Paolo Giordano (Turin, 1982) Physical training, with 25 years wrote his first novel and devastated: The Solitude of the Prime Numbers was a planetary super sales. Now, 11 years later, it comes with a new youth novel under the arm: Conquer the Sky.

After the resounding success of his first, 'The Solitude of the Prime Numbers', he has lived the loneliness of being number one: adored by many, hated by so many ... How was that period? That period has lasted a long time, That book has had a very long shadow ... But with this new book I have finally left it a little behind. The Solitude of the Prime Numbers has become a kind of original sin for me. When this new book, Conquistar el Cielo , was published in Italy, I expressly requested that you not wear a girdle like this one in the Spanish version that says: "By the author of La Soledad de los Nuimos Coimos ". And one day I had an image of my tombstone, with the same text engraved on it. 'Conquer the Sky' is his fourth novel and the second after 'The Solitude of the Prime Numbers' centered on the world of young people. What attracts you to youth? I get more and more away from youth, but I like to watch young people, teenagers, children. It seems to me that they are the ones who have the key of the present, a key that you no longer have and that they are not aware of. As a writer, I try to steal that key from time to time. If you don't, you end up becoming a writer of historical romances, and that doesn't interest me. I am interested in the present and write about the present. Bern, one of the main characters of 'Conquer the Sky', is like a black hole. Someone who drags others behind him, who exerts a huge influence on his ideas ... Is it dangerous? Bern is certainly dangerous, but fascinating. Fascination always carries a sense of danger, of destabilization. The funny thing is that Bern is always convinced that he is following someone else's example, he is always looking for teachers ... And he doesn't realize all the people who follow him. In that I feel identified with him. Youth for me had a lot to do with it: to imitate someone, to be imitated by someone, to feel fascination for someone ... 'Suffer' fascination for someone, as they say in Italian.Today we see politicians all over the world with that ability to fascinate, to drag many of them behind them and to generate danger ... Unfortunately, charisma is becoming the most important feature of politics. Surely it has always been important, but it cannot be the only variable. It seems that we were lost and needed again figures that embody strength, the ability to drag, to communicate ... This book also has a lot to do with it. It may seem like a book about a small world, but in reality it is born of observation, of feeling the changes we are experiencing, including the change with authority. Bern is a radical. Do we all have a little of it inside? Can we all become fans at any given time? Yes. Amos Oz, during a presentation of this book, talked about the gene of fanaticism that we all carry inside. And I completely agree. We all have the possibility, and even the tendency, to become radical. Maybe we are all radical. We live in times of radicalism, we know it. But much has to do with the social and educational context. It is comfortable to think that there are fans out there and that we are however moderated. But it is not that simple. Many other factors come into play, for example, the social situation in which one has grown up. In his new book there is much talk about utopias. Are they still necessary? If you are 20 years old, yes. It would be very sad to be 20 years old and not have a horizon of idealism, not to dream of being able to change things. And more with what is happening with climate change. But young people today have a strange relationship with utopia. When we think of utopia, we think of an ideal world, in which everything works, in which everything is fair. However, the young people of today already start from the idea that we have destroyed the environment and that the consequences will be serious, for them the utopia is to ensure that those consequences are not so serious. His is a strange relationship with hope. That is also in the novel: there is never an absolute hope, it is a hope adjusted to reality. And that is a huge change. My parents' generation had a different relationship with hope, a much more progressive relationship. And if the relationship with hope changes, the way of being in the world changes. Young people, are today more interested in politics than a few years ago? Yes. At least that's the way it is in Italy. And it is the effect of certain types of governments and political forces that in recent years have increased social tension, to a point that is seen, felt, that we all perceive. That has made him feel very strongly that politics is not something that moves in palaces, but affects us all. It has not been pleasant, but it has served to bring many people closer to politics. 'Conquer the Sky' is starring Teresa, a girl from northern Italy, specifically from Turin, who goes every year on vacation to Apulia, in the South of the country. You are from Turin and summer in Apulia, aren't you? Yes, I have a house there and I have been spending the summer there for many years. How much is autobiographical in this book? I don't have the value that the protagonists of my book have. I received a conventional education, I have not made decisions that have been true ruptures. My big break was to start writing. But, for the rest, I did my studies until the end, I continued living in the place where I was born until recently ... I think this is an anti-autobiographical book, a book about the things that I have not done but could and could I would have liked to do if I had more freedom and less fear. I recognize that fear now, at the time I did not recognize him. I have not been transgressive, I have only been secretly and secretly. However, the kids in my book are openly transgressors. In their book they confront northern and southern Italy. Is there still a chasm between the two zones? It still exists, yes, and probably more and more. Almost all the youth of the south are forced to leave their place of residence to study, to work ... To move forward a little in life they are forced to leave ... The south is still a land of emigration. All of Italy is becoming a country of migration, but the south is very strong. I am currently reading Ian McEwan's new book, 'Machines like me', and at a certain moment I could not help thinking about you ... Ah, I am also reading it now. What made you think of me? A phrase that speaks of a physicist who writes poetry. It goes on to say that a physicist can write poems but that however it is very difficult for a poet to explain quantum laws ... You are a physicist who writes novels. Ah, now. I will tell you that McEwan is one of the very few writers that has, and increasingly, curiosity about the scientific world. It is a rare thing, because as far as general there is some laziness on the part of writers and humanists towards the scientific world. It is clear that McEwan is interested in new technologies and that he studies them thoroughly. In that sense I feel very close to him, because I study a lot when I write, I study a lot of science. I believe that science is the true frontier from which the real technological and human challenges come. What is more disturbing today than artificial intelligence? The debate on science and technology is also very present in your new book ... Yes. As I said, it seems a very interesting debate. And, perhaps, in that sense I have an advantage, because I have studied Physical Sciences and I still have a very scientific approach. From your scientific background, do you understand the fear of new technologies? It is true that many people look suspiciously at science and new technologies. In Italy we have the novax, the people who are against vaccines, and who in recent years have increased a lot. For me that is a typical anti-scientific trend, in which science in general and medicines in particular are perceived as something very violent, dark, suspicious. In my book I speak for example a lot about the disease of olive trees, a disease that has brought to light behaviors pro and against science. It is a topic that interests me a lot because today we all have to confront science and technology, you can't escape. I belong to a generation in which however many people seek ways to escape from it. And I understand, I understand why. Why do you think there are those who try to flee from new technologies? Because there is violence, intrinsic violence in science and technology. That violence exists, it is undeniable. Only scientists never want to see it. My previous book was about a lady I knew, a very simple woman, sick with cancer. In her last year I observed how she felt deeply attacked by science. Even the words of science, which she did not understand and could not repeat, violently assaulted her. And that is something that is part of the progress. It is very easy to feel left out by progress. Today there are many things that can only be done through the internet, and that leaves many people out. In Italy we have a party (the Five Star Movement) that wants to vote everything online . But there is a huge part of the country that doesn't know how to turn on a computer and go online. New technologies are leaving behind a huge part of the population, and that is violence. This fourth book has almost 400 pages and I have been told that you have written it by hand. Why? To me that handwriting seemed like romantic stupidity. However, it changes the imaginative processes. The computer page leads me to a very strong sense of order, it leads me to think in a more orderly way. Handwriting is more spontaneous, more twisted, and that when writing a novel has a value. Since I discovered it I am always writing by hand.

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