MOST PROFOUND & MOVING LITERARY FANTASY I've Read DINO BUZZATI 'The Tartar Steppe'

[@mathewguglielmi8451]

I am ashamed i haven't read any of Dino Busati's work. The only other Italian genre writers i am aware of Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco and the writers collective, The Wu Ming Foundation, who come from Bologna. I want to read his work now and see Desert of the Tartars. I have just checked Booktopia, and they all of the titles you mentioned are available to buy here in Australia. I am going to order them. Looking forward to your upcoming video on Bruno Premiani and the Doom Patrol. DC have republished the 1960's series in two trade paperback editions a couple of years ago, which i have.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Don't be ashamed, he's obscure- even I'd never heard of him until 15 years ago and that is shocking!

[@rickkearn7100]

Every new episode of Outlaw Bookseller opens a new literary vista for me to behold and appreciate. I really enjoyed the editing on this one as well, the "meat" of the matter bookended by the Capri setting. Very cool. Another gem from Stephen! Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Many thanks Rick- that vista will broaden and widen a lot more when a larger audience steps out of their comfort zone and watches the more unusual stuff- at the moment, only around 15% of the subscribers (mostly core viewers like yourself) are stepping beyond the obvious SF- if they want to grow, they have to go further, in the way you and some others do. When the channel is more successful, it will twist that way anyway, so bear with me!

[@rickkearn7100]

As long it is in my power to do so, I shall never desert Outlaw Bookseller. :) Cheers! @@outlawbookselleroriginal

[@GypsyRoSesx]

I agree! Everything about these videos is outstanding!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@GypsyRoSesx Very kind, Head Girl! Commenting here in the same thread as our Dean of Men!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@rickkearn7100 Thumbs up, Dean of Men!

[@michaeldaly1495]

Thanks so much for turning me on to Buzzati and The Tartar Steppe - I'm halfway through it, it's very intriguing.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Glad you're enjoying it - a book that deserves to be elevated way above cult status in the Anglophone world.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

Fantastic video as always, Steve. You're firing on all cylinders. I checked on Amazon (USA) and Buzzati's SF novel, The Singularity, is on preorder for May 2024.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Many thanks, Dan - and for bringing good news about the SF novel, I am especially grateful. I'll be ordering way ahead of time!

[@guillermoalen5464]

Jorge Luis Borges loved this book deeply and did a lot to make it more known in the Spanish-speaking sphere, even including it in his own "Biblioteca Personal" hardcover collection by Hyspamérica shortly before he died, with a brief but beautiful prologue. In Argentina we had the great luck of having both El Desierto de los Tártaros and El Derrumbe (which I suspect is your "Catastrophe") translated in the 50s by a young, mysterious and absolutely brilliant young writer called Jorge Rodolfo Wilcock, who was a great lover of Italy (he ended living in Italy and writing in Italian). Buzzatti is, I believe, more highly regarded in the Spanish-speaking countries than he is in the Anglosphere, so I absolutely love to see him in your channel. Cheers from a fellow Argentinan bookseller!

[@SolarLabyrinth]

Borges has yet to steer me wrong. His Personal Library recommendations are a wonderful resource.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Great to hear from another bookseller! I shall look into Wilcock. As you'd expect, I'm a Borges reader- there is a video about 'The Book of Sand' on the channel and I included it in my '100 Must Read Fantasy Novels' book-even though it isn't a novel, as you know!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Absolutely.

[@alistairmcnaught3356]

Great video, Steve, as ever. I read Buzzati in Carcanet editions back in the late 80's and early 90's. They published The Tartar Steppe and a hardcover of A Love Affair. You may be interested to know that they also published a paperback collection of short stories called Restless Nights in 1987, chosen and translated by Lawrence Venuti.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Hey mate, GREAT to hear from you. We'll do another meet, maybe October? I think Graham has a couple in hardcover of those and I have a very vague memory of 'Restless Nights' from when I didn't know who DB was. I hope you are well, once I get September over with, let's go for another drink ...

[@martinkirsch5969]

Great book and great film. Have you read Ernst Junger's Eumeswil? It's about a historian who lives in a kind of dystopian city-state in the middle of a desert (this video made me think of it). Thematically it gives us a definition of what an anarch is. Quite an interesting book.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've read 'Storm of Steel', 'The Glass Bees' and 'On The Marble Cliffs' - but a long, long time ago. I'm aware of the book you cite, but never got around to picking it up, but I shall now you have reminded me. Good to hear from a Buzzati devotee!

[@salty-walt]

I just had an algorithm suggest that book to me yesterday. Matrix vibes.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

Now you should do a video about Malaparte to compliment the Buzzati one, since when you were in Capri you were so close to a House Like Me.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

It's in progress. There was one on the channel for many months, but I pulled it a while back to replace it with a new one. That's my next Italian literature project.

[@Hiero-qb6tn]

Brilliant piece on Buzzati, Steve. 'The Tartar Steppe' and 'Desert of the Tartars' are both outstanding and certainly deserving of a little KZbin love. And thank you so much for sketching that bigger picture - I will be all over 'The Singularity'. Incidentally, Tim Parks' introduction to The Canons edition of Buzzati is reprinted in 'A Literary Tour of Italy', a collection of Parks' essays on Italian literature, art, and politics, which is well worth a read.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, I've read the Parks book some years back, truly excellent. Thanks for your kind words.

[@barrrie]

Thanks as always for the horizon expansion. Will track this one down. I hope you're well. Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Salutations, Barrie, many thanks for the tip, very much appreciated. I'm on the mend, but slowly, thanks for asking!

[@barrrie]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Glad to hear it. I just finished Beyond Apollo. Loved it.

[@themojocorpse1290]

I must confess to never having heard of buzzati but a gem of a video that really made me want to give him a try !

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, he's quite obscure- as I say I only discovered him around 15 years ago and European Modernists who produced speculative fiction are among my specialisms since the early 80s. 'The Tartar Steppe' wasn't translated into English until the late seventies, I think, which may account for this.

[@themojocorpse1290]

Having just finished The tartar steppe ,I wanted to say how moved I was by the story . Brilliantly written and truly haunting, I really felt the passage of time and the loneliness of drogo . A beautiful book absolutely loved it , dare I say a masterpiece . A book that really leaves you thinking about life and I’m sure will stay with me for along time . Thanks for putting it on my radar 🫡

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@themojocorpse1290 It had a huge impact on me. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It deserves far, far more attention, I'm sure you agree.

[@leakybootpress9699]

Thanks, Steve! A new writer to me, so off to Amazon and ABE I go.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Mate, I cannot believe you've never read Buzzati - I think you'll LOVE 'The Tartar Steppe'. Can't wait to hear what you think of him, Let me know, also, when you hear from Les Escott. I'd be delighted to hear you guys are back in touch. You're legends and I'm delighted to be corresponding with both of you. Now if we can just somehow get to the same pub for a civilised chat...

[@JozefLewitzky]

Fascinating! I've heard of this book in passing, but never heard a long treatment on it. Going straight on the list!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Let me know how you get on. It is gradually getting more popular, I've been spreading the word about it in my job for about 15 years now- the film is stunning as well. Hope you enjoy the novel.

[@zr6935]

Thanks for this, I second your recommendation wholeheartedly - 'The Tartar Steppe' had a great and lasting impact on me too and Buzzati's short fiction is truly excellent - witty, puzzling, daring, very Borgesian in some aspects. What's more, 'The Tartar Steppe' immediately lead me to other books I'll never forget and reread often, namely Julien Gracq - 'The Opposing Shore' and Ismail Kadare - 'The Palace of Dreams', both works complement Buzzati in a very peculiar way: Gracq's novel is of immense impressionistic beauty, it follows the same model (young main character is sent to a military outpost) but deals more with the decay of an empire; it is probably the most essentialy fantastic book which is in fact not fantastic (apart from the geography), so laden with that indescribable atmosphere in which anything is possible; 'The Palace of Dreams' is much more Kafkaesque and has a stronger sf setting - the similarities lie somewhat deeper, not so obvious, but Kadare is a master of liminal tension which tears his characters apart (even more so in very powerful short novels 'The General of Dead Army' and 'Broken April'). All these books actually draw from a "common source" of sorts - Cavafy's poem 'Waiting for the Barbarians'. (I have yet to read 'On the Marble Cliffs' by Jünger and Coetzee's eponymous novel, maybe there is more.) Are you familiar with Tommaso Landolfi? The same generation as Buzzati, held in high regard by Calvino - very strong short stories, even more radical, some quite ruthless in a way.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks for your post- I'm familiar with Kadare, never got around to Gracq, but Landolfi is new to me, so thanks very much for bringing him to my attention. Great to hear from another Buzzatite!

[@unstopitable]

I downloaded it a few months ago; I'm going to push it up on my TBR; I'm drinking in Calvino right now. Your presentation of it (the waiting) puts me in mind of Mann's The Magic Mountain, a novel I love deeply, and Kafka's "Before the Law," a little. Thank you, Outlaw.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

If you like Kafka and Mann, you'll be good with Buzzati.

[@waltera13]

This was great! What other mysterious new authors can you turn me on to ( while talking alongside battlements?)

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

More to come. Glad you liked the Capri location.

[@markhoulsby359]

Indeed, a great book. Thank you for this.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thank you- fascinated to see how many people responding here already have read the work.

[@markhoulsby359]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, very true

[@salty-walt]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I recognize Catastrophe as a book that I picked up at a little Free library, considered, and decided that they were too many books in the house already and that this was a long shot & that I wouldn't get to it. . . (Sea rant on earlier video about you pointing out a great book after I passed it up.) 😂

[@SolarLabyrinth]

This book has been on my radar for a long time. Though now I am torn whether to read the old translation which seems to have done the job for decades or this new one. I do like the NYRB Classics so that may be enough to give the new one a go since I can add it to my collection.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Where you are will be a deciding factor. The new translation is not distributed in the UK and I suspect the UK one is not available in North America. You may be elsewhere, of course, as I can't tell. But either way, you'll find yourself waiting for life, overlooking the desert of the tartars....

[@SolarLabyrinth]

I have been sort of burned out by SF the past few weeks after reading a ton of it this year. Nothing was holding my attention so I decided to pick this up instead. What a wonderful book! I went with the new NYRB translation and was very pleased. Beautiful and melancholy though it did leave some hope there at the end. This is one to read again and again throughout one's life. @@outlawbookselleroriginal

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@SolarLabyrinth Glad you liked it. It made a massive impact on me when I first read it about fifteen plus years ago. The film is worth seeing too. It's easily one of the most important books I've read this century, I'd say.

[@gornbird1502]

The next book i will purchase. Thank you Stephen.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Let me know how you get on with it- it had a big impact on me, as you could tell.

[@gornbird1502]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I am sure I am going to like it, the books you recommend are not easy to find in Germany and I wish I had a larger budget.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@gornbird1502 We all wish we had bigger budgets-best of luck!

[@gornbird1502]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I will, the book is on its way.

[@gornbird1502]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I just finished reading it and enjoyed it very much. Thanx S.

[@selwynr]

Wonderful to see you cover Buzzati so expertly, enthusiastically and thoroughly. Also one of my favourtie authors. And good to see someone mention "The Opposing Shore" in this context, like 'The Tartar Steppe/The Stronghold', it is one of the few novels that has truly haunted me, with its potent and almost delirious mystery and exquisite longing for something beyond and forbidden (from a reductive Jungian perspective, the Shadow - the lure of the Freudian repressed?). Gracq is considered one of the all-time greats in France, and everting I've read by him is worth reading, particularly "The Castle of Argol", perhaps the most poetic, most philosophical, most hauntingly strange and seductively discombobulating Gothic novel ever written - it is sui generis, and "The Dark Stranger", one of the most enigmatic allegorical novels, period). If I may mention other Italian writers worth checking out in this context, there is the already mentioned Tommaso Landolfi, who has a considerably higher literary reputation than Buzzati - Harold Bloom regarded him as one of the few great short story writers of the 20th century, and rightly so, at his best he's more disturbing and wild than Buzzati - and his Gothic novel "An Autumn Story" is also worth seeking out -, Antonio Tabucchi, a great short story writer - 'The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico' is one of my all-time favourite fantasy stories, and Ugo Tarchetti, the Italian Gothic writer who borrowed heavily from the Romantics and in turn influenced Buzzati and Landolfi, and then there's Roberto Pazzi, whose terrific novel "Searching for the Emperor" would likely appeal to fans of Buzzati and Calvino, and Anna Maria Ortese's sublime "The Iguana", also a favourite novel, equally as great, haunting and beautiful as Buzzati but more gentle, ambiguous and psychologically rich. And then Massimo Bontempelli, the originator of the term Magical Realism and a fine writer of enigmatic, strange stories himself - also a major influence on Buzzati, Landolfi, Ortese and Calvino as well as an unacknowledged influence on magic realism and literary fantasy the world over. Should mention Luigi Pirandello as well, a towering Italian classic, whose novel "The Late Mattia Pascal" would appeal to lovers of absurdism, Kafka, Saragmago, Dostoevsky and literary fantasy in general. I also recently read Guido Morselli's 'Dissipatio H.G, The Vanishing', (in NYRB classics, like a few Buzzati titles), a 'last man' novel, and found it utterly haunting and beautifully desolate - the author committed suicide shortly upon completing the book. Cheery stuff, but I found it imaginatively compelling in a way not dissimilar to great literary fantasy.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, I've read the Morselli. I read a lot of Italian fiction. Apologies for the brevity of response, great in depth post, I shall follow up your pointers, gotta rush off to the bookshop soon!

[@erikpaterson1404]

Which is the better translation, I suppose they are both great... (The Stronghold/The Tartar Steppe) - Lawrence Venuti or Stuart Hood

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've not read the new translation yet. What concerns me about the current NYRB editions of his work is that each one is a different translator and this does rather result in inconsistency. I'll be talking about this when I review the latest DB release in about a week. There is another one coming later this year, so I will then have three of his five novels and two collections, pretty much all by different translators. This made a big difference with another Italian author I love, Curzio Malaparte- there is a dreadful translation by Walter Birch (the sound guy on 'Apocalypse Now') of a Malaparte book that renders what is prose as actual verse, dreadful idea- and it feels nothing like the other Malapartes I've read- so much so that I sold it on.

[@erikpaterson1404]

I'm totally off here, but what immediately came to mind after reading the synopsis was Waiting for Godot

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

There are definitely affinities but it's more emotive.