Journey to Casarsa, in the footsteps of Pasolini

The corsair poet And just the Pasolini corsaro, the one who hurled himself from the newspapers on the drift of his own time, was spoken at the end of the conference organized on 4 and 5 November by the Study Center, curated by Maura Locantore, at the end of the year of celebrations, Pasolini 100 . Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. The legacy and lesson of the pirate writer.

A moment of opportune study, given that few authors like Pasolini have been drawn from all sides, from right and left, and today they are part of the collective imagination without, however, that – in many cases – his works and writings are really known. Pasolini sometimes risks becoming a pop icon, as Jorit’s mural in Scampia also demonstrates, and was swallowed up by that mass society that he had fiercely opposed and that he saw spreading. The bourgeoisie advancing in the seventies was for Pasolini ever more able to understand the working classes within themselves, tending to the identification of the bourgeoisie with humanity. In this regard, during the round table, Andrea Di Consoli launched a provocation which was then picked up by the other interlocutors, from Renzo Paris to Massimo Raffaelli, from Paolo Desogus to Rino Caputo. For Di Consoli Pasolini’s thought is prepolitical and not at all prophetic, while the poet and writer Pasolini remains valid. Opinions differ on this point, but for all the participants, however, there remains the need to give a global reading of such a complex author and of his living work, as defined by Walter Siti in the introduction to Meridiani Mondadori. And above all to make it known to the new generations, in which he still arouses interest.

The relationship with Naples Not only the intellectual Pasolini, therefore, in the Casarsa conference, where there was space for various themes and also for Naples and the South, starting from the provenance of the speakers. The southern presence is nourished: Massimo Fusillo has drawn a complete picture of the relationships and filiations of Pasolini’s work in contemporary art. Carlo Vecce illustrated the adventure of Pasolini’s Decameron, recently reconstructed in his fine essay entitled precisely Pasolini’s Decameron. Story of a dream, published by Carocci. The Italianist of the Oriental spoke not only of the film but of the intense relationship that Pasolini had with the city and also with some of his intellectuals. A beautiful page, for example, the one that Rea dedicated to Pasolini when he was killed. An editorial in a small newspaper, explained Vecce, entitled “Il napoletano” that Rea directed together with Mimmo Carratelli. He began like this: “We have lost a person who loved Naples”. Moreover, the two authors both tried to look at reality from below, at the bottom of the well. They had the necessary courage. Perhaps the relationship with La Capria is less direct: He was part of another city, but he revered Pasolini and in fact the criticism of the ruling classes in “Le mani sulla città” in perfect harmony with Pasolini’s themes. The students in the audience applaud and if so Pasolini has not lost the word.