The Catholic School

A novel that takes the reader into a closed world of privilege and tradition: for fans of crime fiction, but also true crime - a study of class, religion, and how a worldview which sees violence as an integral part of masculinity, and any empowerment of women as a threat to men's dominance, can only end in tragedy.

**Edoardo Albinati's The Catholic School creates a world: a world of power, sex, violence and the threat of masculinity, of the power wielded and misused by men./b>'To be born male is an incurable disease'In 1975, three young well-off men, former students at Rome's prestigious all-boys Catholic high school San Leone Magno, brutally torture, rape, and murder two young women. The event, which comes to be known as the Circeo massacre, shocks and captivates all of Italy, exposing the violence and dark underbelly of the upper middle class at a moment when the traditional structures of family and religion are under threat.Edoardo Albinati sets his novel in the halls and corridors of San Leone Magno in the late 1960s and the 1970s, exploring the intersection between the world of teenage boys and the structures of power in modern Italy. Along with indelible portraits of teachers and pupils - the charming Arbus, the literature teacher Cosmos, and his only Fascist friend, Max - Albinati's novel also reflects on the legacy of abuse, the Italian bourgeoisie, and the relationship between sex, violence, and masculinity.

Edoardo Albinati explores the history of male violence in his monumental novel . . . One of the most exciting novels of recent years.

Autorentext
Edoardo Albinati is a novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who lives in Rome. His novel Svenimenti won the Viareggio Literary Award, and The Catholic School won the Strega Prize. Antony Shugaar is a writer and translator. He is the author of Coast to Coast and I Lie for a Living and the coauthor, with Gianni Guadalupi, of Discovering America and Latitude Zero.

Klappentext
'To be born male is an incurable disease' The winner of Italy's most prestigious literary award, the Premio Strega, The Catholic School is one of the most arresting and haunting works of European literature to have appeared in the twenty-first century. In 1975, three well-off young men - former pupils at Rome's prestigious Catholic boys' school San Leone Magno - brutally tortured and raped two young women, killing one of them. The crime, which came to be known as the Circeo massacre, shocked and obsessed all of Italy, exposing the violence and dark underbelly of the upper middle class at a moment when the traditional structures of family and religion were seen as under threat. It is this environment - the halls of San Leone Magno and the homes of the families who sent their sons there in the late 1960s and the 1970s - that Edoardo Albinati takes as his subject in The Catholic School. His own experiences at the school, as well as his reflections on his adolescence and on the forces that produced the toxic culture of contemporary Italy, add up to a remarkable blend of memoir, coming-of-age novel, and true-crime story. Along with indelible portraits of his teachers and fellow classmates - the charming Arbus, the literature teacher Cosmo, and his one fascist friend, Max - Albinati explores the legacy of abuse, the Italian bourgeoisie, and the relationship of masculinity, sex, and violence. 'In The Catholic School a thousand doors open on a thousand different themes . . . A powerful, multifaceted, acute, extreme book.' La Repubblica 'Edoardo Albinati explores the history of male violence in his monumental novel . . . One of the most exciting novels of recent years' Die Zeit