I am someone who respects the hard work entailed in serious research. I also think writing in the style of narrative non-fiction to be the finest way to tell the story of the data retrieved from serious research. For me it is like putting salt on food. Someone told me once that putting some salt on food guaranteed people would eat it. Same with sharing a story built on heavy research. No one wants to read a bland, boring and lengthy document as a straight up report of the data. And the creating of the narrative non-fiction book for me is an art that has always been appreciated.
“Narrative nonfiction, also known as creative nonfiction or literary nonfiction, is a true story written in the style of a fiction novel. The narrative nonfiction genre contains factual prose that is written in a compelling way. Facts told as a story.”
It is critical to include sources in a narrative nonfiction book to support the content and in this Professor Aurelio Miccoli excels. In his fine book, The Infancy of the Myth, he includes several Appendices detailing his research sources and discoveries. He has traced Valentino's childhood, schools, residences, family, the priests and neighbors, military records and more.
I suggest to anyone contemplating a work on Valentino's origins to first contact Professor Miccoli and review his meticulously itemized Appendices in both of his fine books.
I share his list of local archives he studied, sourced and shared from Infancy of the Myth (partial listing) and thank this intrepid researcher for his countless hours of hard work in factually detailing the story.
