Logicomix and Asterios Polyps were under the Christmas tree this year, so I’ve been trying to seek out other literary graphic novels to scratch a reawakened itch (Fun House and Gemma Bovary had me on this once ) when I saw that NYRB had just published this book by Dino Buzzati I knew I had found what I was looking for.
Written in 1969, and winning an Italian best comic strip award in 1970, this edition is the first translation into English. The story here is about a man’s trip to the underworld to find his love. I knew I was reading a take on a classic story, but I must confess it was google that told me it was a retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and not my own referential abilities. Sorry, folks.
The cinematic illustrations ooze sex appeal and pathos. The images go from surreal (the guardian of the underworld is an unoccupied jacket) to mildly pornographic (I was reading this yesterday on a crowded flight to Chicago and page after page of bare-breasted, writhing women definitely turned a few heads) to chillingly profound.
The writing in the story was elegant and lonesome. Buzzati’s conception of the underworld is a mirror image of the living world, only absent of hope. The entrance to this void is located in the middle of the modern city, but then, once inside hopelessness looks out on whatever city you came from. It’s everywhere and anywhere, a city is a city is a city is a death.
As the “excellent jacket” explains to Orfi, our reinvented Orpheus, knowing we will eventually die is what makes life so exciting. They have already died, so there is no thrill or delights to be had. I found this concept best illuminated when Orfi asked the hollow jacket if they had stars in this place and the jacket’s response was “Yes, but they do not shimmer.”
Marina Harris did an unbelievable translation of this book.
Very, very happy to have this book on my shelf. Although it’s probably going to be lent out before it gets too comfortable there.
