Category: Italy

The flying creatures of Fra Angelico by Antonio Tabucchi

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The flying creatures of Fra Angelico by Antonio Tabucchi #

Italian Fiction

Translator – Tim Parks

Source review copy from Archipelago books due out next month 

I m on a break but this came my way from his American publish , great fortune as the book I d ordered from my library hadn’t turned up in time for Caroline’s Antoino Tabucchi reading week  .This is the second book I have read by the late Italian writer .Antonio Tabucchi was a professor of Portuguese literature and language .He spent six months of every year in Lisbon in the later part of his life and is well-known in Italy for his translations of the great Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa ,whom Tabucchi came across in the late sixties and then studied Portuguese to understand him better and also translate his work into Italian .Tabucchi himself  published over twenty works with novels ,short story collections and Non fiction .He maybe sums himself up best in this quote .

“Literature for me isn’t a workaday job but something which involves desires ,dreams and fantasy “

Well to this his latest book  The flying creatures of Fra Angelico , it is a collection of stories ,made up letters and pieces  and seems much more than its 128 pages .The title story which is  also  the first in the collection is about a group of strange creatures oddly coloured and shape that start to appear one by one in the garden of Fra Angelico (Fra Angelico was a 15th century friar and artist ,he is well-known for his depictions of christ .He was also sainted by the late John Paul the second ).Any way one of the Fra’s , then seems to be able to talk to these creatures .

Fra Giovanni looked at him and felt sorry for him and muttered: “You’re overtired.” The creature looked back with his big moist eyes, then closed his eyelids and wriggled a few feathers in his wings: a yellow feather, a green one and two blue ones, the latter three times in rapid succession. Fra Giovanni understood and said, spelling it out as one learning a code: “You’ve made a trip, it was too long.” And then he asked: “Why do I understand what you say?” The creature opened his arms as far as his position allowed, as if to say, I haven’t the faintest idea. So that Fra Giovanni concluded: “Obviously I understand you because I understand you.” Then he said: “Now I’ll help you get down.”

Fra Giovanni chatting to the creature .

An odd story with religious overtones where are the creatures from and what do they mean ? One  of those short stories that leaves you with a head full of questions .Then we have a group of made up letters clever and witty the king of Portugal asking a famous artist to paint then  saying what he would love in the painting  ,made me laugh ,another is a couple of letters from Tabucchi to an Indian writer that he met in Indian about his book the Indian Nocturne one of his most famous books ,also on why people from the west come to India and the Indian said there were two sorts of people .I won’t tell you what types they are  you’ll have to  buy the book and find out .Then back for a few shorter stories a couple having a meal ,is all it seems  was one that grabbed me a clever story where not is all it seems .then the last story is maybe another pointer of Tabucchi as a person. A discussion on the number of undertakers in Lisbon ,which it appears is 16 pages of the yellow pages for that city and why this may be so  .This leads to the Portuguese term Saudade .

They are practising Saudade. Try imitating them. Of course it’s a difficult road to take, the effects are not immediate, sometimes you may have to be willing to wait many years. But death, as we all know, is that too.

the closing lines of the book

The closing lines maybe some up the book it has a feel of sadness ,death and secrets at times ,also a feel of his beloved Portugal where he spent so much of his life .I feel Tabucchi is playing with his writing styles in these little gems  almost trying different styles for his novels ,but far from being throwaway they show a master of his art at work . He is often overlooked as an inventive writer for the likes of Calvino .I’ m remind of a cabinet of curios  my grandparents had full of odd little pieces of  ,silver ,ivory ,wooden carvings as a kid I would keep asking to look in and feel and ask about the pieces and this is like that it is a book that I will go back to reading (well pdf for now but I will get the book ) as I feel that it is a collection that will stand numerous rereading and always give you something new as a reader  .

Have you read Tabucchi ?

 

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

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The Prague cemetery by Umberto Eco

Italian fiction

Translator Richard Dixon

Well what can you say about Umberto Eco the man is a living legend one of Italy’s greatest writers but also a professor of Medieval philosophy and is from the semiotics school of philosophy (study of signs and meanings ) .He didn’t write his first novel until he was 48 ,he had done a lot of literary criticism from the early 1960’s .he is considered among the cleverest men on the planet .So a new novel from him was a challenge I ve tried him twice before enjoyed one and struggled with the other .

So this book Prague cemetery ,is a book set in the 19 TH Century and follows a man called Captain Simone Simonini  he is a dark figure a sort of alternative james bond but for evil for the 19th century .Like in the other book I read by Eco I also sensed a connection to the works of Conan Doyle in the name of the rose he called his main character William of Baskerville in homage to Doyle and maybe he has gone further here as I could see Simonini as european version of the arch villain from the Holmes story Professor Moriarty but in this story there is no Holmes as we se how this man is the puppet master behind numerous events and documents in the 19th century that involve the masons and anti Semitism (I saw an interview on uk tv with Eco when this came out saying the fact the book was so dark in tone when he was writing it he had been unbearable to his wife ,she said she knew why when she read this book ) so you get the idea this book is full of bile,dark events and ideas .I was worried about the tone of the book before I started but was suprised how readable he had made these dark events and the man at the centre of it ,. The action focus on two well-known piece of history from the 19th century the first a document called the protocols of the elders of Zion ( this document state a jewish plan for world domination ) although provide a hoax it in some little part may have been the first domino in the events that lead to the holocaust,I was also reminded about a x file episode called die hand die verlezt in which Mulder and Scully discover a document on-line that originally was about Jews and from world war two , but had been changed to fix witches as the evil in society  .The other event is a French history event that of the young Captain Dreyfus affair ,he was a young Jewish officer that was sent to devils island after he was accused falsely of passing secrets to the German embassy  .When he was found innocent it was an act due to his religion more than anything else .

My childhood years were soured by their Spectre .My grandfather described those eyes that spy on you ,so false as to turn you pale ,those unctuous smiles ,those hyena lips over bared teeth ,those heavy ,polluted brutish looks ,those restless creases between nose and lips wrinkled by hatred that nose of theirs like a beak of a southern bird …and those eyes oh those eyes

How he became so anti semitic from the second chapter who am I .

What I enjoyed most about this is how Eco had mixed true events with fiction like a couple of other books in the longlist .He shown how he mixed philosophy and semiotics .Ideas and signs are abound throughout this book .It shows how disturbing conspiracy’s can be this is a work of fiction but as we see on many tv shows and in the papers some people will join the dots together of history and come up with a figure like Simonini or in the case of one ex British public figure it’s all down to the lizards .This book is the best book I ve read by Eco and made me want to try some of the others by him I ve not read .I also like the illustrations from the time and illustrating people mention in the book that were real .A  flowing translation from Richard Dixon ,I missed it wasn’t a William Weaver translation it was that good .

Have you read Eco ?

Do you like conspiracies ?

I will have vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni

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Iwill have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni (the winter of Commissario Ricciardi )

Italian crime fiction

Translated by Anne Milano Appel

Maurizio De Giovanni is a Naples based writer,he won a short story prize  for unpublished writers ,he won with a short story about Commissario Ricciardi ,this was later expanded into a novel ,this crime series is set in 1930’s Naples .Maurizio’s books have been translated into numerous languages and he won the Premio Camaiore prize  .A prize awarded by city of Camaiore .This is second book I ve reviewed by the new Italian crime publisher Hersilla press .This book is the first in a series of four the fourth in the series won the prize .

So what is I will have vengeance about ,Well its set in 30’s Naples ,Il Duce is just coming to his full powers after nine years in the job , its 1931 and Riccciardi an elderly police man he is a man with his own secrets an aristocrat so money isn’t his motive to work ,a man  that has no real friends .But when he sees a dead body he sees in his mind the exact moment of death .The victim Mastero Vezzi an italian tenor at the Naples opera house the best of his time .Now when I read this on the rear cover when the book dropped through my door ,I thought oh this is an “italian morse “classical music and a lonesome older cop but no this is paced different to the Dexter books more in line with classic books you see published by Hard case crime from the 30’s to 60’s .I looked up an interview with Maurizio here in Italian that I translated via google translate and the only character he likes are Ed McBain .So this book owes more to American crime than British crime fiction .Riccardi although he may see the crimes is a hard nose cop a loner “walking the line between the living and dead ” as Maurizio put in the interview I couldn’t put it better myself . in the tradition of McBain’s cops .His Bosses aren’t huge fans of his and this cases has pressure as the victim was a good friend of Il Duce ,who now in his ninth year and having used the Il Duce title for six of them years is slowly becoming a dictator and Ricciardi isn’t a fan about needs to find the killer .He has found the victim Vezzi although a true talent was hated backstage by the people in the opera house many of them had chance to kill him so it is down to the Commissaro to find who did it .Before he runs out time and someone else gets the case .

Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi was of medium height ,and slim .He had a dark complexion,striking green eyes,black hair slicked back with brilliantine sometimes a strand or two came free ,falling over his forehead ,and distractedly smoothed it back in place with an abrupt gesture .His nose was straight and thin,like his lips ,his small almost feminine hands were restless, always moving .He kept them in his pocket aware that they portray his emotion ,his tension.

we first meet the commissario Ricciardi .

Now I enjoyed this the first of four books about the Commissario the book is 211 pages longs so is fast paced the action keeps going as the pages turn .The setting seems good Maurizio has lived in the city all his life and is a huge fan of the city in his biography I ve read he has written piece on the home town club Napoli SSC .The dark Spector of Il Duce lurks in the background I feel this will grow over the books .The book was translated from Italian by Anne Milano Appel ,she has done a good job manage to keep the pace feel of the book .

Have you read this book?

Who is your favourite Italian crime writer ?

Into the war by Italo Calvino

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Into the war by Italo Calvino

Italian Fiction

Translator Martin Mclaughlin

Italo Calvino was considered one of the most inventive modern italian writers in his time born in cuba he grew up in San Remo which was occupied by the german when the occupied the northern area of italy ,he joined the partisans ,this collection of three short stories  set during the second world war was published during the fifties .They have just been translated into English .

Into the war is a trio of loosely interlinked short stories this collection is only 90 pages all together .It also demonstrates the more straight forward side of Calvino’s writing ,more known for his later  experiential works like invisible cities and on a winter night .. .The books are set in 1940 and focus on three different generations , the first into the war we meet a young guy just join Il Duce’s army he is moved around told to do this and that and is let down from the dreams he had in a way .the second Avanguardisti in mention ,we join an army unit this is a slightly more  experienced solider ,as he  and his comrades travelled to an occupied part of france and the only bit that the Italians took early in the second world war .The third story is a comic war-time tale as we see what can happen in a blackout ,as a man the narrator isn’t where he was supposed to be looking after a school, no he is  trying  to find strange delights in the night .

It was a moonless night .The school building still reflected a vague brightness .I had arranged to meet Biancome there,but of course he was not on time .Beyond the school ,in the darkness ,there were houses and fields .You could hear the sound of crickets and frogs .

from story UNPA  nights (an Italian form of air raid wardens )

I can’t say much about the stories as that give away too much, a little research into Calvino’s own background shows that a lot of what happened him these stories certainly the first to is from first hand experience ,he was in the fascist scouts and briefly had to join the army and travelled to the part of france described in the second story during the same  time  as the story set .These as I said a start are from the journalistic side of his writing and shows that at the end of the day he was a great writer with out the need to use the  clever tricks and oulipo style he used in later novels and is more known for than this more autobiographical style of writing .I now really want to read his novel based on his time during the war” The path to the nest of spider ”  which he published before these stories but is also largely autobiographical like the stories are The three stories were translated by Martin Mclaughlin and these stories were translated by him last year 2011 .A worthy successor to the great William Weaver who translated most of Calvino’s other work .

Have you read any of Calvino’s works ?

 

New Finnish Gammar Diego Marani

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New Finnsh Grammar by Diego Marani

Italian fiction

Translator Judith Landry

Diego Marani is a translator and newspaper columnist ,he worked for the council of europe as a translator at this time he invented a language called europanto a joke language poking fun at the euro in workings .This is his first novel to be translated into english and has taken a number of years to translate .This book was suggested as a book I should read at the IFFP by Nick Lezard of the guardian and I wish I d picked it up sooner as it is one of the truly great books in translations this year .

Doctor Friari’s eyes were the first living thing I saw emerging out of nothingness.

Sampo wakes .

Now on the surface this book can be compared to Ondaatje’s English patient as the kernel that the story is from is similar a man is found in this case on a beach in italy his personnel effects leads to the belief he is Finnish ,although he can’t talk and has had some horrific injuries ,now this is where the similarities with English patient end as the English patient spins of to a death and love story ,this story spins of in another direction .That direction is language and citizenship ,does how you are make you what you are ? Is this man finnish ? as these questions are answered you discover that Finnish is a hard language to learn but also to relearn in the case of Sampo as the man becomes known due to a name on a jacket ,and that it’s a Finnish name .He is helped in Italy where he is found ,by a Finnish doctor Friari who helps him recover and relearn or learn Finnish ,we are not sure who this man is as he is not sure who he is .The book springs the idea that in some ways in the chaos of war we can be reborn as someone else .

fire ! iron and fire ! These are the only things that count in war ! You whose name is Sampo – did you know that you are born of fire ? Sampo is a sacred word for the Finns ; the whole of the Kalevala revolves around it .

Sampo learns about his name and a Finnish epic .

As for Finland which Sampo returns to we learn about its national treasure a long poem called Kalevala this work is central to Finnish identity as it was used in the breakaway from Russia in 1917 ,which also counters the current time when Sampo is in Finland as the war nears its end , when they are trying to stop Russia overrunning them again .We also see the doctor return and to try to find out what happened to his patient .Now this book is complex and is one of those books that you never want to end as you are drawn into the world and feel Sampo struggles with who he is and really want to find via his quest who he is or who he was .I also found this book is maybe like being a baby and with a clean slate how do you learn a language is it there in you or is it taught the old nature versus nurture debate ,can a brain be wired to learn a complex language from the start or is the wiring laid as we learn ? .The book is a masterpiece and unique ,since it was published Marani has written five more novels I for one am now waiting to see what this wonderful writer has written next .He deserves to sit amongst the greats of modern Italian literature Eco and Calvino .

Accaabadora by Michela Murgia

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Accabadora by Michela Murgia

Italian Fiction

Translator – Silvester Mazzarella

Well sometimes a book drops on the doorstep from a publisher and you go oh ,this was one I look at it and saw on the back cover that it had won six literary prizes in Italy ,that spike my interests as I can’t remember a recent  English book winner that many garlands in recent times .The other thing I liked about getting sent this book is the fact I probably wouldn’t have got it myself .so what is it about . The title is the name give to a women that acts as an angel of death to the dying in rural Sardinia this particular Accabadora is called Bonaria Urrai ,she had adopt a young girl Maria hows mother was struggling looking after her .Maria think Bonaria is just a simple dressmaker, as Bonaria has tried to shield her daughter from her other job but over time Maira wonders where she disappears to at night  times  .But when maria finds out after Bonaria makes a difficult call on one young man she has been asked to attend , this sets of a chain of events that leads to her leaving her rural life and heading to the big city in this case Turin ,in a way this is just like any young women wanting to break free of family but in Maria’s case its overtures of what happened played on her mind whilst there leading to an interesting climax .

The attittadora had meanwhile changed her note ,intoning an improvised poem in praise of the dead man .To hear her shrieking in rhyme you would imagine no better man than Giacomo Littora had lived .

We meet the Attittadora (official mourner)

I could instantly se why this book won so many prizes Michela has tackle euthanasia in such an even and non-judgemental way ,one of the most even views of this subject I ve ever read  ,I found it hard to imagine some such as Bonaria being around Italy at the time the book is set  but a little web browsing show there were such people in real life ,hard to think as Italy is such a strong catholic country  .The book deals with what family is too people and also how we all deal with death and the thought of a midwife of death as we brought into life by a women and thus should be seen into death by a women when needed .But also an underling theme to me is changing world of  the traditional   rural life and the busy modern cities of Turin ,I remember the films of Italy at the time the book is set in the forties  and  fifties the neo realism movement films like Rome open city and Stromboli   and felt this book would have made a great neo realism film the quality of realism that falls of the page would work so well on the screen and you could imagine real people in rural Sardinia maybe letting us into this traditional world that I knew little of myself .so if you after a touching page turner this is the book for you .

Have you read this book ?

Beauty and the Inferno by Roberto Saviano

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Source – review copy

Translator – Oonagh Stransky

Now when I heard this was coming out I was excited I read Gomorrah his previous book about the Mafia ,and heard he had to go into permanent hiding due to the publication of that book in 2006  where he has 24 hour protection from the Italian government , he grew up in Naples he is a journalist and has written for a number of paper round the world like La repubblica and l’expresso .this collection of essays mostly come after he had to go into hiding .

Where to start with this collection ,it is hard I don’t want tell you every one so will choose some and tell you bits about them ,thus leaving gems for you to discover ,because this is one of these books you should run and buy even if it is just because Roberto Saviano is one of the bravest people I ve come across writing his previous book he knew would lead to trouble so in doing that he lost his liberty .the book is divided into five sections with essays grouped round themes ,the first is called south and are stories about the south of italy .The one I will mention is the last in this section all about the aftermath of the earthquake that hit L Aquilla in 2009 ,it shows how poor building standards caused more death than necessary ,this was less well reported in UK but 300 plus people died as Saviano says when he quotes Franco Armino the Italian poet

Twenty five years after the earthquake there will not be much left of the dead .And even less of the living .

The next collection of essays are about Men ,he meets a wonderful collection of men ,the brittle bone suffering Jazz musician Michel Petrucciani’s where Saviano describes the life of this talented musician who overcame a very bad condition to bring music to people .Another story in this section that really grabbed me is the Messi essay all about the young Lionel Messi and how this wonderfully gifted footballer ended up at Barcelona as they saw him as a very young boy but with a growth problem ,so they funded treatment ,this was news to me and to a non football fan is a touching tale of a boys dreams coming true .

The treatment ,however ,can split you in two Nausea was the main problem .You vomit up your soul .Your facial hair does not grow .You feel your muscles popping out ,your bones creaking and groaning .Everything gets bigger and longer in months rather than years .I couldn’t let myself experience the pain says Messi

Then we have two short sections one on business,one was about rubbish business in italy and the problems that have been caused by this being corruptly  run .The next section is called war he talks about one of my favourite non fiction books Michael Herr’s dispatches a book that was used partly in two films apocalypse now and Full metal jacket ,I love that he likes this book as well Herr like Saviano is a writer that isn’t afraid of the truth and telling it like he did in dispatches (this lead to me deciding to reread dispatches and tie it in with Bao Ninh the sorrow of war shortly ).The final section is called north and is about mainly the nobel prize this includes Saviano meeting Salman Rushdie this is worth a read if you don’t read anything else in the book to see two men that have had to live in hiding because of what they wrote is touching .

Well as you may tell this is another non fiction book that has grabbed my heart ,Saviano is a writer that can draw the reader in from the first word ,his clear descriptions and obvious knowledge of the subjects he writes about is clear .This does what all good essays should do, that’s leave you wanting to know more about the subject of the essay ,but also with the feeling you know enough to talk about the subject to the lay man .Oonagh Stransky did a fine job on the translation.The book is published by Maclehose press 

What are your favourite works of Non fiction ?

Blood sisters by Alessandro Perissinotto

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Source -review copy from Hersillia press

Translated by Howard Curtis

This is a debut in English for the Italian writer Alessandro Perissanto ,He gain in a degree in semiotics but had many jobs whilst studying and eventually end up as a professor in Turin ,he had previously worked in multimedia .

The book centres on Anna Pavesi a psychologist ,that receives a call to come and look into the death in what seems a hit and run of Patriza by her half-sister Benedetta.Well anna is short of money and takes the challenge and heads of from her home to the surrounds of Milan .Now she has to dive into Patrica’s life see who she was and where she worked ,as we follow anna we grasp what may be clues or red herrings .A big question Anna needs to answer who was visited Patrica in the Red lancia Fulvia ? ,maybe this leads to the murder maybe not .She meets Anna’s boss a man full of chat and trying to show how good an employer he is but is he trying to hide something then there is Marco that Anna ends up sleeping with ,but was he involved .there is also the prostitutes near where the hit and run will they talk ,also a large SUV that might be the car that killed Patrica .

Please ,Patriza was my cousin .The person who knocked her down got away and they haven’t caught him .Please I beg you

“I didn’t see anything,but if you come tomorrow morning about seven you’re sure to find Alina .She has red hair very red hair .She might know .”

Thank you ,thank you very much .

Anna questions a prostitute near were the hit and run happened .

Now I really really like Anna and Alessandro’s writing style and the translation by Howard Curtis ,whose previous translation I ve all enjoyed he seems to keep the flow of the prose so well .This is classic crime fiction with a modern Italian twist Anna Pavesi is Miss Marple in tight jeans and forty years younger ,with a dose of Italian style thrown in there is a group of suspects and a good dose of red herrings to keep you turning those pages to the end and a wonderful finish ,Alessandro use modern world , modern cars mention Anna use’s a mobile also Italy’s modern problems like prostitution, which I like to see in a modern book this book was first published in 2006 in Italy ,now the book ends with the glimmer we might meet anna

in a few weeks or a few months I’ll get a call from someone who’s spoken to Benedetta ,someone who thinks I’m a psychologist who specialises in searching for missing persons .

on last page maybe Anna returns who knows ?

This is the second book from new Italian crime publisher Hersillia press ,a publisher worth keeping an eye on by this book ,as with the BBC Italian noir programme earlier this year ,crime fiction is thriving in Italy at moment .

The Fugitive by Massimo Carlotto

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Source – Library .

Massimo Carlotto lived the story within this book ,he was involved with the terrorist group Lotta Contina he found a man stabbed in 1976 as a 19-year-old this lead to a life on the run and a huge case in Italy eventually he was pardoned in 1993 after an eventful 18 years of battles and running from the law .This is my first foray into Italian noir .

We catch the fiction Max in Mexico ,then we move back to see him first of after fleeing from the law and what would have been a lifetime Jail term ,he is in Paris he hangs out with the criminal and general underclass the people that we pass in large cities ,the under paid and petty thieves at this point is one of my favourite scenes in the whole book when he goes to a dentist due to agonizing pain ,he borrows a chilean medical card but whilst at the dentist is found out .

Listen ,doctor ,could you tell me something ? Would any dentist have noticed ?

No I worked in Chile for a couple of years ,

I started to laughing:

you mean to say that out of the hundred of dentists in Paris ,I ran into the only one that could cause me problems ?

He wa laughing too . that’s probably right .

so long doctor .

Max is treat by a dentist that finds out who he is but keep the secret .

A wonderful scene the book darkens as the main character decides to he’d off to Mexico as he been told it is a safe place but it turns out to be far from that and leads to a high climax .

I choose to get this after the bbc Italian Noir show remind me off it ,Massimo is the master of pace and tone ,you get shivers up the spine and have the constant sense of time ticking as Max runs from the law .It takes a long hard look at life on the run and how to deal with .The book was translated by Anthony Shugar and published by Europa Editions ,he has since wrote many novels a number of others available in english .

Have you read any Italian Noir ?

The Leopard by Tomasi Di Lampedusa

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This is Probably the most well known Italian classic .It is a set text in Italian school I was told by Hersilla press the new Italian crime press .Tomasi  was the 11th prince of Lampedusa this was his only novel and was published after his death in the late fifties this was also made into a film by Visconti starring Burt Lancaster he loved the book and was dubbed into Italian for his performance as the Prince .

The book is based in Scilly in the YEAR 1860 and follows a real event and some real people mixed with fiction characters .The main character is the prince of salina ,he is faced with a huge change in his life as Garibaldi red shirts are en route to Scilly to bring it into the Italian unification movement as Giuseppe Garibaldi fought to topple the feudal system that was still part of Italy at the time .So we find a man facing a uncertain values in regards his place in society  but also a changing society round him .The course of the book follows the prince journey dealing with this travelling round the island meeting his mistress and his good friend Father Pirrone that gives him some wonderful advice with what to do about his future .

The old man looked at him with amazement ,he had wanted to know if the prince of Salina was satisfied or not with the latest changes ,and the other was talking to him about aphrodisiacs and light for Golgotha .all that reading driven him off his head poor man .

a section from chapter with Father Pirrone and the Prince talking .

The book has a highly personnel feel given Tomasi family history been from a royal family parts of this story must relate to his own ,Also I thing there is some connection to modern Italy at the time it was written ,just after the end of the second world war ,like the Italy of the 1860’s it was in a state of flux .The leopard is part of Tomasi own coat of arms ,The volume I have is the new Vintage edition that includes some separate pieces that were found after the book was published these include sonnets written by Don Fabrizio the prince these add to the book I like the fact that they haven’t been thrown in to the original text ,but the fact that Tomasi had written them and left them to maybe add at some point is wonderful .The book was originally meant to be an Italian version of Joyce’s Ulysses and set over a day but instead it is slices of time over the course of 1860’s .Now I can watch the film it was on over christmas but I left it as I want to read the book .May I also point out at no point was the Garibaldi biscuit mentioned I do wonder how his name got attached to this biscuit .This book was recently picked by our deputy prime minister Nick Clegg as his desert Island book .after reading I can see why it is a wonderfully written book that would stand numerous rereading .

Have you read this book ?

The luneberg variation by Paolo Maurensig

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source – own copy from inside books thanks

Paulo Maurensig is an Italian writer this was his debut novel published just after he turned fifty.This is my second Italian week read

The Luneburg variation is book about chess ,secrets and world war two ,it is set in a house where a dead body will appear ,it’s about an old man and a younger man ,the chess reflects life in some ways as the books ,unfolds but that is as much as I know on the chess side I play but am not very good ,but the chess is maybe just a framing device for the way the story turns out .Hans Meyer the young man has come to learn from a grand master the older man Tabori ,the men have spent most of there lives studying this game and although different both have a part to play as they narrate the story ,a murder has happen but also this is linked to the past horror of world war two the dead man Dieter Frisch is a german from Munich ,the action happens in Vienna where the old house is

They say that chess was born in blood shed .

Legend has it that when the game was first presented to the court ,the sultan decide to reward the obscure inventor by granting any wish he might have .The recompense requested seemed modest : the quantity of wheat that would result from putting a single grain of rice on the first of the boards sixty-four squares then two on second and four on the third and so on ..I ll leave the in and outs for you to find out the book is very short 138 pages in my edition.

The great opening and the impossible task of supplying the wheat by doubling up on every square .

The book remind me of Kafka or maybe Zweig a bit apart from the setting there is something Noir about this book dark secrets and a constant building of tension .The description of the house remind me a bit of the house in citizen Kane ,where Kane dies ,that’s how the book felt like a black and white film ,A great find by my friend Simon at inside books that sent it to me .the book was translated by Jon Rothschild

Winston’s score –

the tension in this film is similar to the tension in the book ,also both are set in Vienna and round similar times .

Have you read any books with chess in ?

IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELLER BY ITALO CALVINO

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Source – my own copy ,

Well book one of Italian week is the modern classic by the Italian Mastero Italo Calvino ,the cuban born Italian writers Marmite book ,this is a book for reviews I ve read whilst blogging is a book that either people love or hate ,well what did I think ?

You are about to begin reading Calvino’s new novel ,If on a winter’s night a traveller .Concentrate dispel every other thought .Let the world around you fade .

wise words from the sage himself .

 

The book is a book that talks ,you may laugh but every other chapter is telling you about how you read the book and what it is to read the book ,this is a unusual to start of with but is witty and a little tongue in cheek ,like my fellow blogger Parish lantern the humour was a real surprise ,the other chapters in between are a thee story of a man in a made up-country  Cimmeria ,this would appear to be italy through Calvino’s eyes ,the is a relationship and some fraud ,but there is also a number of different separate stories on various subject’s .The plot is hard to explain as there really isn’t one this is like a tour of talents like Calvino’s portfolio it him nudging you and going  to you look at this ,the book draws you in to you feel like you were a character written by Calvino .

Listening to someone read aloud is very different to reading in silence .when you read, you can stop or skip sentences :you are the one who sets the pace .When someone else is reading it difficult to make your attention coincide with the tempo of his reading : the voice goes either to fast or slow .

I heard Ben Okri say something similar ,the opening of chapter Four .

Well as you may tell I loved this book ,and my doubts were silly ,I should have known I loved  invisible cities ,I tend to doubt myself with these books that are experimental or off beat novels ,because everyone I ve read I love this brought to mind B S Johnson whose works I loved when I read them .I can see why people don’t like it there is little plot not many names and it is maybe a male book more than a female book .This is translated by the wonderful William Weaver probably the best Italian translator alive .

Winston’s score –


I was going use the leaning tower of Pisa but choose to use my own land mark our twisted spire here in Chesterfield ,If you know how it got there it loses its wonder ,the beauty is in the way it looks and the same is true of If on a winter’s night , analysis it too much and the beauty of the first reading is lost, the feeling of floating on a sea of words  with the good captain Calvino .

 

POEM STRIP BY DINO BUZZATI

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source – own copy purchased from amazon

publisher –  NYRB CLASSICS

Dino Buzzati was one of italys leading writers ,he work all his life as a journalist in Milan for the corrierie della sera,during the war he served as a journalist in Africa attached to an Italian marine troop ,he had his first novel published in 1933 ,he is best known for his 1940 novel The Tatar steppes the story of an officer stuck at an old fort in the desert as time passes .Poem strip was his last book  published in 1969 and was his only graphic Novel .

The book follows Orfi a young  brooding musician who falls for a women who is already dead  but up on the surface from the underworld Eura ,he follows her to a door on the viva saterna in Milan ,this door leads to the underworld ,eventually Orfi enters this underworld he wants to bring Eura to the real world again and has a day to find her ,he avoids the temptation of the underworld where he is offered different women to try out  and also sees the chaos of the underworld  .but sticks to his guns .It combines music ,sex and the dark side of life wonderfully .

A sample of the artwork the story itself is a modern retelling of the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice myth the descent to the underworld if you aren’t keen on reading the original greek  myths this is one of the best modern retelling of this myth .The book is very graphic in places ,you can tell Dino Buzzati liked the female form ,it is compelling and obviously was a real passion for Buzzati who also did a number of actual paintings connected to the story ,these were exhibited in Milan in 2007 .This book is a real find as ever by NYRB they keep turn these wonderful books up .A warped take on the sixties from an  Italian perspective from a philosophical and thoughtful writer ,this has made me want to read Tatar steppe that has been on my wish list for ages .The story was translated by Mairna Harss who has translated a number of the best known Italian writers ,she did a great job of making Orfis songs still seem poetic in translation .

OLD MEN RIVER

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TITLE – RIVER OF SHADOWS BY VALERIO VARESI

SOURCE – REVIEW COPY SENT TO ME

This is the first translation from  highly succesful series in its native italy ,Valerio Varesi he was born in Turin and grew up in Emilia ,he studied philosophy and became a journalist ending up working in Bologna on the republic in 1998 he published the first commissario Soneri novel there have been a number of follow-up books the series has been made into a wonderful tv series in its native italy called mist and crimes (Nebbie e delitti) ,I watch a few clips on you tube the man character is a beard guy in his late 40’s it looks to be a dark crime show ,so it gave me a feel of the book to start with .Now the book itself is a wonderfully presented book eerie black white sepia picture on cover and a wonderful marble like set of endpapers inside .Now the novel is set round the River po that cuts across northern italy and the bargemen that work on the river ,it opens as two elderly brothers one dies and the other vanishes with in a short period of time ,this is when Commissario Soneri appears to find out what has happened ,as he untangle the story ,which at times is hampered by the fact that these bargemen are a tightly knit secretive community ,but he sees the light bit by bit .Who is Kite and what happened near the end of the second world war to lead to the events that have just happened well to find that out you’ll have to read the book ..

“see you tomorrow for the results of the post-mortem ”

Soneri nodded,but he was deep in consideration of the port ,almost hypnotized by the liquid in the glass in his hand .in a whirl of vintage red,he seemed to see the barge man Tonna carried along in the current until he was swallowed up b y the waters .he drank the port in one gulp and reached for the list of the caabinieri quarters in the province

soneri pondering and drink ,something he does a lot.

Well I don’t read many crime novels but when I do find one I love I can’t help but  rave about it and this is one such book Varesi seems to capture a tight-knit community so well it reminds me of the mining villages that surround Chesterfield where I live ,the are always cautious of strangers and tend to do that thing where you’re welcome ,but not really ,if you know what I mean ,well he has caught that wonderfully ,Soneri is a detective in the classic police detective mode ,brooding ,has a vice in his case seems to love visiting the bar .the plot keeps you on your toes til the last few pages ,it is a good insight into how deep wounds caused by war can run in this case it is fascists and partizans with wounds still running deep 40 plus years later .the book is published by Quercus on there Machlehose press ,and was translated by Joseph Frrell ,whohas alos translated the works of nobel laurate Dario Fo.

WINSTONS SCORE

This is like a italian rebus but the ken stott rebus not the John Hannah one ! and below is Luca Barabeschi who plays soneri for the RAI TV SERIES