Science fiction is left, the right-wing fantasy ...
How to reply to this statement? The fantasy novels are traditionalists: they return to find our roots mythological and legendary. The science fiction novels are revolutionaries: break with the present and throw themselves to investigate our options for the future. It's an old
cliche to which I myself have repeatedly joined when I tried to define the two kinds of shots to accept.
The reality however is much more nuanced and often most of the authors of either gender, do not leave so easily placed in one field or another.
fact, Poul Anderson is a writer of science fiction, but it's right. It is a fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, but it is left.
cliche to which I myself have repeatedly joined when I tried to define the two kinds of shots to accept.
The reality however is much more nuanced and often most of the authors of either gender, do not leave so easily placed in one field or another.
fact, Poul Anderson is a writer of science fiction, but it's right. It is a fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, but it is left.
which does not mean that a reader, whatever his political persuasion, can not appreciate them both for their literary merit ...
And so the sign of the hammer not is only a fantasy very well written, clever and original, but is above all a fantasy to the left and the left can not.
Its author, James Scalfari, who has a doctorate in classical literature, combines political engagement with the love of Norse mythology, and not at all, is defined RomantiComunista. And if you believe that Scalfari tell her this convergence as contradictory passions, then you do not understand anything about him.
If you want to know him better, you can go to his blog, The shoe Víðarr .
Its author, James Scalfari, who has a doctorate in classical literature, combines political engagement with the love of Norse mythology, and not at all, is defined RomantiComunista. And if you believe that Scalfari tell her this convergence as contradictory passions, then you do not understand anything about him.
If you want to know him better, you can go to his blog, The shoe Víðarr .
RomantiComunista is Carlo Tamburini, alias Charles, the protagonist of this novel, a young university student with a passion for ' hard rock, which is faced with a mission for the Norse god: you have to find the Anti-Yggdrasil, the false pillar of the universe, and bring it down for the salvation of cosmic balance .
and theater of this drama is not some distant fantasy world, but the city of Bologna, whose topography - with twelve gates, the tangle of streets, churches, towers - assumed cosmological aspects, connecting them (and So with us) the Nine Worlds of Norse myth.
and theater of this drama is not some distant fantasy world, but the city of Bologna, whose topography - with twelve gates, the tangle of streets, churches, towers - assumed cosmological aspects, connecting them (and So with us) the Nine Worlds of Norse myth.
is therefore in an everyday world, yet subtly altered, which Charles tries to carry out its mission, which is mythological and ideological together.
The god Thor, in jeans and a motorcycle, the supports from both the political point of view (the gods, if you do not, are engaged in social Cosmic) and, if necessary, with a hammer , weapon very proletarian. The streets of Bologna, its pubs, its student gatherings, are full of battles with giants disguised as right-wing activists, trolls and elves cyberpunk blacks in a suit and tie.
forces of evil will take, in this version of Bolognese Twilight of the Gods, faces claims of great powers that have always controlled our politics and our economy. Wonder if behind the Man with the Money, the Man of the Mafia or the Man of the Vatican there are character specific is misleading: the novel Scalfari is not easy satire. They are, quite rightly, of the pure archetypes, mythological figures as the Norse gods.
Loki is obviously their main ally, while Odin - as so many politicians that we know well - play the cards Realpolitik, never fully deployed by either side. The Vanir
, for their part, following secret designs, and the lovely Freda Karlo teach that life can conceal mysteries even larger and deeper ...
But this Ragnarök also has a precise date, and will unveil the Volvo, the mythical seer, which begs the arcades of Via del Carro: March 24th of '94, the day of the election rally of Gianfranco Fini. And to win, Karlo will really be able to put, and not metaphorical but literal sense, the 'imaginative power .
not add much, except that the novel runs at the speed of light and refined to a final anti-epic, reminiscent of the best Poul Anderson. Author of the right, but much loved - in spite of our political ideas - from Scalfari and myself.
Ed Montag, 2010. € 15.00
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