The Bicocca Universityfrom the city of Milan, suspended the course that the writer Paolo Nori was going to give at the house of studies on Fyodor Dostoevsky in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Nori, in the last few hours he received an email from the university informing him of “the rector’s decision to postpone” the course on Dostoyevsky, which consisted of four open and free sessions that would begin next Wednesday. “The goal is to avoid any type of controversy, especially internal because it is a time of high tension”the Italian writer read in a video he posted on his Instagram account.
“I think what is happening in Ukraine is something horrible,” Nori said, but noted that “Censoring a course is ridiculous”. “For an Italian university to ban a course by an author like Dostoevsky is something I cannot believe,” she added.
Nori’s position was supported by much of the Italian political arc. “Banning the study of Dostoevsky as an act against Putin means being crazy -said the ex-premier and current official senator matthew renzi-. At this time it is necessary to study more, not less: in the University teachers are needed, not incompetent bureaucrats “.
Along the same lines, the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, director of the oldest cultural magazine in Italy, The Catholic Civiltàsuggested to Télam that “Today, just today, it is absolutely necessary to return to Dostoevsky”.
The priest asked to return to the figure of the Russian writer “and his Russian soul to fill with humanity the barbarity of war that disfigures the beautiful face of the people.”
The pro-government deputy Marianna Madia, meanwhile, indicated through Twitter that “the enemy is not Russian culture”. “Now is the time to study more, not to censor,” added the former Minister of Public Administration.
