‘Of arrow and of frost’ is the title of the latest novel by Piero Lotito, professional journalist and author of plays, which will be presented on Wednesday 15 May at 6pm in the Sala Rosa of the Palazzetto dell’Arte ‘Andrea Pazienza’. The event, included in the ‘Fuori gli Autori’ literary review organized by the “la Magna Capitana” library of Foggia and the Ubik bookshop, is part of the off initiatives of the ‘Science Festival’ of Foggia, the scientific dissemination event created by Angelo Bricocoli, Marco D’Alessandro and Antonio Milazzi. Entrance is free while places last.
‘Of arrow and frost’ (Mondadori, 2024). The novel already asks the reader a question on the cover: “What if a man who died five thousand years ago could tell us his story?”. The author takes inspiration from the discovery of the Similaun man, known as Ötzi, dating back to the Copper Age, perfectly preserved, found accidentally by two mountaineers on 19 September 1991 in the South Tyrolean Alps, near the Italian-Austrian border, on the glacier of Val Senales, complete with clothing and equipment. To the historical-scientific rigor, the author adds a narrative structure in which he imagines the most human aspect of the history of prehistoric man: the feelings, the emotions felt, the desires, the regrets.
In the novel Ötzi will reveal his story to readers, from the years of his youth with his father Urd and mother Mael to his training as a hunter; from the challenges of nature to the pitfalls of men. The plot also includes the unexpected return of Ief, a childhood friend and the love for Alesh, a woman he cannot have, up to the tragic epilogue of a hunting trip and the escape from the village. A story that, moving between historical adherence and pure literary inventiveness, gives the reader a reflection on the timeless elements of every human existence.
