ABSTRACT
Amara Lakhous claims that ‘one must make a huge effort to communicate. […] it is necessary to understand others’ point of view, we must put ourselves in their shoes’1; he
advocates for the necessity to find ‘punti in comune’, common grounds by recreating a shared imaginary (Brogi, 2011, p. 7). An Algerian-born author who writes in Italian, Lakhous is concerned with communication, especially in the intercultural context of contemporary Italy. His work brings to the surface a common, Mediterranean ‘identitarian context’ (Esposito, 2011, p. 7) which seeks to enable social relations between migrants and hosts and foster intercultural communication. In a country like Italy where media is mostly controlled by Berlusconi and his ‘empire’, and where postcolonial debates are only just emerging – unlike the Francophone and Anglophone contexts –‘Lakhous’ works forge a space of necessary awareness and dialogue’ (Esposito, 2011, p. 2).
