Description
Book SynopsisLuciana Castellina is one of Italy's most prominent left intellectuals and a cofounder of the newspaper
Il Manifesto. In this coming-of-age memoir, based on her diaries, she recounts her political awakening as a teenage girl in Fascist Italy-where she used to play tennis with Mussolini's daughter-and the subsequent downfall of the regime. The book is about war, anti-Semitism, anti-fascism, resistance, hope in social justice, experiencing different contexts than one's own, traveling, political rallies, cinema, French intellectuals and FIAT workers, international diplomacy and friendship. All this is built on an intricate web made of reason and affection, of rational questioning and ironic self-narration as well as of profound nostalgia, disappointment and new discoveries.
Trade Review"An anti-heroic account, a depiction of a sentimental education nourished by passion, curiosity and the levity of life, and with an eager sincerity always bursting forth." - La Repubblica "A most beautiful book built around the themes of a diary from the years 1943 - 47." - La Stampa "Luciana Castellina tells her story with levity and not a hint of narcissism, while making fun at the expense of Togliatti, Guttuso and Pajetta." - Corriere della Sera "As long as there are lives and testimonies like that of Luciana Castellina's La scoperta del mondo, we will not be in total darkness." - Ettore Scola
