Our life choices take us to places we did not think we would end up in. This is what Giovanni Romagnoli, journalist and novelist, wanted to talk about in his book Cosa faresti se. An artisanal book, to use the words of Marcello Fois, friend and colleague of the author, which shows that for how independent our choices may be, in real life they are incredibly linked. Romagnoli and Fois presented the book touching on different topics. One of these was the new demand of contemporary readers for literary journalism, where the news has to have an emphatic register, and for journalistic literature, where the reading can be reductive. Between one anecdote and another, the two guests discussed the main topic of Romagnoli’s book: moral dilemmas.

They are at the base of every book we read, from The Bible to Pietro and Paolo, one of Fois’ most celebrated novels. The authors later discussed the aim of writers: their main quest, that is to mimic the naturalness of real people in their characters. In Romagnoli’s novel, each character is moved by a social dilemma, a choice that is linked to others. “To mimic reality it is necessary to be a detective of daily life,” said Romagnoli, “it is important to look at every little gesture, decision, action made by ordinary people.” The author concluded the event by saying that ordinary people are, and always have been, the heroes of classic literature, as they make real-life, changing decisions each day within the constant conflict between what they have to do and what they would do.