Storie della farfalla

"One Must Do Abnormal Things" The whole of Vollmann’s novel is conveyed by an omniscient narrator. It’s tempting to assume that it’s Vollmann himself. However, as usual that would probably be a mistake, even if we learn a lot about the author by what he writes in the guise of others. The key protagoni Leggi tutto

My first of WTV's "Whore" novels, and I was greatly impressed. What I find most interesting about his project remains the fluidity of fictionalised selves he places at the center of his works. The "main character" here, for instance, is clearly a form of WTV with certain attributes and characteristi Leggi tutto

I was not prepared for this novel. I thought, Vollmann has been called "a Pez dispenser of career-capping megavolumes." Maybe starting with a 275-pager would be "easier" than tackling one of the solid bricks, denser than Neolithic ice, of his other books. It was devastating. Sprinkled with his occasio Leggi tutto

This is considerably less ambitious than the other two books of his I've read. It's the story of a jaded American journalist sent to Cambodia who befriends a hedonistic photographer and their life with the prostitutes in Thailand. It's a bleak book in which the male is depicted as lost and flounderi Leggi tutto

Although perhaps it's because the two other segments of this Trilogy of Prostitution are a fading a bit in my memory, this one felt like the most gut-wrenching of the three installments. Despite the fact that I have a much stronger identification with San Francisco's Tenderloin and its inhabitants-- Leggi tutto

[ int: Typical American dining room. A boy sits alone at the table, playing with his food. His mind is obviously elsewhere, something that his mother soon notices ] Mother: Why Cody, you’ve barely touched your food. Cody: I’m not hungry. M: Of course you are, dear. Is something bothering you? C: I don’t w Leggi tutto