The success of the debutant: Anna Mallamo with her novel “Col dark me la vedo io” (Einaudi) presented at the “Rocco Polimeni” tennis club brought the curtain down on the beautiful season of the “Letterary Cafés” of the Rhegium Julii cultural club.
It is the story of sixteen-year-old Lucia Carbone, a high school student, who kidnaps a classmate and imprisons him in the basement of her grandmother’s house, who died a few months ago. Ninety presentations from last April 8th to today accompanied by highly positive criticism.
Six prizes, including the most important “SuperMondello” with a special dedication “to all women who have no voice”. And again, the “Strict” writer and journalist finds herself a finalist in New York, at the Superbook in mid-September. A literary and Calabrian success that vindicates the identity strength of the dialect in the “respectability” of today’s language and society. «Probably many readers will have recognized themselves in family dynamics, gender dynamics and generational relationships. In the difficulty of expressing something different from what we have been taught for a long time. All topics on which we continue to question ourselves”, claims Anna Mallamo who receives a nice recognition from Pino Bova, president of the Rhegium Julii: “Isabel Allende said: I would like to write a story that no one has ever written. Well, Anna Mallamo gives us an unusual story that makes us reflect.”
And this is the function of novels «which are not written with answers but with questions. One of the things that pushed me to put pen to paper was the analysis of a very powerful but powerless feminine in the social sphere. I wondered why women of ancient Calabrian generations stopped their power and drive within their own family. I lived in a matriarchal family and I’m proud of it.”
«It is a debut novel that reveals a mature narrative attitude», underlines Teresa Scordino while other ideas take shape on the contributions of Rosellina Falduto and Nunzia Corigliano. The ability to make the reader the protagonist; the resonance that every single word takes on, bringing into it the life of things and the dualism that forms the background: male and female, body and mind; the “sweet” Messina and the “savoury” Reggio.
And again – a neighborhood girl with innate idealism – Anna Mallamo gives soul and personality to places, to the Strait in particular, which shapes our gaze. «And then – as the title says – the darkness must be known and must be crossed to reach the light». But it’s not over yet. «The text exudes classical culture», recognizes the Albanese high school teacher Tommaso Campanella whose Third A students made a video on Anna Mallamo’s book. And it is the opportunity for the journalist and writer to remember her “teacher” of Latin and Greek, prof. Castelli, and to deliver this truth: «If you are a happy reader, few things can hurt you».