Diego Marani

A man searches for his lost identity in wartime Italy and Finland.

The Interpreter follows on from New Finnish Grammar and The Last of the Vostyachs and forms a trilogy of novels on the theme of language and identity. The Interpreter is both a quest and a thriller, and at times a comic picaresque caper around Europe but also deals with with the profound issues of existence. An Interpreter at the UN in Geneva seems to be suffering from a mysterious illness when his translations become unintelligible and resemble no known language. He insists he is not ill and that he is on the verge of discovering the primordial language once spoken by all living creatures. His predicament is soon forgotten when he disappears and things can return to normal. The interpreters boss starts to have problems in talking and seems to be speaking the same gibberish as the missing interpreter. He seeks help in a Sanatorium in Munich but reaches the conclusion he must talk to his missing colleague to understand what has happened to him and to have any hope of a cure. He follows the trail of the missing interpreter around Europe as his life undergoes profound changes and he is forced to confront the darker side of life. Essential reading for fans of Diego Marani.

Galardonada con el prestigioso premio Campiello (2002), El último vostiaco es una novela brillante, que oscila entre el drama y la comedia, y propicia por igual la diversión y la reflexión del lector. En ella encontramos muchos de los ingredientes de la obra de Diego Marani: la fluidez de la prosa, el trasfondo tematico, el canto a la belleza de las lenguas y su relacion con mundos que se extinguen. Pero El ultimo vostiaco es al mismo tiempo una novela de accion, que roza por momentos el genero negro, y en la que lo comico esta casi siempre presente. Esta combinacion de calidad literaria y originalidad configura un guiño al lector, cuya complicidad reclama.

Trieste, 1943. Un soldado da Segunda Guerra Mundial aparece ferido e inconsciente no porto. Sen ningunha documentación que o identifique, o home non lembra sequera o idioma que fala. O doutor que o asiste chega a conclusion de que e fines, coma el, e dedicase a aprenderlle de novo a sua lingua. Comeza asi a reconstrucion da identidade de Sampo Karjalainen, un proceso que o levara de volta a Finlandia na procura da sua identidade e do seu pasado. Unha obra sobre a perda, a memoria, a identidade, a guerra e o amor que recibiu numerosos premios, entre os que destaca o Grinzane Cavour.

Gentle satires of the European Union in a mock european language. Sed ces histories are sehr entertainingante, et joyeux tambien in a funny sort of weg, avec a similar sort of freeform feel a les pirata historias de Gideon Defoe. Europanto esse der jazz des linguas, dixit Marani, und its probablino enjoyed in the identilische spirit.. In small doses, in other words, with a large drink close at hand. Marcus Berkmann in The Spectator

A young man plunges into student life, in flight from an overbearing father, in search of an identity of his own making. He is like everyone else in his quest for a future he cannot yet understand. His experiences, often comic, always innocently human, are an exploration of the concept of boundaries. But in choosing to study in Trieste, a city of many-layered histories and ethnicities, a city of brilliant sunshine and ferocious gales, he finds that life, and love, throw him more questions than answers.It is a tale of Everyman, but more than that: in the hands of Diego Marani, author of the celebrated New Finnish Grammar, this wry and affecting novel leads the reader on a nostalgic and thought-provoking journey made wholly individual by its evocation of place the celestial city of Trieste.I did not think that one could weep for a city. But at that time I did not know that cities are women, one can fall in love with them and never forget them.

Premiada con el prestigioso Premio Campiello (2002), El último vostiaco es una novela brillante, que oscila entre el drama y la comedia, y propicia por igual la diversión y la reflexión del lector. En ella encontramos muchos de los ingredientes de la obra de Diego Marani: la fluidez de la prosa, el trasfondo tematico, el canto a la belleza de las lenguas y su relacion con mundos que se extinguen. Pero El ultimo vostiaco es al mismo tiempo una novela de accion, que roza por momentos el genero negro, y en la que lo comico esta casi siempre presente. Esta combinacion de calidad literaria y originalidad configura un guiño al lector, cuya complicidad reclama.

Memoria callada , novela galardonada con el prestigioso premio Grinzane Cavour, narra la historia de un soldado que cae herido en el norte de Italia durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, perdiendo su memoria y su lengua, y con ellas su identidad. A partir de ahí el protagonista comienza una búsqueda sin tregua de sí mismo, que debe empezar por la recuperación de su lengua materna y de un pasado del que lo desconoce todo. El drama se desarrolla en el Helsinki asediado por la contienda, y la melancolía que transmite nos atrapa desde las primeras páginas. Metáfora de las relaciones entre el hombre y la palabra, la obra es un magnífico poema sobre la identidad y la lengua. Escrita con una prosa fluida, la trama, densa y rica, implica al lector en la búsqueda del malhadado héroe y en las cuestiones que el autor sugiere: ¿qué somos sin nuestra memoria, sin nuestra lengua, sin nuestras raíces?

"Diego Marani torna sui luoghi della sua infanzia e adolescenza, la terra di Tresigallo, ovvero il cuore caldo e pulsante della provincia italiana: tema centrale del libro una delicata storia d''amore fra l''io narrante, alter ego di Marani stesso, e una compagna di liceo. È un amore impossibile, fatto di sguardi rubati e piccoli gesti pieni di pudore. A distanza di anni, dopo avere rincontrato la ragazza ormai adulta, al protagonista che e rimasto un eterno fanciullo si apre la possibilita di rivivere l''adolescenza, di tornare ancora una volta nei luoghi dove ando in scena il suo amore giovanile. Volando in una notte di luna in sella a una bicicletta incantata che lo porta a ritroso nel tempo, il protagonista si gioca un''ultima opportunita. Il DVD allegato racconta la terra di Tresigallo. "

First adventure for Domingo Salazar, a Dominican monk, who is a Vatican secret agent

The Last of the Vostyachs won two literary prizes in Italy: The Premio Campiello and The Premio Stresa. As a child, Ivan and his father work as forced labourers in a mine in Siberia, the father having committed some minor offence against the regime. Ivans father is then murdered in front of his young son, after which Ivan - who is a Vostyach, an imaginary ethnic group of whose language he is the last remaining speaker - is struck dumb by what he has witnessed. Some twenty years later the guards desert their posts and Ivan walks free, together with the other inmates. Guided by some mysterious power, he returns to the region he originally came from... "A genius Helsinki mystery with a touch of The Killing." Nick Lezard in The Guardian