Francesco Pecoraro e Andrea Cortellessa | The World is (also) Us

Sconfinare Festival 2024

BEYOND THE WALL | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12 | 11:30 AM

Starting from Francesco Pecoraro's literary works – from Dove credi di andare to Solo vera è l'estate – we will try to challenge the dualism that, both from an ecological perspective and from those who seem indifferent to environmental issues, separates the human sphere (identified with artifice) from the extra-human sphere (identified with nature). A dichotomy that, in fact, errs on the side of oversimplification when one considers that the human species is part of the genetic heritage of the planet, which, along with other species, hosts it. The mass of human artifacts that continues to expand on the Earth's surface is not different in quality (but only in quantity) from that of beehives or beaver dams. Human products rather take the form of biological constructs, expressions of a will to assert themselves and, at the same time, responses to a "natural" defensive necessity – which ends up representing the main threat that, as a species, hangs over our heads.

Francesco Pecoraro is one of the most significant voices in contemporary Italian literature. An urban architect with the city of Rome, he has been writing essays on art and architecture for twenty years. In 2007, he published the short stories Dove credi di andare (Mondadori, Premio Napoli and Premio Berto) and in 2012 the poetry collection Primordio vertebrale (Ponte Sisto). In 2013, he published his first novel La vita in tempo di pace with Ponte alle Grazie, which was a finalist for the 2014 Premio Strega, followed by Lo stradone (2019), Camere e stanze (2021), and Solo vera è l'estate (2023, Premio Mondello), all with the same publisher.

Andrea Cortellessa teaches contemporary Italian literature at Roma Tre University. He has curated exhibitions and texts (including works by de Chirico, Manganelli, Pagliarani, Raboni, Rosselli, Zanzotto, Di Ruscio, Paolini, Parmiggiani, and Serafini), produced radio and television programs, as well as theatrical and musical performances. Among his latest publications are Filologia fantastica. Ipotizzare, Manganelli (Argolibri 2022), and Amelia Rosselli. Con l’ascia dietro le nostre spalle (Electa 2024). He is one of the founders of the journal Antinomie. Scritture e immagini; he collaborates with Il Manifesto, Corriere della Sera, Sole 24 ore, Giornale dell’Arte, and other publications.