For a Handful of Books

The most famous book game on Italian television this Saturday sees the Liceo Scientifico dell'Istituto "Vittorino-Bernini" in Genoa and the Liceo Artistico Musicale "Foiso Fois" in Cagliari compete on one of the most important and well-known novels of twentieth-century French literature: "The Plague" by Albert Camus. Published in 1947, just two years after the end of the Second World War, "The Plague" is a novel that must be read as an allegory of evil and the recent trauma of war, which still weigh on European consciences: like evil, the plague is never completely defeated, but remains latent waiting for the environment favorable to the manifestation of a new epidemic. At stake, as always, not money, but works of genius (i.e. many books) and the possibility of accessing the final between the two classes ranked best during the program.

In this episode of "Per Un Pugno di Libri" the Liceo Classico "Ugo Foscolo" of Pavia and the Liceo Classico "Emanuele Duni" of Matera discuss the science fiction novel "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick. Published for the first time in 1962, the novel won the Hugo Award, considered the highest recognition for a science fiction book. The plot of "The Man in the High Castle" is a reversal of what the outcome of the Second World War actually was. Philip K. Dick seems to ask himself - and the reader - what the world might have been like if the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) had won the war. The answer that the writer seems to suggest is that, although the war was won by the Allies, in reality the wicked and obscurantist forces of Nazism were not truly defeated, manifesting themselves in all their violence in capitalism and communist dictatorships.

The twentieth edition of "Per Un Pugno di Libri" is proceeding unstoppably, with this Saturday's debate between the Liceo Scientifico "Galileo Galilei" of Erba and the Liceo Classico "Marco Minghetti" of Bologna on the masterpiece of the French writer Marguerite Yourcenar: "Memoirs of Hadrian". Published for the first time in 1951, Yourcenar herself wrote that the book is anything but a history essay, much less a novel, but rather a long letter (divided into six parts) that the emperor Hadrian, now old and ill, writes to his adoptive nephew, also a future emperor, Marcus Aurelius. The great intellectual sensitivity and intensity of Marguerite Yourcenar's analysis have made Memoirs of Hadrian an absolutely modern book, despite the fact that it addresses and speaks of the mentality of a man who lived two thousand years ago.

This Saturday, the European Classical High School "Setti Carraro" of Milan and the Technical Institute "Stendhal-Baccelli" of Civitavecchia will compete to the last book. The two classes will compete on the book Rites of Death by the contemporary Spanish writer Alicia Giménez Bartlett. Published in 1996 and set in Barcelona, ​​the writer tells the story of the first investigative adventure of Petra Delicado, a police inspector. A young girl has been raped and has a flower-shaped tattoo on her wrist. In this task, the protagonist is supported by Fermín Garzón. He is a man no longer young who at times seems excessively moralistic and misogynistic. As time passes, the rapes increase and the two police officers see the case taken away, then see it returned to them, but they continue to investigate with tenacity, even when the victims, their relatives and the press seem to row against them and put spokes in their wheels.

In this episode of "Per Un Pugno di Libri", the "Vittorio Alfieri" classical high school in Turin and the "Giuseppe Mercalli" scientific high school in Naples discuss the novel "La giornata di uno scrutatore" by Italo Calvino. Published in 1963, the book is inspired by a personal experience of the writer, who, as a candidate for the PCI, found himself visiting the polling station set up at the Cottolengo in Turin. There, the sick were induced to vote for the then majority party: the Christian Democracy. In the novel, in fact, the young protagonist, Amerigo Ormea, is a communist pollster sent by the party to the Cottolengo precisely to monitor the consolidated habit of manipulating the votes of the sick. But faced with that "world" and that pain, and above all faced with the self-denial with which the patients are cared for by a nun, the Marxist faith of the protagonist enters into crisis.

In this episode, the most famous book game on Italian television sees the Liceo Scientifico "F. Enriques" of Lissone (MB) and the Liceo Classico "G. Palmieri" of Lecce compete on the short novel "Naked and Raw" by contemporary English writer Alan Bennett. Published in Italy in 2001, "Naked and Raw" tells the paradoxical story of the Ransomes who, returning home from a Mozartian evening, discover their apartment completely ransacked. As often happens in Bennett's stories, the surreal incident becomes the pretext for this boring and habitual bourgeois couple to try to change their lifestyle, so as to be able to express that side of their personality that had remained hidden until that moment. The prize, as always, is not money, but works of genius (i.e. many books) and the possibility of accessing the final between the two classes that ranked best during the program.

The second episode of the new edition of "Per Un Pugno di Libri" sees the Liceo Classico "Rinaldo Corso" of Correggio and the Liceo Classico "Pilo Albertelli" of Rome compete this Saturday. To commemorate the Day of Remembrance, the classes were asked to read "Lessico famigliare" by the Italian writer Natalia Ginsburg. Written in 1963 and winner of the Strega Prize, "Lessico famigliare" has as its main theme the memory that has always characterized Ginsburg's narrative. Memories as a heritage of shared bonds and passions. But alongside private memory and family relationships, the writer does not forget the dramatic history of those years: fascism, racial persecution, the war, the post-war period.

In this first episode, the two competing are the Liceo Scientifico "N. Copernico" of Verona and the Liceo Scientifico "V. De Capraris" of Atripalda (AV). The text they will be competing on is a true classic of the so-called dystopian science fiction genre: Fahrenheit 451 by the American writer Ray Bradbury. Published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a still current reflection on the role of reading and mass media and on the freedom of the individual in contemporary society. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Furland" by Tullio Avoledo (Chiarelettere, 2018) and "Mrs. Caliban" by Rachel Ingalls (Narrativa Nottetempo, 2018).

This episode of "Per Un Pugno di libri" sees the "Leonardo da Vinci" Linguistic High School of Civitanova Marche (MC) and the "Luigi Siciliani" Scientific High School of Catanzaro compete. The bestseller "Il profumo" by the German writer Patrick Suskind, published in 1985, is the book on which the two classes compete. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "L'invidia degli dei" by Stefano Jacini (Bompiani, 2017) and "Stella o croce" by Gian Mauro Costa (Sellerio, 2018).

This seventh episode of "Per un pugno di libri", the most famous book game in Italy, sees the "Aldo Capitini" Technical Economic Institute of Agliana (PT) and the Majorana Institute of Avola (SR) compete. The two classes are competing against each other on Gustave Flaubert's unfinished novel "Bouvard and Pécuchet", published posthumously in 1881. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Deledda, Una vita come un romanzo" by Luciano Marrocu (Donzelli, 2016) and "Isola" by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen (Iperborea, 2018).

In this episode, the Liceo Classico "Dante" of Trieste and the Liceo Classico "Nevio" of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) compete. The book featured in the episode is "Cosima" by Nobel Prize winner Grazia Deledda (1871-1936), the work on which the two high school classes will compete. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Deledda, Una vita come un romanzo" by Luciano Marrocu (Donzelli, 2016) and "Isola" by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen (Iperborea, 2018).

In the historic studios of Corso Sempione in Milan, the Liceo Classico "Jacopo Sannazaro" of Naples and the Liceo Classico "Giosuè Carducci" of Milan compete. In this fifth episode, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is the work on which the two high school classes will compete. The prize, as always, is not money, but works of genius (i.e. many books) and the possibility of accessing the final between the two classes ranked best during the program. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends in this episode: "Vite straordinarie di uomini volante" by Errico Buonanno (Sellerio 2018) and "La cattivo" by Tammy Cohen (Astoria 2017).

The fourth episode of the most famous book game in Italy sees the Liceo Scientifico "Galileo Galilei" of Palermo and the Liceo Scientifico "Euclide" of Cagliari compete this Saturday on one of the most famous novels by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "Chronicle of a Death Foretold". Published for the first time in Italy in 1982, in this novel Marquez confronts the inevitability of fate by reconstructing the last hours of Santiago Nasar's life, victim, as the title itself says, of a crime foretold that the whole country knows about, but that no one can avoid. From this novel, in 1987, Francesco Rosi, with the collaboration of Tonino Guerra, made a film adaptation. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari with professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Selfie" by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Marsilio 2018) and "Nel Più Bel Sogno" by Marco Vichi (Guanda 2017).

The eighteenth edition of the most famous book game in Italy continues unstoppably, with this episode pitting the "Oscar Romero" Linguistic High School of Albino (BG) against the "Orazio Flacco" Classical High School of Bari on Federico De Roberto's masterpiece "I Viceré". Published in 1894, the novel is a great portrait of a noble Sicilian family of Spanish origin, the Uzeda, between the Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy. Leading the game is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Borgo Vecchio" by Giosuè Calaciura (Sellerio 2017) and "Questo Nostra Italia" by Corrado Augias (Einaudi 2017).

The second episode of "Per un pugno di libri", the most famous book game in Italy, sees the "Galileo Ferraris" Scientific High School of Turin and the "Pellegrino Rossi" Classical High School of Massa Carrara compete. To commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, the classes were asked to read Anne Frank's "Diary". Published in Italy in 1954 with a preface by Natalia Ginsburg, the "Diary" was written by Frank between June 1942 and August 1, 1944. It is considered one of the most lucid and touching historical testimonies of the clandestine life of a Jewish family during the Second World War and of the tragedy of the Shoah in the Nazi extermination camps. The prize at "Per un pugno di libri", as always, is not money, but works of genius (i.e. many books) and the possibility of accessing the final between the two classes that ranked best during the program.

In this first episode of the new edition, the classes of the Liceo Classico "Tito Livio" of Padua and the Liceo Classico "Galileo Galilei" of Florence will compete. The text on which they will compete is a true "coming-of-age novel" of twentieth-century literature that has marked generations of readers: "The Catcher in the Rye" by the American writer J.D.Salinger. The books presented by Piero Dorfles are: "Bambinate", by Piergiorgio Paterlini (Einaudi 2017) and "Maria Accanto" by Matteo B. Bianchi (Fandango 2017).

The theme of this episode is "Taras Bulba" by Nikolaj Gogol', the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 5th A of the Giordano Bruno classical high school in Albenga and the 3rd A of the Vitruvio Pollione classical high school in Formia. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Duel in the Ghetto" by Maurizio Molinari and Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi (Rizzoli) and "Scuola di classe" by Roberto Contessi (Laterza).

The theme of this episode is "Opinions of a Clown" by Heinrich Boll, the book on which the two high school classes are comparing notes. The challengers are the 5th A liceo classico scientifico Ariosto Spallanzani of Reggio Emilia and the 5th D liceo classico Amedeo di Savoia of Tivoli. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "La casa dei Krull" by Georges Simenon (Biblioteca Adelphi).

The sixth episode of "Per un pugno di libri", the most famous book game in Italy, sees the "Massimo D'Azeglio" Classical High School of Turin and the "Leonardo da Vinci" Scientific High School of Milan compete on the novel "The Center Forward Was Murdered Towards Evening" by the Spanish writer Manuel Velasquez Montalban. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "The Road in the Woods" by Colin Dexter (Sellerio) and "Like Wild Dogs" by Ian Rankin (Longanesi).

The theme of this episode is "Six Characters in Search of an Author" by Luigi Pirandello, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The two classes competing are the Augusto Righi scientific high school of Bologna and the 5th A class of the Leonardo Da Vinci scientific high school of Jesi. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Carne mia" by Roberto Alajmo (Sellerio) and "Prima di perderti" by Tommaso Giagni (Stile libero Einaudi).

The theme of this episode is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcìa Márquez, the book on which the two high school classes are competing. The challengers are 5°A from the Foscarini high school in Venice and 5°B from the Vincenzo Monti classical high school in Cesena. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "The Merry Men" by Robert Louis Stevenson (Nutrimenti) and "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck (Bompiani).

The theme of this episode is "Let the tears flow, the policeman said" by Philip K. Dick, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 3B of the "Carlo Lorenzini" linguistic high school in Pescia and the students of the "Lorenzo Respighi" scientific high school in Piacenza. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Vertigo" by Boileau-Narcejac (Adelphi), "The Dress of Books" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Guanda) and "The Scorn" by Alessandro Zaccuri (Marsilio).

The theme of this episode is "If on a winter's night a traveler" (by Italo Calvino), the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are 3 A/C of the Convitto Nazionale Maria Luigia of Parma and the students of the Piero Calamandrei classical high school of Naples. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who recommends, in this episode, "Dentro la sera. Conversazioni sull'scrivere" by Giuseppe Pontiggia (Belleville Editore) and "E poi libri, e ancora libri" by Federico Garcia Lorca (Edizioni Lindau).

The theme of this episode is the famous novel by the British writer George Orwell, "Animal Farm", the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 5 F of the "Antonio Roiti" scientific high school in Ferrara and the 5 L of the "A. Pieralli" linguistic high school in Perugia. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles, who in this episode recommends "Another part of the world" by Massimo Cirri (Feltrinelli) and "Nella valle senza nome" by Antonio Leotti (Laterza).

The theme of this episode is "Maigret's Dead Man", by Georges Simenon, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5°B/L of the Torricelli-Ballardini linguistic high school in Faenza and class 3°F of the Mariotti classical high school in Perugia. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "To Kill a Mockingbird", by Harper Lee, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5A of the Sandro Pertini scientific high school in Ladispoli and class 5H of the Guido Dorso industrial technical institute in Avellino. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "The Double" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5°F of the liceo classico Michelangelo in Florence and class 5°A of the liceo classico Dante Alighieri in Rome. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "Misery", by Stephen King, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 5°D class of the liceo classico Europeo Convitto Nazionale Umberto I in Turin and the 3°B class of liceo classico Muratori in Modena. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "The Nonexistent Knight", by Italo Calvino, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 3°F of the Carducci classical high school in Nola and class 5°B of the Vincenzo Lilla classical high school in Francavilla Fontana. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "Howard's End", by Edward Morgan Forster, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5°B of the Gian Domenico Cassini classical high school in Sanremo and class 5°A/L of the Colombo linguistic high school in Marigliano. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "If Not Now, When?", by Primo Levi, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 5° B class of the Leonardo da Vinci scientific high school in Jesi and the 3° B class of the Mario Pagano classical high school in Campobasso. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "Don Quixote", by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 3A of the Gualtiero classical high school in Orvieto and class 5A of the Euclide classical and scientific high school in Cagliari. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

"The Gambler" is one of the most fascinating novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky. And it is with it that the boys of the 5°B of the scientific high school Augusto Righi of Bologna and of the 5°E of the scientific high school of San Giovanni in Fiore (Cosenza) play.

Adolescence with its turmoil, frustrations and cruelty in the novel "Il ballo" by Irene Némirovsky. In this episode, the class 5°C/R of the liceo classico Giacomo Leopardi of Macerata and the liceo classico Adolfo Pansini of Naples compete.

Can a small man now on the twilight of his life change, give meaning to his life? Can a simple reporter rediscover the meaning of his work, of his role in society? These are the questions at the heart of "Sostiene Pereira", the famous novel by Antonio Tabucchi. And it is with this book that the students of a class from the scientific high school "Immanuel Kant" of Melito (Naples) and the classical high school "Amedeo di Savoia" of Tivoli (Rome) will confront each other on Saturday 7 March at 6 pm on Raitre.

Julius Caesar is a masterpiece by the Bard that, by telling us a story of ancient Rome, becomes a very current metaphor of power. Shakespeare declines this metaphor by making us understand the ruthlessness of those who, out of ambition, pursue maximum power. Ruthlessness that leads to betrayal and even Brutus' parricide of Caesar. Both the murdered father and the murderous son are the losers, while Mark Antony and Octavian are triumphant and take advantage of the bloodbath to affirm the supremacy of political power. The challengers are the 5th E of the Romita scientific high school in Campobasso and the 5th B of the Claudio Cavalleri scientific high school in Castano Primo.

The theme of this episode is "Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5°C of the Virgilio linguistic high school in Empoli and class 5°E of the De Santis classical high school in Salerno. The game is led by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The theme of this episode is "La bolla di componenda" by Andrea Camilleri, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are the 3°F of the Nicola Spedalieri classical high school in Catania and the 5°C of the Mattioli scientific high school in Vasto. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

In the first episode of the new season, the 5°F class of the "G. Galilei" Classical High School in Florence is competing with the 5°G class of the "Vincenzo Cuoco" Linguistic-Scientific High School in Naples. The text they are competing on is a very well-known book, if only for the film that was made from it. It is in fact Il postino di Neruda, the novel by the Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta, linked to the name of Massimo Troisi. It is an opportunity to also talk metaphorically about poetry, its relevance, the feelings that can only be expressed in verse. Let's see the relationship that the kids have with poetry, let's discover which poets are their favorites and which are their least favorites. Let's also try to go further, to understand that poetry is above all a look, the ability to see things in their most intimate meaning, in the resonance that they arouse in us.

The theme of this episode is "The sovereign reader" by Alan Bennett, the book on which the two high school classes compete. The challengers are class 5°B of the scientific high school Rinaldo D'Aquino of Montella and class 5°G of the scientific high school Enrico Fermi of Gaeta. The game is hosted by Geppi Cucciari and Professor Piero Dorfles.

The episode of "Per un pugno di libri" focuses on the end of a world, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is in fact the theme of "La cripta dei Cappuccini", the novel by Joseph Roth. For the book's protagonist - and perhaps also for its author - the end of a world was also the end of the world. For the competing classes, it is an opportunity to read and engage with a masterpiece of twentieth-century literature. The 5th D of the Albert Einstein scientific high school in Milan and the 5th C of the Ruggero Settimo linguistic high school in Caltanissetta are competing in the episode. Leading the game, as always, is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles.

Ben, Harry and Ada: they are the protagonists of "I cani e i lupi", the beautiful latest novel by Irène Némirovsky, at the center of the episode. The two classes in play are: the 3°G of the classical high school Romagnosi of Parma and the 5°B of the scientific high school Giovanni Paolo I of Agnone, Isernia. Up for grabs are many books and the possibility of accessing the final between the two classes that have ranked best during the season of Per un pugno di libri. Leading the game, as always, is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles.

Thanks to "The Periodic Table" by Primo Levi, to "For a Fistful of Books", with Geppi Cucciari and Piero Dorfles, we play with literature and with... chemistry. In fact, the stories in Levi's book, indicated as the best science book ever written, each bear the scientific name of a chemical element. Primo Levi, in addition to being a great writer, was also a chemist, and had studied at the Massimo D'Azeglio Classical High School in Turin, where the 3°B class comes from to play in the program. Against them is another 3°B: that of the Goffredo Mameli Classical High School in Rome. Leading the game, as always, is Geppi Cucciari with Professor Piero Dorfles.

"The Shining" by Stephen King is the focus of the fourth episode of "A Fistful of Books". It is the most famous novel by the king of thrillers, thanks also to the film that Stanley Kubrick made from it. The two classes that as always challenge each other, must deal with the protagonists of the terrifying story: the failed writer Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy and the little Danny endowed with special powers. The competition is the 3°E of the Nicola Spedalieri classical high school in Catania and the 5°H of the Piero Calamandrei scientific high school in Naples. Leading the game, as always, is Geppi Cucciari with professor Piero Dorfles.

At the center of the third episode of "Per un pugno di libri" is one of the most famous and controversial novels of the twentieth century: "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by David H. Lawrence. Accused of obscenity, tried and finally acquitted in 1960, after more than forty years from its publication, today the work of the English writer appears as one of the cornerstones of the twentieth century for the courage and intensity with which amorous passion was expressed. Two classes challenge each other in the usual games around Lawrence's novel: the Raffaello technical tourist institute of Urbino and the Iris Versari scientific high school of Cesano Maderno (Monza). Leading the game, as always, is Geppi Cucciari with Piero Dorfles.

"Per un pugno di libri" pays homage to Vincenzo Cerami, the writer and screenwriter who recently passed away. The two classes, 5°A of the Romita scientific high school in Campobasso and 5°A of the Ricci Curbastro scientific high school in Lugo di Romagna, compete on "Un borghese piccolo piccolo", the successful debut novel transformed into a successful film by Mario Monicelli starring Alberto Sordi. The competition is hosted by Geppi Cucciari with the help of Professor Piero Dorfles.

In the first episode of the new season, the 5th A class of the scientific high school "S. Pertini" of Ladispoli and the 5th A class of the classical high school "G. Leopardi" of Macerata are competing. The text they are competing on is a short story by Karen Blixen, "Babette's Feast", which was made into a famous film. It is an opportunity to talk metaphorically about food, a very popular topic today. We see the relationship that kids have with food, discover their tastes and find a way to move from food to topics that have to do with current events.