Is there a Sardinian nation? Pietrino Soddu's answer in "A Bonas oa Malas"
The curious book by a Christian Democrat of great depth, who had Cossiga and Pisanu among his traveling companions
Pietro Soddu, “Pietrino” to his friends, was one of the “Young Turks” , the movement that in 1956 marked a turning point in the politics of Christian Democracy. As travel companions he had Francesco Cossiga, Beppe Pisanu, Paolo Dettori and Nino Giagu De Martini , in a Sassari that at the time produced Presidents of the Republic and great politicians.
When we talk about Soddu (Benetutti, born in 1929), we are talking about a politician of great depth, mayor of his country, president of the Region, parliamentarian.
A keen man of culture, lucid in reasoning on the issues of then and now, and also a writer. He has published several collections of poems, short stories and a curious book (A Bonas or a Malas, The Romanization of Sardinia, Edes, 432 pages, 20 euros), which constitutes the fifth part of a poem that Soddu has defined as “Sardeide” . In practice, Soddu wanted to evoke the history of Sardinia from the first civilizations to the nineteenth century.
But what is Soddu's goal? Understanding, in essence, if we can talk about the Sardinian nation . The author therefore goes in search of a red thread capable of connecting the historical events of our island. Soddu, an autonomist political leader, has no doubts, as he himself admits in the introduction to the volume: " It is the attempt, perhaps too ambitious, to tell the long history of the Sardinian nation ".
" A Bonas oa Malas " is not a scientific text or a historical novel, but the fruit "of an impulsive reaction", of the idea of retracing the period of Roman domination that left deep wounds and "made it survive", says Soddu. "Up to our days the bitter feeling of an unjust oppression that has obscured our identity and limited our freedom."
The book is a mixture of choirs, dialogues, reflections and judgments of people who are partly real and partly the fruit of Soddu's imagination. The result is a very pleasant text (with an interesting appendix), capable of piquing the reader's interest, while at the same time providing a myriad of notions and food for thought.
Over everything hangs, majestic and poignant, the image of Sardinia, a beautiful and cursed land.
