Grande romazo, originariamente pubblicato a puntate nel 1970 in un periodico giapponese, dell’autore che viene considerato il Georges Simenon dell’estremo oriente. Matsumoto Seicho ci porta nell’anima e nei pensieri dei suoi personaggi, quelli positivi e quelli negativi, senza dichiararsi di parte e senza giudizi: le loro azioni vengono quindi scarnificate ed acquistano cosí uno spessore a volte crudele, ma sempre autentico, che rende la trama non solo credibile, ma anche vicina al lettore.

It is a great novel, initially published in installments in 1970 in a Japanese periodical by the author, who is considered the Japanese Georges Simenon. Matsumoto Seicho takes us into the souls and thoughts of his characters, the positive ones and the negative ones, without declaring himself biased and without judgments. Their actions are therefore stripped down and acquire a depth that is sometimes cruel but always authentic, which makes the plot not only credible but also close to the reader.

È un libro sulla bellezza. Ma una dimensione di bellezza spesso trascurata, quella che emerge dai contrasti luminosi: non una bellezza scaraventata verso l’osservatore in piena luce, ma quella che viene creata dal buio,  dall’ombra, dal segreto del crepuscolo. Bellissimi i paragrafi sulla lacca giapponese (come del resto quelli sui costumi del Teatro No), il cui valore estetico è completamente percettibile solo nella penombra delle stanze giapponesi, e non in piena luce, che ne rende le decorazioni in oro troppo sgargianti. Questo libro è anche un inno ai tempi antichi ed un appello per la salvaguardia della bellezza almeno nella poesia e nella letteratura. Scritto in modo semplice e facile da leggere, si tratta di un saggio di un autore importante soprattutto per lo sviluppo della letteratura (con tema sessualità ed erotismo) giapponese dopo l’era Meiji, che poi porterà ad uno scrittore noto anche all’occidente come Yukio Mishima.

It is a book about beauty. But a dimension of beauty often overlooked, the one that emerges from light contrasts: not a beauty thrown at the observer in whole light, but created by darkness, shadow, and the secret of twilight. The paragraphs on Japanese lacquer are beautiful (as are those on the costumes of the Noh Theater), whose aesthetic value is entirely perceptible only in the dim light of Japanese rooms and not in whole light, which makes the gold decorations too gaudy. This book is also a hymn to ancient times and a call for beauty protection, at least in poetry and literature. Written in a simple and easy-to-read way, it is an essay by an author who is essential above all for the development of Japanese literature (with the themes of sexuality and eroticism) after the Meiji era, which leads to a writer also known in the West as Yukio Mishima.

Paul Lendvai ist seit Jahrzehnten ein Beobachter und Analytiker der politischen Zusammenhänge in Europa, mit scharfem Blick über Osteuropa und die Beziehungen zwischen den Europäischen Staaten und den Staaten des ehemaligen Ostblocks. Dieses Buch beleuchtet mit scharfer Zunge die „Fehlgriffe und Fehldeutungen der westlichen Politik“ (aus dem Vorwort), oft verursacht durch blinden Dogmatismus, Indifferenz oder schlichter Inkompetenz. Ein lesewertes Buch von einem echten Kenner der politischen Lage in Europa.

Paul Lendvai has been an observer and analyst of the political context in Europe for decades, with a keen eye on Eastern Europe and the relations between the European states and the states of the former Eastern Bloc. This book uses a sharp tongue to shed light on the “missteps and misinterpretations of Western politics” (from the foreword), often caused by blind dogmatism, indifference, or sheer incompetence. It is a book worth reading by a true expert on the political situation in Europe.

This is the perfect summer read. It is a beautiful novel. Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery? All of these. Entertaining and suspenseful.

Ho iniziato questo libro e non ho potuto chiuderlo, tanto è contagioso l’entusiasmo con il quale Vittorio Sgarbi ci parla di grandi artisti che per un motivo o per l’altro (come anche spiega Pierluigi Battista nella dotta prefazione, parlando della “damnatio memoriae”) sono stati messi da parte od addirittura dimenticati dopo la caduta del regime fascista perché appartenenti all'”Arte Fascista”. Sgarbi, giustamente, privilegia la figura dell’artista per se, togliendolo dall’equazione “arte – potere” ed esaltandone la qualità artistica indipendente ed assoluta. Un libro importante non solo perché fa nomi di grandi artisti trascurati dal post-fascismo (Sironi, Depero, ecc.) ma anche perché ci fa riflettere su certe prese di posizione su artisti, ed anche musicisti, di oggi.

Everybody knows Einstein, but John von Neumann has been equally important—if not even more critical—in understanding, eighty years ago, in which direction humanity was moving. Computer architecture, IA, and game theory, in brief, the tools of the future, of his future, which is the time we are living in now. An unknown genius and a bon vivant. This book is a journey through his life and, at the same moment, a history of the major physics and quantum physics discoveries in the first four decades of the 20th century. It is very clearly written and has a lot of humor, but beware: also a lot of mathematics (most of which I had—to my shame—to skip).

Federico Rampini is an experienced observer of the geopolitical global scene. His insights about the Middle East are impartial (and therefore, not everybody will like them) and pointed—even sharp, at times. This is a great book for understanding balance and development in this important region of the world.

The usual von Doderer: disdainful, sharp, ironic, cynical, and sometimes sarcastic, but with an unmatched expressive power and a deep understanding of humanity, which doesn’t let him cut himself any slack either. Not everything is agreeable, but definitely everything worth thinking about (excluding, sometimes, the spirals and linguistic twists that are, all in all, a bit old-fashioned).