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Novels # 35: Fortress of Solitude


read this novel has been a factor.
being inside the old cartoons of Marvel wrapped as relics, tons of titles of tracks funk and soul and discover the satisfaction that I knew all, and three pages to track Rapper's Delight the Sugarhill Gang made me a reader satisfied and qualified. After the reading I went into my personal "bat-cave" with renewed devotion to admire my collection of original American comics incellophanati carefully and old LPs and 45s.
I've always been convinced that everything that collection had its poetic soul of literature, but sometimes in order to substantiate its belief that there is a need for a writer like Lethem that we confirm it.
Released by the bat-cave is in the spirit of the blog and the step Fortress of Solitude (The Fortress of Solitude) that, for the uninitiated, in addition to the novel's title is the name of Superman's secret hideout.
The book, first published in 2003, tells the Brooklyn of the '70s through the history of friendship between the white Dylan Ebdus Black and Mingus Rude, a friendship experienced between four streets of Brooklyn, a microcosm of the changing racial where "there are murmurs that whites are returning" .
Dylan, Ebdus and the other kids in the suburbs, including the tough Robert Woolfolk, grow on street games, petty theft, music, tags and graffiti on the walls, superheroes, bullying. And the drug, spiced with hopes no one knows what.
They dream of being superheroes and also for some of them the opportunity will present itself, thanks to a mysterious ring had inherited from a bum. But
Dean Street, Flatbush Avenue, Nevins Street, Bergen Street , not Manhattan, with its towers and skyscrapers, districts are horizontal, with low houses where no flying superhero, even their Aeroman, moves smoothly: "Dylan is close to the edge, at most, then closer. She slides one foot on the ledge, bend your knees as George Washington on the bow. He can see down the bottom of the pit of Dean Street, the tops of newly planted trees, grids on the roofs of buses passing through, but the feeling is dizzying. "
that road, where it takes place throughout the first part of the novel long and have little or nothing nice: "Brooklyn is not always felt able to look different from what it was, conscious and anxious, pointing Manhattan, as in Dean, in Bergen or in Pacific Street. Brooklyn, at times, was also pleased, as in Flatbush Avenue, to be herself, messy and persistent. "
Yet the appeal of the suburbs, where it grows, it is undeniable suffering and the hope is for the reader as to the writer. Those roads are the setting for the training of social acceptance, where it remains unclear who laughs at those who challenge those who are victims of those. Lethem's writing is vivid, sharp, and with dialogues that affect impact and there are exercises in style refined as the transition from third to first person narration after the first part of the novel and the writing of the liner notes of the CD box set Bothered Blue imaginary Subtle Distinctions group.
The events of the two protagonists and other characters such as Mingus's father, Barrett Rude (he is the former lead singer of the aforementioned Subtle Distinctions, probably inspired by Philippe Wynne of the Spinners ) are followed step by step from the '70s to ' 90, make us breathe the air of a District of New York literary and sap that is, in spite of family situations certainly not idyllic, even nostalgic dream for a generation of forty-fifty years old who have spent their youth to read with the greed comic books and liner notes discs until the last printed character, was that of copyright and credits microscopic printing. As someone has already
sospettato, le storie di Dylan, Ebdus e Robert e gli altri avranno destini diversi, non tutti con la stessa fortuna, ma le radici della strada sono difficili da estirpare.
Chiudo con una nota sulla copertina di questa edizione italiana del romanzo.
Credo che sia totalmente sbagliata.
Questa illustrazione del Red Nose Studio, perfetta nell'esprimere angoscia e oppressione, non evoca minimamente i contenuti del libro e non aiuta certo a dare al lavoro di Lethem una maggiore diffusione. Lethem, qui al suo sesto romanzo, resta in Italia un autore per intenditori e un progetto di grafica più accattivante e più in tema, come ad esempio quello realizzato per il libro di Claudia Durastanti Un Giorno Verrò a Lanciare Sassi alla tua window, not far from the atmosphere of this volume would have been more appropriate. Or just take any of cover American or British .
The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem, The Assayer Pocket, 2010

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Novels in New York # 34: The Gang of New York in New York


The first thing I would say is that how could it happen that this book, published in the U.S. in 1928, remained unpublished in Italy for seventy-three years.
And unfortunately I believe, with little fear of making mistakes, it would stay forever if he had not inspired the namesake movie directed by Martin Scorsese in 2002 (and filmed almost entirely in the Cinecitta studios in Rome). Ringraziando Scorsese, Leonardo Di Caprio e Cameron Diaz per aver di fatto consentito la lettura di queste pagine, passiamo ai contenuti.
Le Gang di New York (Gangs of New York) non è un romanzo vero e proprio, ma è, per usare le parole dell'autore, "un tentativo di narrare fedelmente le gesta più spettacolari del cittadino ribelle che per almeno un centinaio di anni rappresentò un pericoloso flagello per New York, sottolineandone il background di vizio povertà e corruzione politica tanto da rendere comprensibile la sua personalità".
Cento anni di gang, di storie criminali, di figure e situazioni tanto incredibili quanto vere. La ricostruzione di Herbert Asbury (1889-1963), journalist and novelist, is precise and full of charm, despite the harshness and cruelty of the themes of some characters. I cite, for example, the legendary Albert E. Hicks, convicted murderer to death, whose execution by hanging in 1860 on the island of Bedloe (which would house the Statue of Liberty ), was a true spectacle for the city, complete with a boat trip and lunch to book in advance.
And Bill the Butcher ( "Bill the Butcher" ), John Morrissey, Louie the Lamp, Kid Twist, Monk Eastman, described and presented with pictures that seem to come from the cartoons an old Dick Tracy comic .
The New York show of the century in vividly, ruthless and corrupt. Roads and places such as The Tombs (the prison), the sinister Bowery Theatre, Center Street, the neighborhood known as Five Points, Hell's Kitchen, Paradise Square, give off a sordid fascination with their history but also through the writing of Asbury: "Edward Coleman, one of gansgter originating in Paradise Square, fell in love with a girl known around the neighborhood selling the cobs as the beautiful warm. He married her after fierce fights with a dozen suitors and eventually killed when the proceeds of the wife turned out to be below expectations. "
The guide to Asbury is on time, not without irony, and cites dozens of gangs, analyze trends and rituals, explains the nicknames and tells the endless fights, crimes on a commission basis with a lot of price list distributed on the streets of the city (scarring on the cheek from 1 to $ 10, bullet in the leg 5 to $ 25 and so on. ..).
The Gang of New York is a book that can fascinate the student of the city and the curiosity of every reader. Many of the buildings and places mentioned in the book are missing or completely transformed, and this adds value to the work of Asbury, it makes a sort of guide to the disappearance of New York, New York slum, where the line between legal and illegal was confused and evanescent, with teams of firefighters to fire and plunder, criminals who dream of do the cops and cops who are criminals.
close with a note on a beautiful cover of the book reproduces that of No January 13, 1906 the magazine Bowery Boy Library . For those, like myself, is sensitive to the charm of vintage illustrations is a must a jump to this section of the site Syracuse University, where you can find many other covers of the historic weekly, published at the time by Street and Smith.
The Gang of New York, Herbert Asbury, Garzanti, 2001

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Novels # 33: A Drama Aquarius


For the city of New York the importance of a drama Aquarius (The Penguin Pool Murder) del prolifico giallista Stuart Palmer (1905-1968) va ben oltre il piacevole intreccio narrativo e il debutto letterario dell'insegnante investigatrice Hildegarde Withers, signorina agée, ironica e determinata (in pratica una zitella).
L'aspetto più interessante della vicenda, pubblicata negli USA nel 1931, è la sua ambientazione che si snoda all'interno di una delle meraviglie della Big Apple sparita: il New York Aquarium, il favoloso acquario della città inaugurato nel 1896 e realizzato all'interno delle mura di Castle Clinton, la più celebre costruzione di Battery Park , nella punta estrema della downtown di Manhattan.
L'acquario, dopo aver subito importanti modifiche 20 years, was destroyed in 1941 as a follow-urbanist project that Robert Moses wanted to make a bridge between Battery Park and Brooklyn. The project was later blocked, but now there was the Aquarium. Castle Clinton to the outer wall remains today, still characteristic point of the city, while the fish swim in a new facility in Coney Island.
In 1932 the book was made into a film directed by George Archainbaud and unprecedented in Italy, where you can admire the historic aquarium. We can do it too by clicking here . Miss Withers is a feature film starring Edna May Oliver, who will screen two more times this character.
The Aquarium was a marvel Palmer and yellow are often quite good: "The office of Mr. Bertrand B. Hemingway, director of the aquarium is on the left of the main entrance. hemicycle Located as it is formed by the body at the base of the building , is illuminated by two large windows one of which overlooks the lower Manhattan area, the other on the platform. Two glass doors put him in direct communication with the great hall of the museum. "
Miss Withers, with a lot of school children in tow, along with Inspector Piper investigates a murder in the bathtub of the Penguins. Femme fatale, stalwart lawyers, brokers, petty thieves, guards, policemen and penguins wander through the corridors, halls and baths and - apart from the penguins - Even on the streets of New York post-depression but still struggling with the troubles in the stock market crash of 1929.
Palmer defines his character well, with humor, insight and a pericolossissimo umbrella, and also fits well with other actors on particular customs and fashions of the time, providing an interesting insight into some of New York at that time: "Involuntarily Piper said that was a hard hat, but now it was deemed ridiculous at that moment in New York, all wore hard hats." The
Withers will be so successful, however, that the teacher will be the star detective of eighteen titles.
The first publication of the novel in Italy dates back to 1937 on the historical anthology series No.5 Supergiallo Mondadori, before being reprinted in 1974 in the Classics Series No. 197 dated gold (is that the image accompanying the post) and 2006.
A Drama Aquarius , Stuart Palmer, The Classic of the Yellow Mondadori n. 1107, 2006

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Novels New York # 32: Life in New York


Being a talented writer and digging in past generations of their family history of emigration is like receiving an inheritance, a legacy far more valuable than many material goods.
Melania Mazzucco, one of our most talented and award-winning authors, listen to stories of his father Robert and uncle blind Amedeo on the vicissitudes of Diamond, a boy of twelve years and years of life that has nines. The two children start in 1903 by Tufo of Minto in the province of Caserta to reach Uncle Lamb, father of the girl and the boy's uncle.
The first stage is that of American gauntlet of Ellis Island, off the island of Manhattan where immigrants were subject to strict controls, if not brutal and merciless, with the risk of being branded with an X on your back and beautiful returned home.
And here begins the epic story of the two anti-heroes of the book, and other memorable characters: Rocco, Nicola said Coca Cola, Cichitto, Lena, Jeremiah, all the streets - at the time - the most infamous of the city.
Uncle Lamb lives in Prince Street, now one of the most chic streets of Soho, and sublets for parents and relatives because "has always had a keen desire of dollars" and Life is put to work immediately: "Today, cooked Vitarelli ".
The neighborhood is marked by the boundary of Houston Street, beyond which the signs outside the local flower No Niggers, Dogs, Italians (I have to translate?).
But kids, you know, are kids, and they go around. And with their eyes, the author tells the New York of the early twentieth century from the point of view, not privileged, the Italian immigrants.
There are skyscrapers under construction, and Diamond and friends violate yards, climb and dream of reaching the top, even if only to spit it down. And discover the city, the real one, not far but it seems so far away from the "tenements".
"They passed under an arch with the inscription Macy's and entered the realm of light. Life had never seen such a place, nor would see him in later years. She would never have crossed the border to Houston Street."
Yeah. In the story, as expected, there is only wonder and adventure. Oppression, disease and death, suffering and poverty, crime, illiteracy and the difficulties of love are the themes and events discussed in a frank, but also with great humanity and a sense of "sweet crude" that on several occasions dilutes the dramatic situations without becoming dull.
And this has helped greatly to overcome my instinctive cowardice by the player who escapes from the anguish of family stories and daily life - almost always dramatic when they finish a novel - in favor of other narrative genres.
Life, written in 2003 and recently reprinted in the series "Extra" of the Rizzoli Bur (the image relates to my issue, that of 2007) uses an exhaustive search of the author, with acute observations of contemporary chapters on change in the city, letters, photographs and documents in the novel, recently reprinted in the series "Extra" Rizzoli Bur
A draft of the complex, but rigorous emotional, with the title character real and memorable (maybe because unforgettable true).
Life , Melania Mazzucco, Extra Rizzoli Bur, 2010