“Un passione disincanto” by Antonio Bonagura is the adventurous story of Osvaldo Bonetti, a secret agent of the Italian Intelligence.
The novel begins in the 1980s, when the protagonist is just a boy, and then continues over the decades, narrating the crucial phases of his profession, from his recruitment by the Ministry of the Interior to his first job behind a desk, where he understands he wants to be active in the field, up to his numerous trips between Rome and Naples to take on various roles as an operational agent, dealing above all with national and international terrorism.
The author recounts with amused participation the excitement felt by the young Osvaldo when he learns the art of camouflage in the secret agent training course, and when he begins to have a double life and feels a bit like James Bond; all emotions that will fade over time, because he will begin to feel constrained by the duty of lying and reciting a script so as not to reveal his cover.
Osvaldo is the example of a government official who is all of a piece, proud to serve his State, honest in a world that is unfortunately not very clean, and totally devoted to his work, so much so that he even gets sick because of the injustices he encounters on his path. In fact, the novel does not only tell a gripping story of espionage but also focuses on the dark side of a system that does not protect those who risk their own safety for the good of others, and in which secret agreements and corruption stain the dignity of a profession that should not be mixed up with political affairs. With a flowing language and a fast pace, and with great attention to the realism of the descriptions relating to the procedures implemented by the secret services, from the logistics of shadowing to the organization of the phases of undercover operations, Antonio Bonagura leads us into a story that tells of the protagonist's great passion for his work, but also of his bitter disenchantment - "Osvaldo felt a bitter taste in his mouth because, in spite of himself, he had felt part of a system contaminated by violations of the rules, an apparatus of institutions that had not respected the agreements made; he felt, even without having betrayed anyone, a traitor".
SYNOPSIS OF THE WORK
In the artificial darkness of anonymity, at the center of a stage without an audience, the young Benevento native Osvaldo believes he has found his true calling: to hide himself and serve the Italian Republic from behind the institutional scenes. Moving through the sets of Rome and Naples, a multi-act story unfolds, which from his Roman apprenticeship follows the protagonist to the Neapolitan field of investigation, in university and radical political environments, to continue in a constant change of tasks, offices and experiences, always supported by the unshakeable morality of an objective that becomes a shared ideal. But it is precisely in the gap between the ideal and the social contingencies of a pyramidal organism, that Osvaldo, after an invisible life of self-denial, feels the drive to continue fading, the mask falls and the curtain closes. The character without an audience, in the mature age of awareness, rediscovers himself in family affections and in the rediscovery of a true theatre, of the true art of acting, making it a profession and an inexhaustible source of truth.
AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Antonio Bonagura (Nola, 1962) graduated in Sociology at the Federico II University of Naples, where he also obtained a Master in Communication and Public Relations. He worked for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in the Support Service for the creation and management of the Observatory for innovation in the public sector. For some years he has also cultivated his old passion for theater, deepening his specific knowledge and his acting technique. Publishes for Graus Editions his debut novel “A Passionate Disenchantment”.
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