficulties for the songs, among them “Le Ali di Hariel” all registered in SIAE but to date without distributor. At the moment the CDs must be requested from Giuliano Lasagni and me.
I can be found on Facebook, YouTube and at [email protected]
MAÃ – Are you writing anything else at the moment?
EP – I’m working on two more biographies. Evidently the fact that “The Wings of Hariel” has been in the TOP100 of one of the Amazon charts since its publication has made the work known and these two new projects are the result. I’m also working a lot on the YouTube channel, albeit with all the limitations resulting from a recent fairly invasive surgery which, although being resolved, is still undermining my operational freedom.
Congratulations Eugenio Pattacini for the great work done, which touches deeply, and we hope to see you again with other works to fly higher and higher!
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