A Fictional Inquiry - by Daniele Del Giudice (Paperback)

About the Book

"This haunting novel was championed by acclaimed Italian author Italo Calvino who called it a "very simple book, straightforward to read, but at the same time possessing great depth and extraordinary quality." First published in 1983 and never before translated into English, A Fictional Inquiry tells of an unnamed narrator visiting Trieste and London to retrace the footsteps of a fabled literary figure. The narrator is intrigued by the elusive, long dead man of letters whose career proved decisive to the culture of his native Italy despite his apparently never having written a line. There are encounters with those who once loved him, walks along the streets he frequented, and visits to his favored cafés, bookstores, and a library in search of an answer. Why did he leave no written trace? In the end, as Italo Calvino wrote when this book originally appeared in Italian, who the legendary author manqué actually was is beside the point. What really matters are the questions and the disquiet running through these luminous pages, the dialectic between literature and life playing out just below the surface."--

Book Synopsis

"A metaphysical detective story and a modern Italian classic. A strange and ambiguous novel and a brilliant meditation on the mysteries that inform literature."--Mark Haber, author of Saint Sebastian's Abyss and Reinhardt's Garden

This haunting novel was championed by acclaimed Italian author Italo Calvino who called it a "very simple book, straightforward to read, but at the same time possessing great depth and extraordinary quality." First published in 1983 and never before translated into English, A Fictional Inquiry tells of an unnamed narrator visiting Trieste and London to retrace the footsteps of a fabled literary figure. The narrator is intrigued by the elusive, long dead man of letters whose career proved decisive to the culture of his native Italy despite his apparently never having written a line. There are encounters with those who once loved him, walks along the streets he frequented, and visits to his favored cafés, bookstores, and a library in search of an answer. Why did he leave no written trace? In the end, as Italo Calvino wrote when this book originally appeared in Italian, who the legendary author manqué actually was is beside the point. What really matters are the questions and the disquiet running through these luminous pages, the dialectic between literature and life playing out just below the surface. A Fictional Inquiry--which includes notes from both Calvino and translator Anne Milano Appel--is a gem of unparalleled writing appearing in English for the first time.

Review Quotes

"Del Giudice's languorous, meditative novel is now finally available in English, thanks to a disarming translation by Anne Milano Appel . . . creates a nuanced, almost magical sense of tension between an active life and the contemplative nature of writing."--Tobias Grey in The Financial Times

"It isn't hard to see why this has become a cult classic . . . evocative passages . . . make this slim book so memorably disconcerting. A haunting novel with traces of thrillers and metafiction in its text."--Kirkus Reviews

"Explores the nature of perception while critiquing both writers and the writing life. Anglophones at last have an opportunity to engage with this intriguing and intellectually stimulating novel for the first time."--On the Seawall

"Elegant translation . . . The pacing and tone here are noirish: a memorable metaphysical detective story about the space between writing and life."--The Spectator

"A literary noir about literature. Masterful, mirror-like, iridescent."--Lila Azam Zanganeh, author of The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness

"An odd, slim novel with an insinuating punch, Daniele Del Giudice's A Fictional Inquiry . . . is narrated by what must be one of the most self-consciously reluctant investigators in literary history . . . What we have here is a detective sent from the Jorge Luis Borges agency--a metaphysical sleuth."--The Arts Fuse

"The vague state between writing and not writing, between the books written and the parallel world where they're not, this is what consumes the narrator of A Fictional Inquiry, a metaphysical detective story and a modern Italian classic. A strange and ambiguous novel and a brilliant meditation on the mysteries that inform literature."--Mark Haber, author of Saint Sebastian's Abyss and Reinhardt's Garden

"An intriguing work in six chapters, narrated by an unnamed man on a rather unusual mission . . . It's a delight to read . . . one to read slowly, to savour as we ponder the life of a writer, and the impossibility of ever really understanding why people live the way they do, or of getting inside the minds of even those fairly close to us."--Tony's Reading List

"A literary pilgrimage of sorts, an unusual one where the writer's oeuvre exists in the places and people he shaped and that shaped him and not in any written works . . . intriguing . . . richly detailed . . . Constant movement places A Fictional Inquiry in a line of texts narrated by a walker, from modernists like Robert Walser and Fernando Pessoa to more contemporary writers like Sebald."--Full Stop

"A haunted, curious travelogue about trespassing the border between fiction and reality."--Asymptote

"Appealing literary quest . . . An exploration of 'why write?' and the meaning of the activity . . . this is an intriguing 'fictional inquiry.'"--The Complete Review

"Daniele Del Giudice builds his incisive tale by subtraction and by draining away what is not strictly essential. His writing penetrates the skein of reality and the psyche by extracting its inexorable trajectory of fate."--Claudio Magris, author of Danube

"You must prepare for . . . sudden epiphanies and equally unexpected silences, for precise, diamond-sharp images that seem almost transparent in their capturing of a suspended thought."--Reading in Translation

"Floating between truth and conjecture, drifting through the cold fogs of London and Trieste, the novel poses questions about writing as a discipline situated at the murky intersection of art, history, and individual psychology."--Necessary Fiction

"Literature that does what it's supposed to do, explode and be silent at the same time."--Gianna Montieri, poet and journalist

About the Author

Daniele Del Giudice (1949-2021) was a contemplative author born in Rome who lived most of his life in Venice, where he taught theatrical literature at Venice University. He wrote many novels and essays and received numerous awards. Del Giudice's interest in science, aviation, and all forms of navigation found expression in much of his writing.

Anne Milano Appel has translated works by many leading Italian authors, including Claudio Magris, Roberto Saviano, and Primo Levi. Her awards include the Italian Prose in Translation Award and the John Florio Prize for Italian Translation.