Believing there’s some sense to writing is not a given, not every day. When meaning fades consider the magnolia . When setbacks, senselessness, or AI conspire to throw shade on the whole endeavor, consider Bassani’s Magnolia. It is a modest sort of evidence, but a tangible one – trunk, branches, and plump leaves – of a victory over silence. Grander examples can be listed: simplicity here is poignant. The Magnolia can be found inside number 1 Via Cisterna del Follo, in the city of Ferrara, in northern Italy. It was planted in 1939, in dark times that darkening further.
The struggle to write. The need to write. The struggle when not writing. You summed it up beautifully here through the writing and memory of Bassani’s Magnolia. In the season of Holocaust remembrance. Thank you.
I enjoyed the collage of stories bound together here, thank you
This is so beautifully written! I never heard of Giorgio Bassani and this writing has made me curious enough to check more.
Thank you for putting it all together!
The struggle to write. The need to write. The struggle when not writing. You summed it up beautifully here through the writing and memory of Bassani’s Magnolia. In the season of Holocaust remembrance. Thank you.