Giovanni Orelli

L’anno della valanga

«La neve cade su altra neve con un fruscio sottile. Dopo qualche giorno, è il solo cadere di neve».

Just like Jonah inside the whale’s belly, Gionata is trapped in his own valley that is threatened to be buried by the biggest avalanche humanity has ever seen. Inside the claustrophobic universe of four houses into which the inhabitants of the village have withdrawn, Gionata experiences illusions and disappointments that are going to set off a decision making process carrying him far away from his starting point.
In his debut from 1966, Giovanni Orelli offers his readers a miniature novel of formation: On 150 pages he interweaves the personal affairs of the young protagonist with the fate of generations and the major social changes during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder. Like an avalanche, modernity is sweeping away rural life, leaving countless dead bodies and a handful of survivors behind. And yet, progress is a force pointing beyond the individual person, urging it to change. Orelli writes about this through intimate experiences, held in a sober and precise language. He leaves it to the force of the images to convey the subjective and collective affairs and emotions.
Through its similarities with grand Middle-European novels of the 19th century, and through its stylistic dialogue with models of Italian literature of that era – above all Eugenio Montale –, «The Long Winter» catapults the Ticino into the heart of contemporary literature.

(Francesca Puddu, transl. by Anja Hälg)

Translation of title: The long winter

Mondadori, Milano 1965

ISBN: 88-7713-152-7