A new novel of a great italian writer: Ermanno Cavazzoni

Non-Italian readers probably don't know Ermanno Cavazzoni at all. Even many italian readers probably don't know him (Italians are not great book readers). Here is a brief description of Cavazzoni in English. And here is a Cavazzoni's short story - a funny, absurd, fairytale writing - translated to English.

Cavazzoni writes not so popular books. He gained some popularity when Federico Fellini in 1990 made a film out of his book "Il poema dei lunatici" (English translation "Voice of the moon"). A few more of Cavazzoni's books are translated to English.

I read all of his books and so when I knew a new Cavazzoni's novel was out I bought it as soon as I could. The new book is "La galassia dei dementi" (The Galaxy of Madmen) and, unexpectedly, it is a very long novel that looks like a sci-fiction one. I have not read yet the 660 pages of this novel but I know it is not what we can identify as "sci-fiction", even if it is set in the year 6ooo A.W. (After the Invention of the Wheel - but the date of the invention of the wheel is not exactly known, and it's placed around the 4th-5th millenniun BC, so...).

Anyway, I just want to introduce to you this important italian writer. What kind of reader can appreciate Cavazzoni's books? As I said, his novel are not the very popular kind. He writes absurd, weird and somehow funny stories using a very simple language. People who like writers like Cortazar, Borges, Perec, Queneau - or the american Nicholson Baker - could appreciate Cavazzoni too, probably.

A list of titles of Cavazzoni's books can help you to understand what I mean: 

• The Poem of Lunatics
• Short Lives of Idiots
• The Useless Writers
• Eulogy of Beginners
• Natural History of Giants
• The Limbo of Fantastications
• A Guide to Fantastic Animals
• The Valley of Thieves
• The Lonely Thinker

I dedicated a painting in my graphic novel "Giants" to Cavazzoni. This one:

Ermanno Cavazzoni will be in my town to sign books in a couple of weeks and of course I will be there to listen to him and, possibly, talk to him. :)

Images sources: http://www.zimbio.com/Ermanno+Cavazzoni/pictures/pro