Who better than the mysterious, unknown Elena Ferrante - one of the most successful writers of the moment, yet hidden behind a pseudonym - to speak about the definition of 'identity'? "Identity is the glue of multiplicity.
Transparent glue.
A
look is enough to realize that in the eyes of a single person,
behind the label of first and last name, there's a very diverse
crowd of spectra. 'I'm me' is a simplification, very useful for
keeping ourselves in order, but, like every possible identity
within which we cage ourselves or we're by force caged (sexual,
religious, national, political, social), it's restrictive, it
impoverishes us," Ferrante writes - adding, as if speaking of
oneself - "separating from 'I'm me', at least for a little bit,
coming out from that enclosure, especially in acts of invention
or reinvention of the world, opens an endless space where
nothing and no one stays identical, and still identical, and
then again and always identical".
This particular definition of 'identity' is one of the
signature entries found in the 2016 edition of the Zingarelli
Italian Dictionary, edited by Mario Cannella and Beata Lazzarini
(Ed. Zanichelli; 2,688 pages; priced in various versions from
paper to electronic from 81 to 13.10 euros), who invited some
leading figures in the worlds of Italian culture, science,
sport, and lifestyle to write their own definitions of a word
that could be revealing of their personality and of their work.
The authors range from actress Sophia Loren to dancer
Roberto Bolle, from footballer Alex Del Piero to singer Paolo
Conte, from writer Andrea Camilleri to satirist Michele Serra,
from philosopher and politician Massimo Cacciari to judge and
constitutionalist Gustavo Zagrebelski, from novelist Sandro
Veronesi to theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, and many
others.
They were limited only to a maximum word count and freedom
to show how signature definitions can be - as in Ferrante's case
- small narratives or personal references that offer an original
point of view on the meaning of a word.
The signature definitions are gathered together with the
indispensable and precise lexographical entry for each word.
So, in recent years, a small parallel dictionary has sprung
up inside the Zingarelli dictionary, one in which whoever
consults it can find an unexpected suggestion, a new sidelong
glance that is the fruit of experience, study, talent, and an
uncommon sensitivity.
Here's how Sophia Loren defines 'beauty': "Beauty is a
fortune and a sentence to a period in time. But it's a sweet
sentence, one to be taken lightly, because in the end no one is
truly the owner of his or her own beauty: beauty is in the eye
of the beholder. Therefore beauty, which is fleeting, never
belongs to us: we're only guests of it and we have to take care
of it. And to do that you don't need beautiful clothes, or
makeup, because the body isn't the only host of beauty: you need
to know how to cultivate yourself and allow what shines inside
of you to radiate".
Further along, there are the many thoughts of Alessandro
Del Piero tied to the number 10, which is printed on his
football jersey, of which he writes: "One and zero, the number
ten is the synthesis of everything and nothing, perhaps that's
precisely why it's so fascinating. Ten on a report card, a grade
of 10, ten plus honors, perfection..."
All of which not to cause a 'provocation' (entry explained
by the artist Maurizio Cattelan) but rather to provoke a
reflection on words, such as 'recount', defined by Silvia
Avallone, just one of a substantial group of writers who
contributed to the definitions, including 'travel' by Pino
Cacucci, 'plot' by Ivan Cotroneo, 'novel' according to Marcello
Fois, as well as 'coincidence' by Sandro Veronesi and the
response to what 'satire' is ("a warped tale of social life in
an attempt to reveal its mechanisms...") according to Michele
Serra.
There's even Andrea Camilleri, the 90-year-old famed author
of the Inspector Montalbano series featuring a Sicilian
detective, who, not coincidentally, gives us his definition of
'dialect' and speaks of his own particular writing.
"In my family we spoke both dialect and Italian. When I
told stories aloud, I realized I could be more effective if I
used a mixed tongue. I started to ask myself why Italian wasn't
enough and I studied how Pirandello made his characters speak.
Later, one of his affirmations struck me, that language
expresses a concept, dialect a feeling of something: that became
the basis for my writing".
One could go on for a long while, moving to Massimo
Cacciari who speaks to us of 'metaphysics', to Roberto Bolle who
tells what 'charisma' means to him ("what fascinates me about
charisma is that it doesn't have an opposite..."), while for
Paolo Conte every 'note' has a color: "'C' is whitish, 'C sharp'
(or, enharmonically, D flat) is black, D is light brown...".
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