Păpușarul

A man reads Pinocchio beside a fire one evening. He then senses the son he has never had. He speaks to this imagined child about his life. His memories lead through Naples and his ties with his parents. He also reflects on politics, social action, freedom and literature.

Erri De Luca builds this work of fiction around a changing exchange. At first, only the father speaks. The silent son gains a voice and seems to come alive. Words give him shape, drawing on the narrator's faith in writing. Their talk explores the father's past, his fate and life's central questions. It also traces the history of a city and an era.

De Luca was born in Naples in 1950. He is an Italian writer, poet, translator and screenwriter. Since his debut in 1989, he has written over sixty books. His work has reached readers in more than thirty languages. His awards include the Prix France Culture and Prix Laure Bataillon. He has also won the Prix André Malraux and Prix Femina étranger. Other honours include the Petrarca-Preis and the European Union Prize for Literature.

His first screenplay was for the short film Di là dal vetro. It screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2011. The next year, he wrote Il turno di notte lo fanno le stelle and acted in it. He has translated books of the Bible. He taught himself Yiddish, Swahili, Russian and Hebrew. He also writes for La Repubblica, Il Manifesto, Corriere della Sera and Avvenire.

His civic work echoes the book's concern with politics. As a young man, he joined the left-wing movement Lotta continua. He took part in workers' groups until he was forty. He also worked in construction and drove aid trucks into war zones. In 2013, he joined NO TAV in northern Italy. The movement opposes a high-speed rail line over concerns about harm to the environment. He lives in the countryside near Rome, where he seeks a quiet life.

This edition belongs to the Byblos series. Liviu Ornea translated the Italian text, Il giro dell'oca.