Understanding the other: a post-apocalyptic future beyond the Italian classroom

Although I was taught by Italian tutor Marco Palone in my first year studying Italian at Edinburgh, I didn’t know that alongside his busy teaching schedule Marco also writes science fiction novels.

As an avid reader and someone who enjoys science fiction, I was excited to find this out, and to get the chance to speak to Marco about his work, especially as he had just won the Trofeo Cassiopea (Cassiopeia Trophy) for Italian language science fiction for his book Progetto Ganimede, the first novel in his Bharatmata Trilogy.

What inspired you to write 'Progetto Ganimede'?

The inspiration for Progetto Ganimede was born many years ago. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which the largest ethnic groups are Asian: Indian and Chinese. This is because it is not taken for granted that the future will resemble Western civilisation. I believe that the Star Trek model of the future that seems like a continuation of American history in space is outdated. 

The core of Progetto Ganimede's inspiration was the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, and the story of Prince Yudhistirah with his reflection on violence, which still seems very current to me today, in fact it gives shivers for how current it is. In taking inspiration from India to imagine the future, I was inspired by an author of Scottish origins, who I read after having already conceived the first ideas of Progetto Ganimede; Ian McDonald, in particular his River of Gods and Cyberabad days. 

How long have you been writing fiction for? Do you plan to write/are you writing more books? 

My first publication was Il Silenzio dei Sogni in 2010, a collection of short stories, of various inspirations but with the surreal element in common. I recently revised and added to this collection, added new stories and republished it with a new title: La donna senza collo. 

I have also written another collection of short stories, this time all science fiction, set in Progetto Ganimede’s narrative universe. And, in the last month, two years after Progetto Ganimede came out, I’ve published the second volume of the Bharatmata Trilogy: Oltre la Rinascita. 

What role does Italian culture and language play in your sci-fi writing, and how do you incorporate these elements into your storytelling? 

Progetto Ganimede's epigraph is a quotation from Ti con zero by Italo Calvino, an author I admire who continues to teach me a lot. The quote's idea is that we ourselves build the image of the perfect prison, because in our mind the imagined prison is more powerful than the real one, which instead may be imperfect and may have weaknesses that the abstract idea of prison has not. The prison-fortress represents a reality that seems too incomprehensible and indecipherable to us, where our problems seem perfectly insoluble and of which we feel like victims. 

Apart from this, Italian culture is deliberately represented in the novel as a minority: the protagonist is of distant Italian origins but he is isolated in a world dominated by Asia. My study of narratology and classical philology has influenced my writing, some images are inspired by the ancient Greek novel, in particular the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus. Language teaching (Italian here in Edinburgh and classical languages in Italy) has influenced me because learning languages means developing empathy, opening up to different perspectives and describing things with a code (language) different from the one we are used to, and this trains the mind to understand the other.

Ione Gildroy is going into the final year of our French and Italian MA Hons programme. She has recently returned from her year abroad, studying in Verona and completing a journalism internship in Paris. She is a Student Ambassador for the University of Edinburgh and has written extensively for The Student, Europe's oldest student newspaper.

Marco Palone is a Language Assistant in Italian Studies at Edinburgh. His post is the only one of its kind sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Scotland.

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