It took place on Friday evening May 31stat the bookshop “The fig tree” to Cerignolathe closing event of what has been an intense “May of books”. What characterized it was the presentation of the latest book by the well-known Neapolitan writer Lorenzo Maronealready winner of the Stresa Prize in 2015 with “The temptation to be happy”, in a meeting in which he spoke with Pietro Fragasso, President of the “Pietra di Scarto” Cooperative. The work is titled «Pennablù»published by Marotta&Cafiero, publishing house in Scampia managed entirely by young people from the area. AND an ironic and provocative story whose protagonist is Totò, the parrot of Camorra boss Ciro Paglietta. From the golden cage in which he lives with all the comforts, this cute bird becomes, despite himself, a witness to a decidedly eventful family daily life. Behind the comedy of his events lies the fact that Totò is not a free bird, being incapable of flying.
«The idea for the book was born some time ago, out of a need to have an alternative narrative to the usual one, which unfortunately tends to describe the Camorra and criminal subjects as if they had fascinating and adventurous lives – explains the author to lanotiziaweb.it -. I think this has caused a lot of damage, to the point of emulation. I told myself to try talk about crime differently, making these Camorra members ridiculous, grotesque characters, just as their subculture is ridiculous and grotesque. I did this through the eyes and voice of a bird, a hyacinth macaw, an enormous parrot worth a fortune, which ended up in the Paglietta house as a gift from a nearby family. At first he doesn’t do well…». Irony, therefore, is the key to defuse a certain distorted narrative of the underworld and its characters: «It is a tool used to make these people who have defects and weaknesses ridiculous and even human, in the pure sense of the term. Irony is also a bit my thing. I imagined this story just like this: fast, indeed ironic, but which could be read on multiple levels because it talks about habits and customs of the daily life of a family of Camorra members. So there are also reflections on freedom and imprisonment of each of us, about cages and the difficulty of opening them. There are many metaphors».
And, in conclusion, the imprisonment of the parrot Totò is precisely a metaphor for what grips the existence of criminals: «The Camorra are even worse caged than Totò. Because he, as they say in Naples, at least “lives peacefully”. At most he has to worry about other animals that come into the house, such as the Chihuahua and the boa. Criminals are caged, chained people. Their “careers” last very little, and always end the same way. And even those that last a long time have an unhappy end: how did Messina Denaro live? In his country, in a dilapidated house, leading a mediocre life. That’s the great paradox».
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