The Tragedy of Migrants. Gabriele Del Grande's Reportage

Abstract

With the expression "tragedy of migrants" mainstream media usually refer to the ever-increasing number of shipwrecks of migrant ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite its literary connotation, the term “tragedy” does not help to explain the reasons for the death of thousands of people in the last few years. On the contrary, Gabriele Del Grande’s Mamadou va a morire (2007) and Il mare di mezzo (2010), thanks to the hybrid nature of the reportage forms, cast a new light on the interpretation of the migratory phenomenon: the joint action of the journalist approach and the literary imagination can help to grasp the complexity of this tragic events. Moreover, the reverberations in Del Grande’s works of some elements of Classical tragedy allow an interpretation of these reportage based on the “mythical method”: this reading strategy can be a useful resource to prevent the denial of the audience and to generate forms of solidarity between the migrants and the members of societies who welcome them.