The Twenty Days of Turin
| Author | Giorgio de Maria |
|---|---|
| Translator | Ramon Glazov |
| Publication place | Italian |
The Twenty Days of Turin (Le venti giornate di Torino: inchiesta di fine secolo) is a 1975 novel by Italian writer and musician Giorgio de Maria. Ramon Glazov translated the book into English in 2016.[1] It concerns a man in Turin who chooses to investigate a series of unexplained, violent events that occurred a decade before the setting of the novel.
Themes
[edit]The horror in the novel has been cited as an allegory for the violence and terrorism that plagued Italy during the Years of Lead from the 1960s to the 1980s.[2] In his foreword to his translation, Roman Glazov noted that prosecution attempts against fascist terrorist groups in Italy during the period "often ended in limbo" and that "in keeping with their real-world counterparts, the entities [behind the book's carnage] remain forever untouchable, hiding in plain sight, while authorities round up desperate, ill-fitting scapegoats." Glazov also noted that the methods used by those entities resembles the lone wolf attacks that surged in number in the 2000s.[3]
The Library described in the novel has been described by several commentators as accurately foreshadowing the rise of social media.[4][5][6]
Reception
[edit]It has been referred to as "remarkably prescient"[7] and has garnered comparisons to the works of H.P. Lovecraft[8] and Thomas Pynchon.[4] Vulture named the novel one of the 100 best dystopian novels in history.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Giraldi, William (1 February 2017). "Holy Horror". Commonweal. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "Review: The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio de Maria". Three Crows Magazine. 28 September 2020.
- ^ de Maria, Giorgio. The Twenty Days of Turin. p. xxi.[full citation needed]
- ^ a b Ripatrazone, Nick (4 January 2017). "'The Twenty Days of Turin': An Italian Classic's Chilling Prescience". Commonweal. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "Interview: Ramon Glazov on "The Twenty Days of Turin" | David Davis". 10 April 2017.
- ^ "What I'm Reading: The Twenty Days of Turin, Giorgio de Maria | Stories | Notre Dame Magazine | University of Notre Dame". 27 June 2017.
- ^ Sheehan, Jason (8 February 2017). "Nothing Is Quite What It Seems In Surreal, Unsettling 'Twenty Days'". NPR. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Berard, Peter (7 February 2017). ""Foul, Small-Minded Deities": On Giorgio De Maria's "The Twenty Days of Turin"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "100 Great Works OF Dystopian Fiction". Vulture. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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