Omicron and Omega, different twins challenge fate
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the book of the week
NoonFebruary 11, 2023 – 5:53 pm
In Vito Ribaudo’s novel the stories of two brothers intertwine with that of Italy
Of Mirella Armiero
un sense of profound bitterness, a widespread disenchantment run through the new novel by Vito Ribaudo, «Omega and Omicron»published by Morellini, in which the individual destinies of the characters intersect with the recent history of Italy. Two turning points in our country act as a preface to the whole story: the day of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro and that of the murder of Giovanni Falconedates linked to the youth of Mauro and Manuela, parents of the twins to whom the title alludes.
History
Omega and Omicron are the nicknames of Osvaldo and Orlando, very different both in nature and temperament and in ethical tension. Ribaudo comes to focus on the story of the twins, the most intricate part of which takes place in the years close to the pandemic, starting from that of the parents. A certain fatigue of living weighs on the couple. As in the case of Mauro: “In his life there had always been that foam of dirt, damp, dust, that snail slime that he is now unable to erase from the large window with his finger”. Manuela too has her difficulties, her daily life dissipates in minimal acts often meaningless, except for a few gestures of tenderness, such as taking off her sleeping son’s shoes. The writer notes: “Indeed, life passes. How trains glide on the tracks, like ships in portslike the hair that brushes along the back and the youth runs away on the tips of the fingers».
Fascination for the classical world
The novel has its own complex architecture and detaches itself from a certain minimalism dominant in current fiction; then in the second part the plot thickens with dramatic, almost tragic elementswhich reveal a strong fascination of the author towards the classical world. The choices of Omicron and Omega are very different and different outcomes derive from them. In particular, Omega is the most controversial figure, destined to hit rock bottom and perhaps rise again. In the background, a desolate city, described with a sharp tongue: “The blue sky that hangs over Rome like a drape in the wind”; or again: «The steel sky of December». But under this livid sky the most important discovery is that in the end, amid a thousand difficulties, there is always a possible resource because “living is safer than dying”.
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February 11, 2023 | 17:53
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