Starting again from where the thread broke: why providing an education (not always but often) helps to build another life. It is the meaning of the experience told in “Far from the life of others” (marinonibooks, 72 pages, 35 euros) by Giovanna Canzi, journalist, editor, curator of exhibitions who at a certain point in her life finds herself teaching in a prison Lombard, teacher of the seventh section, that of protected prisoners, sex offenders, but not only. It is a world apart in a universe that is already by definition “far from the lives of others” (even if the ‘others’ would like it to be even further away and invisible). On the other hand, the prison is located near a landfill: and perhaps this is no coincidence.
It is – needless to say – an experience that cannot be lived with indifference, and Giovanna Canzi faces it with a participation that strikes a chord with her particular students. The formula chosen is not that of the classic story, but of snapshots taken – with a sympathetic eye and a light hand – of the students who participate in the lessons, sometimes wary, more often curious and ‘hungry’. They are portraits (accompanied by the evocative illustrations of Gabriella Giandelli, sparse, evocative, almost monochromatic, as in a ‘sad world’) in which any pietism is banished, let alone any moral judgement: the echo of what happened ‘before’ it does not resonate in the classrooms, nor in the pages of the book. In the parallel and timeless universe of prison, one can teach usefully only if one abstains from judgments: the sentences have already been issued, and not just by a judge. In several of these portraits, the crime at the origin of the sentence is even omitted: it is superfluous information for this type of literature. Just like clocks, which – as he immediately discovers – are often broken or set at wrong times, because in a certain sense, time doesn’t exist in prison.
As a sensitive and aware ‘operator’ Giovanna Canzi immersed herself in this task with total dedication, took care of reintegration projects, listened, guided and promoted initiatives. Like a devoted gardener, she sowed and let love grow for words that helped us live and not hate. Then the experience ended and as she herself admits “the tear was painful”. But it is, as can be understood from the sympathetic tone of these portraits, a breakthrough that has never been definitively accomplished.