Iida Torpeinen: “Fish with your arms, rhoppers and laminates, looking for mysterious animal species”

How many times is it a book that makes us discover stories that we had never heard of, how many times is it a book that brings us to unexplored places, which makes us meet characters unknown up to that moment? And so it is The last sirenthe first novel by Iida Torpeinen, who makes us discover the German naturalist-theologist Georg Wilhelm Steller (How many of you know something about it?) And wonderful animal species (raise your hand who has ever heard of the Ritina).

Waiting to see it in Italy on February 28 (at 18:00 at the Museum of Natural History La Specola in Florence), for the fourth edition of TEXT [Come si diventa un libro]the event (from February 28 to March 2) dedicated to contemporary publishing and its protagonists, organized by Pitti Immagine to Stazione Leopolda, in Florence, we intercepted the author to make us explain her discoveries.

The interview with Iida Turpeinen

At the end of the book, in thanks, you mention many extinct species: which ones have intrigued her more? Which species would you like to bring back to life? What is the most curious animal he has “discovered”?
«Writing that list was one of the most difficult parts of the drafting of this novel. My initial idea was to write a sort of funeral praise for all the species that had become extinct in the seven years used to write the book. However, deepening the question, I discovered that the number of species that have disappeared at that time was almost 400, making it impossible to mention them all individually. At the moment I am writing an essay for an international anthology in which the authors was asked to tell one of the species we have recently lost. Here I had the opportunity to adequately remember one of the species on my list, which I am very happy with, because they all deserve to be remembered. I spent the last seven years to think about the insinction of the Steller Lamp, so this time I decided to do something different … I chose to write on the different species of bananas that we have recently lost, because it is important to understand that the Loss of biodiversity does not only concern animals, but also plants. Also, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to try to make a plant the main character of a short story! The question of the possibility of bringing to life extinct species is not only hypothetical: there are ongoing research projects that aim to bring the woolly mammoth and the migrant pigeon back to life. So it is very likely that we will soon see the first “resurrected” species. Personally, however, I believe that bringing to life extinct species is useless until we have learned to take care of those we still have with us ».

Why did you choose this story on Steller?
«For some time I wanted to write a novel in which to explore our relationship with the nature and history of science. It is true, however, that these are enormous themes and I needed a clear, precise point of view. I found it by chance at the Museum of Natural History in Helsinki. I was visiting the museum when I stopped in front of a large massive skeleton and read the plate placed by there: he said that it was the Lamantino di Steller and that the species had only extinguished himself 27 years after being discovered by scientists. On the plate there was also written that that was one of the three skeletons complete with Star Lamantino left in the world. And so they began to arise a series of questions: what had happened to this animal and why had it disappeared in such a short time? And how had such a rare and precious skeleton to this small northern city? I absolutely wanted to know more, so I went directly to the National Library, I borrowed all the material that I managed to find on this animal and started reading everything I found about it. It didn’t want much because I understood that the story of this animal was exactly what I was looking for. And so, with all these research, the novel has ended up covering a 300 -year span, following the stories of men and women linked to this wonderful animal and its remains ».

On the most zoological and scientific level, where and how did you find information to write your book?
«I am a training researcher, so looking for information is natural to me naturally. This project was particularly stimulating, above all because I was able to use very different materials to reconstruct the background of the novel. I studied old on -board diaries, maps, drawings, paintings, found old letters and diaries and, of course, many publications both literary and scientific. The part I preferred, however, was that of the interviews with the experts of the natural history museum. One of the characters I wanted to write about, John Grönvall, had not left letters or diaries behind him, but I was suggested to hear a man who had worked with him in the museum in the 1960s. I wrote to him in June to ask him for an interview, but I have not received an answer. I thought he was too old for this type of thing, since he was supposed to be almost 90 years old. Instead, in September he replied, apologizing for not having checked the e-mails: he had spent the summer climbing in search of eagle nests and chasing young sea eagles in the åland archipelago, as he does every summer. He was a unique character, an invaluable source of information, and in the end I can say that we became great friends. I wanted to write a work of popular narrative, but at the same time it was very important for me that the scientific data were accurate. For this, the feedback that made me happier was to know that parts of my book are now used at the university as a source of teaching in marine biology courses and that teachers read it in high school biology classes “.

But, after all this search, have we understood that the beautiful sirens are actually the Dugons?
«Yes, there is clearly something in the animals of the sirenid family that stimulates our imagination and invites to mythological interpretations! The closest relative still in the life of the Steller Lamantino is the Dugong. In many languages ​​of Southeast Asia, the word for “Dugongo” is actually a synonym of “siren” and the folklore of the region tells many stories of young women who turn into these graceful sea creatures. Even when the western explorers, like Columbus, met the cms in the Caribbean for the first time, not knowing about their existence, believed to see sirens. The link between these myths and these animals is so strong that their taxonomic order takes its name from them: in Latin they are sireniaSirenidi, with reference to the sirens of Greek mythology ».