Virtual book club pushing buttons
FITCHBURG » The Center for Italian Culture (CIC) at Fitchburg State University is continuing its 2020-21 virtual book club with Professor Rala Diakite of the Humanities Department leading a discussion of “Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio” by Italian author, journalist, and anthropologist Amara Lakhous, according to an announcement by the university.
The award-winning novel was described by Publishers Weekly as a social satire and murder mystery concerning an immigrant-filled apartment complex in Rome.
After a murder in the building elevator, each occupant of the Piazza Vittorio gets a chapter to relate the truth as he or she knows it (or wants it known), apparently to the police. The tenants are by turns outraged, disillusioned, defensive and afraid, and their frequently wild testimony teases out intriguing psychological and social insight alongside a playful whodunit plot, exposing the power of
fear, racial prejudice and cultural misconception to rob a neighborhood of its humanity.
The virtual discussion
will be held on Thursday, March 25, at 3 p.m. To join the discussion, go to m e e t . g o o g l e . c o m /a h y - bkiq-rgk or join by phone at (US) +1 413-298-2638 PIN: 803 215 450#.
The CIC, founded in 1999 with an initial gift from Amelia V. Gallucci
Cirio, encourages the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of Italian language and culture, including ancient and contemporary studies, and the Italian experience in the New World.
Learn more at fitchburgstate.edu/cic.