This is the first English translation of Cerami's most famous novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo. Giovanni Vivaldi is a victim who is also a monster. In this revenge story he tortures his enemy with the same attention to detail he'd apply to the files he's slogged over for half a lifetime in the pensions office. And with the same detachment.
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Summary
This is the first English translation of Cerami's most famous novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo. Giovanni Vivaldi is a victim who is also a monster. In this revenge story he tortures his enemy with the same attention to detail he'd apply to the files he's slogged over for half a lifetime in the pensions office. And with the same detachment.
Description
A Very Normal Man is the first English translation of Vincenzo Cerami's first and most famous novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo. The complex word play of the Italian title is untranslatable in English; it means literally a very little, very middle-class man. Little he may be, but Giovanni Vivaldi, to paraphrase Italo Calvino's words, is a victim who is also a monster. This is a revenge story whose protagonist tortures his enemy with the same attention to detail he'd apply to the files he's slogged over for half a lifetime in the office for pensions. And with the same detachment.
This classic caught the attention of the greatest figures of the day on the Italian literary scene for its unique amalgam of the storyteller's gifts, its expose of society's subterranean forces, and its black (as well as not so dark) humour.
About the Author
Vincenzo Cerami (1940-2013) is not just highly acclaimed as a novelist and nonfiction writer, but is also famous for his contribution to Italian cinema as the screenwriter of celebrated films such as the 1997 production La vita e bella (Life is beautiful), which he co-authored with Roberto Benigni. Un borghese piccolo piccolo (A Very Normal Man), written in 1976, is Cerami's first novel and it brought him instant acclaim. Isobel Grave is Cassamarca lecturer in Italian language and literature at the University of South Australia. She is a NAATI qualified professional translator and interpreter and a published translator of poetry from Italian into English.
A Very Normal Man is the first English translation of Vincenzo Cerami's first and most famous novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo. The complex word play of the Italian title is untranslatable in English; it means literally a very little, very middle-class man. Little he may be, but Giovanni Vivaldi, to paraphrase Italo Calvino's words, is a victim who is also a monster. This is a revenge story whose protagonist tortures his enemy with the same attention to detail he'd apply to the files he's slogged over for half a lifetime in the office for pensions. And with the same detachment. This classic caught the attention of the greatest figures of the day on the Italian literary scene for its unique amalgam of the storyteller's gifts, its expose of society's subterranean forces, and its black (as well as not so dark) humour.
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