During the years of the pandemic, the writer Italian Paolo de Giordano sand proposed to search for the way in which humanity had received the health crisis. In Tasmaniaa deep existential story, exposes the individual relationship with two of the greatest concerns of our century: the violence and extinction due to climate change.

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It recounts the sentimental diatribes of a journalist from the scientific sourcein the midst of the jihadist attacks and the United Nations conference on climate change, which took place in Paris in 2015.

“I think that, in the midst of all these crises and conflicts, the things that torment us are always the same, they are almost always very close and common, like love, parents, children or sex. All of this forms our lives and are universal themes in the literature. In TasmaniaI have asked myself about the relationship between this intimate life and the world that has become increasingly present and that in the past could be forgotten,” explained Paolo de Giordano, in a virtual press conference.

“The problems about how to talk about climate crisis so that it touches us in the depths of the emotions that are still present. Generally the climate crisis It gives rise to many dystopian and science fiction stories very far from reality. Instead, I believe what is needed is to feel the truth of this crisis in the present time, as well as the ways in which it will change the fabric of our most intimate relationships. For me this novel It has been a challenge and an attempt to bring this reflection closer to people.

“I wanted to talk about a sacred or almost religious aspect that has to do with science. There are several characters who study very specific topics, with a very rigorous specialized methodology. However, what I really believe is that the inner motivation by which they feel brought to the studies they do is not purely rational, it is very close to the search for the sacred.”

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Regarding the existential nature of the novel, he pointed out: “existentialism is a word that I really like, I am very linked to it. It is a very precise and poetic way of putting things in their place. This novel It is existential in the sense that it counts and has no other objective than to describe my existence in the world, since everything that I have written in it, even the historical events, we have lived. For me the point is that we tell each other what it means to exist now, in a time of war, after a pandemic,” he concluded.