2019 Programme
Event #36
Matteo Nucci
Achilles, Odysseus and the truth of the future
According to the ancients, Achilles and Odysseus were two opposite figures. The former was straightforward, spontaneous, direct. The latter was deceptive, prudent, and with tortuous thoughts. Two forms of intelligence, therefore, mainly linked to a different way of living. Achilles is constantly thrown into the present. Odysseus, on the other hand, never stops planning for the future. And yet great souls are full of contradictions. In his eagerness to look beyond, Odysseus' future often appears as a chimera. While Achilles seems to tell us that only by living the present is it possible to build a future. But what to do when the future is broken by an untimely end? At the moment when Achilles, in Hades, will meet Odysseus still alive, we will discover a great truth. A truth which, however, Odysseus did not have the courage to grasp.
Matteo Nucci was born in Rome in 1970. With Ponte alle Grazie Publishers he published the novels Sono comuni le cose degli amici (2009, shortlisted at Strega Award), Il toro non sbaglia mai (2011), È giusto obbedire alla notte (2017, shortlisted at Strega Award) and the narrative-essay L’abisso di Eros (2018). He curated the new edition of Plato’s Symposium (Einaudi, 2009) and the narrative-essays Le lacrime degli eroi (Einaudi, 2013), Achille e Odisseo. La ferocia e l’inganno (Einaudi, 2020), Il grido di Pan (Einaudi, 2023). With HarperCollins he published the novel Sono difficili le cose belle (2022). His short stories were published in magazines, anthologies and eBooks. He collaborates with Venerdì di Repubblica, Specchio by La Stampa and l’Espresso.
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