“Michela Murgia’s Controversial Comments on Cancer and Politics: Reader Reactions and Reflections”

Dear Aldo,
the Murgia works very hard to appear outside the pack, makes deliberately extreme statements, takes pleasure in scandalizing with the arrogance typical of the counter-current role it practices. I found it unacceptable to talk about cancer as a very kind disease. And I sympathize with cancer patients who will have read this ridiculous and provocative statement.
Andrea MengoVenezia

Allow me to criticize what Murgia said for two reasons: I don’t agree with the publicity of the disease; the fact of resisting beyond the Meloni government an illogical resentment towards a freely elected government.
Guido RagniMilano

Dear readers,
Many of you wrote to comment on the interview with Michela Murgia. Someone, in the wake of Professor Burioni, claims that her disease can still regress. One sent me a very detailed account of a miraculous healing in Lourdes. Many ask me for news on how the dialogue went: it certainly wasn’t easy, at times we were both moved; but I’ve always felt annoyed reading how and when interviews take place, taking away space from the interviewee’s words, the only ones that count. Most readers express their admiration for the dry rigor with which Michela Murgia broke the news. Someone does not forgive her for criticizing Giorgia Meloni, which I think she responded effectively. As Guia Soncini commented, the best thing that can be done for a dying person is to continue to treat them as if they were alive. Michela doesn’t want to be pitied; and she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of being hated as well as loved. a strong woman, she has the hardness and sweetness of her Sardinia. Had she lived in the Dakotas two centuries ago, she would have been the leader of a diehard tribe, one of those who would rather ride against the Seventh Cavalry than be locked up on reservations. Her book, Three bowls, only comes out on Tuesdays, but it has been the most ordered on Amazon for a week. an important book, which will remain. There is nothing exhibitionist in the author’s choice. All literature. And politics. In our time, her illness has often been concealed as a shame. Death has been exorcised, hidden. No longer a public death, as it used to be; when an illustrious person disappears she scarcely hints at a long illness or a short illness. But after Covid it is more difficult. Because death has entered life, and we can no longer persist in denying it.