Sunday, October 23, 9:30 PM
@ CASSERO
Via Don Minzoni 18 – Bologna
Kultur Klub presents
ELDORADO
by Vladimir Luxuria – (Bompiani, 2011)
interview by Porpora Marcasciano
“Life must be lived to the fullest until the last moment. Where there's a full stop, there's a paragraph, and another story begins, even when a stick is more useful than an oar.”
Raffaele is an elderly homosexual, originally from Foggia but who moved to Milan many years ago.
One evening, he gives a ride to a boy who seems intent on seducing him, but as soon as they reach the outskirts, the boy pulls a knife and robs him, beats him, and takes his car. A similar misadventure befalls his friend Aldo, providing an opportunity to revisit his past: his friendship with Michele, a boy from his hometown, but above all, the times before World War II, when Raffaele performed as a transvestite dancer in a gay club in Berlin, alongside two "sisters," Franz and Karl. Fate soon knocked on his door: an SS raid, arrest, repatriation for Raffaele, and torture and deportation to Auschwitz for Karl and Franz, to nowhere.
Now the past is once again weighing heavily on him, and Raffaele will have to come to terms with the tragic and unprecedented events of the Nazi years, with intolerance and hatred, and with his own history. There is still hope, but it comes through a personal and collective memory, marked by the names of those who paid dearly for their desire for freedom and love.
Vladimir Luxuria returns with an ironic and intelligent novel that, with great modesty and firmness, denounces the extreme humiliations suffered by homosexuals in one of the darkest moments in human history, but also reminds us that life always has great surprises in store, even for those who have suffered greatly.
Vladimir Luxuria, artist and former parliamentarian, born in Foggia in 1965 as Vladimiro Guadagno, is today the most famous transgender person in Italy.
A graduate in Languages with 110 cum laude, actress and writer, she was for years the undisputed queen of Muccassassina, Rome's historic gay club.
Who's Afraid of the Muccassassina? is also the title of his autobiography, published in 2007 by Bompiani.
Alongside her work in the entertainment world, including radio and television, she has always been actively involved in the fight for the civil rights of all minorities. Her political commitment reached its peak in 2006, when she was elected to the Italian Parliament for the Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista), the first transgender person to enter the Italian Parliament.
Her participation in Isola dei Famosi, which resulted in her winning the 2008 edition of the show, sparked heated debate. In 2009, she published Favole non dette (Untold Tales) with Bompiani.
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