La scelta
The unfinished novel La Scelta was published posthumously. It is an important phase of Dessì’s poetic writing style.
The alternating use of the first and third persons in this mostly autobiographical account recalls and narrates the childhood of Marco from the “Town of Shadows” spent in Villacidro in his grandfather’s (Angelo Uras) home.
Marco/Dessì lives in the mountains, the woods, the water, the fields and every place has an important meaning and brings forth recollections and impressions. The passage from childhood to adolescence finds a woman as its protagonist: Nonna Margherita, Marco’s grandmother who gives the boy access to the library which once belonged to his Jacobin great-uncle. The unexpected reading will open up a new, unexpected world to the child that will result in a profound change. In the final portion of the novel, one of Dessì’s favourite characters appears: Giacomo Scarbo, who had accompanied the author throughout his career, since his début in La Sposa in Città.
This featured excerpt tells of the library that once belonged to the Jacobin great-uncle, of the spirit and thirst for knowledge that possessed Marco/Dessì: an insatiable urge to read complex, difficult and confusing works of literature. It is not unusual in Dessì’s work to find the female character as the one who encourages a fearless voyage into knowledge with the spirit of discovery and comparison, ready and willing to overcome even the ancestral fear of the sea.