Literature

When being an intellectual leads to death

5 reading minutes

written by Ivan Garcia · December 21, 2021 · 0 comment

When Being an Intellectual Leads to Death

Tuesday books - Ivan Garcia

Giacomo Papi painstakingly describes the failings of today's populism in A census of left-wing intellectuals. A fictional account of the importance of ideas, for better or for worse.

What do former U.S. President Donald Trump, Italian comedian and founder of the Five Star Movement Beppe Grillo, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have in common? First of all, each of them has his own style when it comes to the media and social media, the preferred communication tools of our time. Second, in one way or another, all of them refer in their speeches to an entity called «the people»—one that seems very difficult to define, given that the various groups that make it up are hard to reconcile into a homogeneous whole. On one side, the people, with their work ethic, traditions, and sense of nation… On the other, intellectuals—out of touch with reality, lazy, and hostile toward the people and their traditions. This is a binary cliché that is highlighted in these lines, but it is a cliché that is deeply ingrained and frequently heard here and there in the media, on social media…

The Hatred of Intellectuals

If «2.0» populism—born of a rejection of globalization and elites—is making its way into our lives as a new ideology, then the new book by Italian author Giacomo Papi, The Census of Intellectuals in leftist movement could only have emerged in Italy, a country that pioneered these contemporary movements that hold the people up as their banner. Through this story, the author presents a humorous fable that recreates the rhetoric used by various political leaders to charm the people and stifle free thought, as if nations had been built solely by brute force and not through ideas.

The story of the novel, which takes place in Italy, begins with an unusual event: the murder of an intellectual, Professor Prospero. Let’s set the scene. At the beginning of the story, one evening during a talk show, university professor Giovanni Prospero attempts to elevate the debate by quoting the philosopher Spinoza. It was a mistake, because faced with such erudition, his interlocutor—the Prime Minister—and the audience can only take offense at a «left-wing intellectual» who spouts lofty phrases but doesn’t actually work:

«Prospero tried to apologize, explain himself, and rephrase his sentence in the simplest terms possible:
“I just wanted to point out that without the effort to engage in discussion, the people will become slaves to the first tyrant who comes along.”
Unfortunately for him, he achieved the opposite of the intended effect: the outraged audience began stomping their feet and booing him.»

A Populist Prime Minister

Following the professor’s murder, his daughter, Olivia Prospero—a pastry chef at a major London hotel—arrives in Italy to handle the usual formalities and finds herself drawn into this new society, shaped by the «Prime Minister of the Interior» (who, as his title suggests, has merged the two offices into one), and describes its shortcomings, unable to understand why, despite their eccentricities, «left-wing» intellectuals are a source of concern.

The story presents the perspectives of Olivia, various left-wing intellectuals listed in the new «National Registry of Left-Wing Intellectuals,» as well as the perspective of the «Prime Minister of the Interior,» who, in public, tears into left-wing intellectuals and rides the wave of his anti-elite rhetoric, while in private revels in the «art-house cinema» that he himself helped to ban. This character’s grotesque policy also establishes the «High Authority for the Popular Simplification of the Italian Language,» aimed at reducing the number of Italian words in the dictionary. A policy worthy of 1984 by George Orwell, under the guise of anti-elitism.

Originally titled «Il censimento dei radical chic,» to highlight the Italian expression «radical chic,» which refers to «the bourgeoisie who espouse left-wing ideas» (International Mail, (2018), Giacomo Papi’s story is fascinating. The author has drawn inspiration from reality and holds up a distorting mirror—without exaggerating too much—to the reader, allowing them to view, with a bit of perspective, the kinds of discourse we often hear in the media.

«The idea of establishing a National Registry of Left-Wing Intellectuals appealed, so to speak, to just about everyone. The televised poll showed that the »Yes” vote won by more than eighty-seven percent of the vote. The popularity of the Minister of the Interior reached unprecedented heights in a Western nation with a democratic tradition.”

Write to the author: ivan.garcia@leregardlibre.com