It was (and is) my plan presented in this web space volumes of essays or city guides, but the beauty of blogs is that you can also take some liberties and give the body a number of exceptions that confirm the rule.
The idea was born from this digression to reprint the book of Professor Mario Maffi "Beneath the towers of Manhattan" , now revised and adjusted in the title and becomes, simply, New York . The book was released in 1998 and, as stated by the author nell'inedita chapter titled Time and the City , things will have changed a lot.
It 's true that this is not a novel but it is also true that it is a guide that reads like a novel, with New York the undisputed protagonist of the story with Maffi wandering time and space in the city.
The author tells it, even the shows with a passion that only a city like New York can give. The story of the city goes beyond the geometric map streets and avenues of downtown and uptown and guide us - not only in the topographical sense - even through and in the city: "Maybe this route south to north is somewhat forced and a director at some point you should abandon it, to enjoy Manhattan crosstown , horizontally. Then, one morning, take the 14th or the 23rd or 42th or 57th all ' East end of the island, the sun is behind you and illuminates everything ahead of you, and avviatevi toward the Hudson River, the west end. "
The appearance of the erudite guide, hundreds of facts, names, places, addresses are the frame, solid and timely exposure of a fluid, captivating narrative and tone, with the support of a rich iconographic and visually stimulating .
Maffi love the city and this love leads him to a sincere critique of what is wrong, even dispelling stereotypes about what to see and what you can avoid it, with a popular mission that pushes the reader / visitor to forced exit from the paths of tourism to discover the real city, the urban villages, cafes, markets of English Harlem, the Lower East Side, small parks, places history, short but intense of the Big Apple.
The very name of the chapters divided into Names, Maps, Below, Resorts, Museums, Words (this chapter that tells better than any comment on my blog because it comes as Novels in New York), Pictures, Sounds, Prism, bridges, is symptomatic of the originality of the approach to the city as well as more conventional titles or Museums Maps hidden treasures: "visit the MoMA is a little like sending a postcard to friends witness. Nothing wrong of course. But New York has other little gems that are no less emblematic of the MoMA or the Met ... These little gems are often organized in a different way in an attempt to engage the visitor, to turn it into an active user that is not only exposed, but literally put on stage. "
The fact that many of these chapters are essentially unchanged the first edition is a value-added work, a photograph of New York a few years ago, often different from today and not only because of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.
Maffi love the city and this love led him to a sincere critique of what is wrong, even dispelling stereotypes about what to see and what you can avoid it, with a mission that drives popular the reader / visitor to leave the beaten track bound tourism to discover the real city.
New York is a city that we all know regardless of whether there was or not. One of the main effects of this book is that people who already visited the city will come back to see what has been lost and who is planning his first trip in the luggage will have the right tools to be a little more travelers and fewer tourists. It is not a trivial matter.
New York, Mario Maffei, Odoya, 2010
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