Gabriele Romagnoli
Senza fine. La meraviglia dell'ultimo amore (Endless. The Wonder of the Last Love)
Feltrinelli, October 2018, 96 pages

“Romagnoli guides us like the skillful writer he is, hiding continuously the ancient and complex art of the novel behind the rarefied simplicity of the reportage.” La Repubblica

“Life is boring, but destiny is unpredictable. One writes rules, the other notes exceptions.”

The first love is a myth, the last love a chance for salvation. It rekindles joy, redeems suffering, gives meaning to life. To be able to live it requires more than learning how to choose the other, you need to learn how to give the best of yourself. This book describes unavoidable paths and necessary choices. These are embodied by three main characters: a man losing his sight, who returns to the light of the beginning; the author’s father, who discovers the art of marriage just before it’s too late; and a man nearly 100 years old who remarries and returns to being “deliriously happy,” as we are all entitled to be. Around them philosophers dance on the ashes of disaffection, James Dean invites us to trust our illusions, and the threads of all the relationships we have lived intertwine to eventually tie us into one. “Life is boring, but destiny is unpredictable. One writes rules, the other notes exceptions.” Knowing how to transform ourselves into those exceptions pushes us towards our goal without fear of getting there, because indeed, “we will know how to play until it gets dark,” and even beyond, endlessly.

Gabriele Romagnoli

Gabriele Romagnoli - © Adolfo Frediani

Gabriele Romagnoli was born in Bologna and lives in Rome. He is a journalist, writer and screenwriter and is currently the director of Rai Sport.
After his debut in 1985 with the short story Undici Calciatori, included in the collection Giovani Blues, an anthology of young talents edited by Pier Vittorio Tondelli, he has published several novels and essays: Navi in bottiglia. 101 microracconti (1993), Oggetti da smarrire (1995), In tempo per il cielo (1995), Video cronache (1997), Passeggeri. Catalogo di ragioni per vivere e volare (1998), Louisiana blues (2001), L’artista (2004), Non ci sono santi. Viaggio in Italia di un alieno (2006), Solo i treni hanno la strada segnata (2008), Un tuffo nella luce (2010), Domanda di grazia (2013), Solo bagaglio a mano (2015), Coraggio! (2016), Senza fine (2018) and Cosa faresti se (2021). His most recent book is Sogno bianco (2022).

 

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