Oberdan Baciro’s Erotism
Einaudi, March 2012, 166 pages
“Ironic, cynic maybe, but sentimental. In this book Lelio takes revenge of the kid who lived inside himself”
- Franca Valeri
“One of the most lively character in twentieth century Italian fiction”
- Il Piccolo (full review)
“Reading this book you will be surprised, pleased, captivated. And during all this time you won’t care at all about fictional contemporary issues”
- Corriere della Sera (full review)
“It’s like a swing composition, nourished by an open mind”
- Blow-Up
“In the great literary tradition of the erotic novels of the twentieth century, it could also be read by nowadays teenagers, inspiring their sentimental education”
- Il Tempo
Between the Fascism and the war, the joyful and humorous sexual education of a young boy in the provincial town of Trieste.
Think about the Italian king of swing. Imagine him at the piano, singing a duet with Sylvie Vartan or playing with Mina. Focus on the gestures, the lordly bearing, the composed irony of the voice. The aristocratic manners and that kind of Oblomovian indolence that was exactly what he aspired to. Now forget everything.
Forget that gentleman image, the smoking and the gardenia buttonhole. Lelio Luttazzi, as a writer, is much more audacious. The hilarious story of Oberdan Baciro and of his uncontrollable sexual impetus begins in the provincial town of Trieste, during the thirties. Only son of a widow, devoted to God and to Mussolini, the young Oberdan is one of those human beings whose destiny is revealed at the youngest age. A slightly lifted hem or a light skin glow are enough to Oberdan to turn curiosity into a one-track mind. So he spends his youth around this fleeting image, faithful to the worship of women’s mistery, and while Italy is running toward a disastrous war, Oberdan Baciro clumsily goes on dancing with desire, until the mocking last act.
Lelio Luttazzi (1923-2010),
one of the most famous Italian jazz performers, a brilliant composer and a sophisticated artist, sharp and ironical, became also very popular as a showman making the history of Italian television. After his death, his widow discovered he had left some typescripts, that nobody had read before. Among the papers, this erotic novel that Einaudi published posthumous, with great success and critical acclaim.
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Fondazione Lelio Luttazzi
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