La gioia di resistere. Conversazione con Robert Gipe

The article is the account of a written conversation the curator had with writer Robert Gipe, author of a trilogy of novels set in the hollers of Southern Kentucky. Following the tight connection between Gipe’s fictional books and the actual socio-cultural substratum of the Appalachian region, the account explores some of the main issues that are unfolding in today’s Appalachia. Gipe’s original viewpoint about the history and present of a place and its people, its economy, politics, culture, way of life, old and new struggles, is broadly discussed and analyzed. Gipe’s experience as an artist so deeply rooted in the local context where he lives and works, constitutes a first-hand contribution to delve deep into the major topics that come from the past and define both modern-day Appalachia and its future developments.