“Dante and the Turtle” by Vincenzo Spinelli is a surreal, provocative and sarcastic novel, at times delirious, in which the story of a ruthless redemption is told in explicit language.
It is a controversial story in which sometimes you have to suspend judgment, because the protagonist, Dante, is certainly not a pure soul, quite the opposite: nihilistic, cynical and manipulative, you either love him or hate him, there can be no half measures. Dante is an aspiring writer, and is frustrated by a publishing world that probably does not understand his genius; together with his girlfriend Elena he tries to survive in the suburbs of Bologna, between late rent payments, various addictions and bizarre dialogues held with long-dead writers and philosophers, sources of inspiration for witty quotes. Alternating first and third person, the author leads us into a tragicomic story in which a couple of lovers immerse themselves totally in the two impulses that dominate the human being: Eros and Thanatos; a sinking into the most blatant eroticism, a neurotic egotism and, ultimately, the blackest guilt. Dante and Elena decide to commit murder to free themselves from a life of worries: by killing the elderly Mrs. Scalpini and modifying her will they will finally be able to have a peaceful existence, move to Paris and perhaps take over the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. Vincenzo Spinelli stages a theater of the absurd in which the real protagonists are Dante's literary heroes: writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Mark Twain, Luigi Pirandello, Edgar Allan Poe and Franz Kafka, but also historical figures such as the philosopher Socrates and the leader Spartacus, welcome his reflections and become the motivators of his actions; in the brilliant and amusing conversations with these ghosts we look into the abyss of Dante's soul and understand the profound reason for his crazy and reckless actions. The author presents a story that can arouse feelings of aversion if one stops at the surface but that then, digging deeper, leads to reflect on the complicated modern world, in which precariousness and dissatisfaction generate monsters that in the end are more frightened than frightening, but no less dangerous for that.
SYNOPSIS OF THE WORK
“Dante and the Turtle” is the contemporary (and crazy) story of two lovers who live in the suburbs of Bologna. Tired of living on the fringes of society and exhausted of perpetually teetering on the edge of poverty, they decide to commit murder to appropriate the assets of the rich and hateful Mrs. Scalpini, so they can then take over the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris. The protagonist, Dante Chitano, has dreamed of becoming a writer for years and Elena Bugetti would just like to live peacefully with him. Will they succeed, at the end of this surreal and daring adventure, in fulfilling their dreams?
AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Vincent Spinelli (Como, 1985) is a courier by day and a writer by night. A lover of surrealist, satirical, absurd and forbidden literature, in 2016 his story “In bilico vacillo su un capello mio perde sul cuscini” was mentioned at the Turin International Book Fair. From that moment on he began to write. He published his debut novel “Dante e la tartaruga” for the publishing house Il Seme Bianco. Some of his stories can be found on the website Raccontinellarete.it.
Publishing House: Il Seme Bianco
Necklace: Magnolia
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 127
Price: 12,90 €
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