(by Micol Graziano) MARCO MALVALDI, TWELVE. A NUMBER THAT MAKES AGREEMENT (IL MULINO, PP. 184, EURO 14) Marco Malvaldi’s new book is Twelve. A number that brings together, released by Il Mulino, in the Storie di numeri series. Malvaldi, guest tonight at Passaggi Festival in Fano, also spoke in an interview with ANSA about the Vecchietti del BarLume and his passion for football.
Malvaldi, why did you write a book on twelve? “I like it because it’s the number of the reserve goalkeeper, which is the role I feel like wearing. It’s a very versatile number. It’s useful for a lot of things. Numbers are useful. While mathematics rules.” He plays soccer? “I don’t play football. It was made clear to me quite quickly that I had two left feet and they weren’t Maradona’s (laughs, ed.). There are many things I don’t know how to do and at the top of the list is playing football. I’ve always liked football, but when I tried to play football, as a child, my natural role soon became that of reserve goalkeeper, that is: stay there, watch the game and don’t do any damage (laughs, ed.)” . Is he a fan? “Yes, I’m a fan. I’m for Torino. It’s a rare disease (laughs, ed.)”. What does it mean that twelve agrees? “It means that it is versatile. It starts from the way of counting that the ancient Babylonians had. They counted money, grain. We are used to thinking that it is obvious to count in base ten, because we have ten fingers. But if one has only one hand, why another is busy holding a chicken or any other commodity, what can she do? Either she counts to five or she counts on the phalanges, with the thumb. The Babylonians counted in base twelve, for commercial transactions, that’s why that today many things are sold by the dozen. Twelve is more versatile than ten which can only be divided by five and two. Twelve can be divided by six, by four, by three and by two.” What sources did you consult when writing it? “Several. For example: Temperament by Stuart Isacoff and The Football Tribe by Desmond Morris.” Is Twelve a book for everyone? “Yes, but don’t expect to understand it. Sometimes you can even read a book without fully understanding it, but still be curious about it.
At university I read a wonderful book by Gerald Edelman, Neural Darwinism, I think I only understood the introduction. I then read another five or six chapters, understanding very little, but the little I understood aroused immense curiosity in me that still accompanies me today. I would define this essay of mine, Twelve, as a mystery.” Do you have more fun with detective stories or essays? “I have more fun writing essays. The essay gives me the opportunity to take a topic that I don’t know well, to study it a lot, and to explain it, and I discover many things.” What did he discover this time? “For example, how many times does the twelfth come around when the human being has to put himself to fight the evil one.
We start with the twelve apostles. I also discovered that, according to an English anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, we all have ‘a circle of sympathy’, which is made up of twelve people whose news of sudden death would leave us shocked. “What happened to the Old Men of BarLume?” I don’t know, because I wouldn’t want to make the mistake of writing one famous book too many.
The Vecchietti said, more or less, what they had to say.
For the moment they are retired, they are almost ninety years old”.
Are you thinking, instead, of a story starring the Vecchietti’s grandchildren or children? “No, these American things aren’t…(laughs, ed.)”. What would the Old Men say about this new book of yours? “They would say that I want to do too many and that it would be time to get things together. They absolutely wouldn’t read it! (he jokes, ed.)”.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
