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October,
15th 2001
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Exactly
one year ago, on October 15th 2000, the first issue of the Sagarana Review
was published on-line. Born alongside the Writing School situated in Lucca,
the review has undertaken, right from the beginning, a singular and independent
course, going beyond the horizons that had been set for it. Sagarana has in fact expanded in various directions. In the traditional sectors, "Saggi" (Essays), "Narrativa" (Fiction), "Poesia" (Poetry), and "Teatro" (Theatre), it has presented works which were largely unknown to the public (sometimes unfairly condemned to oblivion, however famous their authors), and in the same expressive measure, it has also presented texts which were unpublished in Italy. There are texts of extraordinary quality, true paradigms of writing, created by Twentieth Century authors and other more recent authors who are becoming affirmed in "Nuovi Autori" [New Authors] and "Nuovi Poeti" [New Poets].The final panel is that of a surprising, practically unexplored universe, with little known works of great literary value and surprising legibility. Another perspective opened by the review is the "Literary Lab". Sections like "Vento Nuovo" (New Wind) and "Spazio Sagarana" (Sagarana Space) publish short stories, poems, and essays by debutant authors of merit, thus fulfilling a review's most noble function, that of fertilizing the growth of future authors and also, that of being a reliable "show-case" for publishers interested in launching new authors on the market. The "Ibridazione" (Hybridisation) section, directed by Professor Armando Gnisci, is a workshop, but of a different nature: it presents to the Italian reader the texts of "hybrid" or "migrant" authors, as he calls them. They are the most expressive texts related to this new and exciting literature which goes beyond national, cultural and linguistic boundries establishing itself as the most promising way towards the renewal of the literary survey underway. The "Dicas" section has an important function, too. By means of very short texts (two or three paragraphs at most), it presents news and reflections on the "behind the scenes" of the international cultural world: obscure facts, precious ideas and cultural events which perhaps otherwise would never come to the reader's knowledge. The Sagarana Review has become something more than a simple literary review: it is a "virtual space" which proposes an active participation and an intellectual complicity to its readers, a space in which the reader may feel at ease, as though in "his own territory", a welcoming but always different and surprising home. The reader will be sure to find, in each new edition, often un-published information of the highest quality. Finally, it is an alternative cultural reality, which appears every three months with a great quantity of material, thus offering many hours of attentive reading. This edition, which commemorates the first birthday of the Sagarana Review, wishes to be an invitation to all our friends to follow this course closely, along with us, so that they may help us - by reading, writing and taking part in our e-group - to model a new and reinvigorated literary universe in this country, perhaps more in keeping with our vision of things, with a more cosmopolitan Italy which will be more open towards that which is different, with the type of writing which we truly like to read and write.
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