"I spent my youth between the calls of politics and the flesh". The political discourse in "Lunario del paradiso"

Abstract

This essay seeks to demonstrate how Lunario del paradiso can be read in its political dimension, both as the final point of a decade in which Celati’s production clearly shows elements of critique of the institutions of power, and for the presence of a political discourse in many passages of the book. Lunario is set in the years 1958-1959 and has a clear autobiographical origin, but it aquires new meanings if we consider that it has been written immediately after the social and political events of the late 1970s in which Celati took part in such a decisive manner. Lunario shows both empathy for the political passion of the protagonist and distance from the ceremonies of politics, which Celati mocks in the book by ridiculing political rhetoric.