Le chanteur muet des rues
This book was edited by Martin d'Orgeval and Erri De Luca is the author of the texts.
It was no longer “teacher” but “professor.” Although we had left the barracks-like elementary school, we were still in short pants, a mark of childhood. Anyone in long pants seemed adult and awkward.
In middle school, the subject of classroom themes was the material studied; they looked for our level of comprehension. We stuck to a government Italian, as rigid as a printed form. Although I couldn’t explain why, it disgusted me.
This embalmed language was part of a general submissiveness to adult power. In the intervals between classes we broke into dialect, a way of escape. We washed out our mouths with Neapolitan. [...]
Excerpt from Erri De Luca's text
