The first meeting of the new edition of racCONTA LA MONTAGNA, the event dedicated to mountain non-fiction and fiction that the UNIMONT – University of Milan centre has been organizing for five years with the aim of narrating mountain territories through the voices of authoritative writers during a discussion with students and mountain enthusiasts, will be held on Wednesday 20th October.
“As of this year racCONTA LA MONTAGNA will be based on a book, on literature, that will enable us to discover a past author who wrote about the mountains. Writers we have already met with their books in recent years will help us in this re-reading or, for younger people, in the ex-novo encounter. It seems to me particularly interesting that it is prof. Franco Brevini, who has been a friend of UNIMONT for a long time and whose literary and mountaineering experience we know well, who will take charge of this new approach and start off the fifth edition of racCONTA LA MONTAGNA” announced Arch. Claudio Gasparotti – coordinator of the racCONTA LA MONTAGNA event – in view of the first appointment held on Wednesday 20th October, at 6.00 pm, with the presentation of the book “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann presented by Prof. Franco Brevini of the University of Bergamo.
“In proposing the idea to him, I had made a list of some books that I thought could be a good starting point for this new approach, but I kept them to myself. Franco’s response was one of applause for the initiative and he immediately suggested the Magic Mountain. Franco’s own book, “Il libro della neve”, tells how snow is at the center of many stories, determining social and economic equilibriums. He continues in this vein by making “the icy regularity, the cold very fine geometry” the protagonist of a learned and extensive review of authors and books. Among these, Brevini, in a short essay, comments on the chapter of the storm which Thomas Mann’s Castorp encounters while skiing. The “Magic Mountain” was also in first place in my list. It will be an excellent start to the fifth edition of racCONTA LA MONTAGNA”, adds Arch. Gasparotti describing the meeting that this year will finally be able to take place on site at the UNIMONT-University of Milan Centre in Via. A. Morino 8, in Edolo (BS) or, as usual, through the virtual classroom. The latter has allowed UNIMONT to overcome geographical limits and expand the network of mountain enthusiasts and interested parties, promoting reading as a tool for cultural growth on issues of territorial significance.
“It seems to me that Claudio Gasparotti’s idea of tackling the theme of mountains in literature, leaving aside the most widespread models that have favored adventure, exploration and sport, helps us to grasp the richness of imagery linked to mountain areas,” – says Prof. Brevini, who during this evening meeting will have the opportunity to converse, exchange stimuli and make suggestions to students and participants, physically present in the classroom and connected in streaming. “The great writers of all times have resorted to this promising metaphor to talk to us about the world and life. Invited to choose the topic to talk about, I proposed Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, because I believe that few other works have been able to include in a place by definition secluded – the mountains – all the ghosts and anxieties of an era, which was heading towards the terrible madness of the First World War. Behind the gleaming facades of Davos, a convulsive Europe stepped forward. Thomas Mann has given us a precious indication, which can help us even today to decipher the deep bonds that, for better or for worse, unite the mountains to all that seems to be very far from its “magic””.
racCONTA LA MONTAGNA includes 7 meetings that will take place monthly from October to May, during which literary works will be presented linked by a single thread: the mountain environment as a place in which to express oneself, one’s thoughts and emotions, re-evaluate limits and meditate.
All meetings are open to the public and free!