cosa hanno detto di noi…

The first impression I received on opening the Pocket Gadda Encyclopedia was one of fresh enthusiasm. Enthusiasm on my part in reading intelligent, up-to-date, critically acute remarks about different aspects of Gadda’s works and life, as well as a certain enthusiasm on the part of the authors for participating in this new, exciting enterprise. Unlike traditional books, I had the impression that what was written, although critically motivated and generally clearly expressed, was also inviting a more direct participation on the part of the readers. In other words, it was authoritative, but, deliberately, not quite definitive.

As Maria Corti said in Principi della comunicazione letteraria, sometimes you feel a compelling desire to write to the author of a good book you have read, to express a need to communicate somehow your reactions; this is what happens with most entries, you feel like adding something, discussing certain points, participating in a debate. And Gadda himself, although usually wary of criticism, would have welcomed this attitude.

Full marks indeed to this very pleasant, useful, and stimulating Encyclopedia.

Diego Zancani
University of Oxford

Published by The Edinburgh Journal of Gadda Studies (EJGS)

ISSN 1476-9859

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Dynamically-generated word count for this file is 198 words, the equivalent of 1 page in print.