Le parole alate che attraversano la storia. Cassandra a Mogadiscio di Igiaba Scego (2023)

Greek mythological narratives, from Homer to tragedy, run through Igiaba Scego’s novel Cassandra a Mogadiscio (2023). Cassandra is not only a counterpart to the narrative voice but also the collective voice of a family and a people—the Somali people—who failed or refused to interpret the signs of impending catastrophe. Troy, like Mogadishu, fell above all due to the madness of its inhabitants, and Scego composes a sorrowful epic of a lost homeland—an epic from a female perspective that stands in contrast to the traditional epic of war and power. By drawing on the Greek Western myth while reversing its perspective, this book establishes an implicit connection not only with the Greek Cassandra but also with the contemporary Cassandra first given voice by Christa Wolf. The name Cassandra serves as a counterpart for courageous women—Somali and beyond—who have shaped history, who assert their political and decision-making abilities, and who have the courage to resist patriarchal oppression and the senselessness of war. The purpose of this memoir is to pass this message on to the women of the future