The winner is

Richard Powers

The Overstory

(Il sussurro del mondo)

Richard Powers was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1957 and grew up between Thailand and America. He took an interest in Physics, which he began studying at the University of Illinois, but he ended up getting a degree in English Literature. His first novel, Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, was printed in 1985, when Powers was twenty-eight years old. With his second novel, The Prisoner’s Dilemma (1988), he won the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant). Since then he has written another ten books. The latest one, The Overstory, which was published in Italy last year with La Nave di Teseo  under the title Il sussurro del mondo, earned him the Pulitzer Prize. 

His books explore the relationship between human beings, technology and the natural world.

Richard Power’s novel The Overstory, published by La Nave di Teseo under the title Il sussurro del mondo, is a monumental work for its complex architecture, which is reminiscent of a cathedral or a symphony, it could even be described as Homeric.

Margaret Atwood was asked who Powers would have been, had he been a nineteenth century author. He would have been Herman Melville, and he would have written Moby Dick. Here, in place of the sea, we have the natural world, the population of trees, an intelligent and evolved community, wise and balanced, which is on equal footing with Man due to its ability to build a language and to exchange messages. It is for this reason that the stories of the nine protagonists twist and weave with those of the trees amongst which they live. The woods and forests of America are not merely a frame, a beautiful backdrop, but true protagonists which captivate the reader.

In this surprising novel, the roots of the various characters are spread around the entire world, from China to Norway to India, they form a story which is about all of us, touching the entire universe, assuming a cosmic breadth.

This American novel seems destined to mark a date in the history of American literature, but it is also reminiscent of Homer for the scope and diversity of the civilisations touched during its journey: both Man and Tree, both preoccupied by the seemingly impossible task of saving the world.