Judith Landry

Diego Marani

New Finnish Grammar won three literary prizes in Italy in 2001: Premio Grinzane Cavour , Premio Ostia Mare and Premio Giuseppe Desi and has received critical acclaim across Europe.One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can identifying him. When he regains consciousness he has lost his memory and cannot even remember what language he speaks. From a few things found on the man the doctor, who is originally from Finland, believes him to be a sailor and a fellow countryman, who somehow or other has ended up in Trieste. The doctor dedicates himself to teaching the man Finnish, beginning the reconstruction of the identity of Sampo Karjalainen, leading the missing man to return to Finland in search of his identity and his past.

New Finnish Grammar

Trieste, settembre 1943. Su una nave da guerra tedesca in attesa di partire per il fronte, viene portato un uomo in fin di vita. Un violento colpo alla testa ha mandato in frantumi la sua memoria, anche quella linguistica. Non ha con sé documenti quindi risulta difficile la sua identificazione. Da alcuni indizi il medico di bordo, di origine finlandese, crede di riconoscere in lui un compatriota. E per lunghi giorni gli si dedica, rimettendolo in forze e educandolo alla sua lingua madre, come un bambino. Poi lo fa ritornare a Helsinki.

Nuova grammatica finlandese

Introducing a powerful new voice in global literature New Finnish Grammar has already garnered impressive international praise in publications such as the Times, Guardian, Independent, Spectator, New Statesman, Irish Times and many more. This tale of a wounded WWII soldier struggling to recover his memories and speech has drawn comparisons with Michael Ondaatje's multi-award-winning The English Patient Diego Marani is an internationally renowned author, translator, newspaper columnist and the creator of the Europanto language An exploration of language and identity, of Finnish folklore and history, of loneliness and human connection—it will leave you breathless Elegantly written and stylish, New Finnish Grammar is a book that will linger in your mind long after you've turned the last page Awarded the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2012 and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award and the Best Translated Book Award 'Deep and rich, did I say? That isn't the half of it. I can't remember when I read a more extraordinary novel, or when I was last so strongly tempted to use the word “genius” of its author.' Guardian Author will tour Australia and New Zealand in 2013 Text will also publish Marani's next novel The Last of the Vostyachs in early 2013

L'interprete

Il compagno di scuola

The second book to be translated into English from the acclaimed author of New Finnish Grammar The Last of the Vostyachs is the tale of a long-lost language and culture, forgotten but for a single man. He is the last of an ancient Siberian shamanic tribe, the Vostyachs, and the only person left on earth to know their language New Finnish Grammar was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award and The Best Translated Book Award Judith Landry was awarded the 2012 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for her translation of New Finnish Grammar 'When I reviewed New Finnish Grammar, I edged towards using the word "genius" to describe Marani, I'm doing so again now.' Guardian Winner of two literary prizes in Italy: The Premio Campiello and The Premio Stresa Disarmingly funny and unexpectedly devastating This book will leave you desperate to learn Vostyach—especially so that the word 'powakaluta', meaning 'something grey glimpsed vaguely running in the snow', won't disappear forever 'A riot of comic unpredictability.' Times Literary Supplement Marani's knowledge of European languages and cultures, both ancient and contemporary, is astounding and is injected into every page of The Last of the Vostyachs Author tour of Australian and New Zealand confirmed for May 2013

The Last of the Vostyachs

New Finnish Grammar is an unforgettable tale of one man’s search for meaning and for identity amid the devastation of WW2. One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. With nothing to identify him, and having lost his memory and language, he is a mystery to the crew of the German ship that rescues him.

After the acclaimed New Finnish Grammar and The Last of the Vostyachs, The Interpreter is the third in a trilogy of novels on the theme of language and identity. The Interpreter is both a quest, a thriller, and at times a comic picaresque caper around Europe, while also exploring profound issues of existence. Günther Stauber, head of Translation and Interpreting at a major international organisation in Geneva, seems to be suffering from a mysterious illness when his translations become unintelligible and resemble no known language. He insists he is not ill and that he is on the verge of discovering the primordial language once spoken by all living creatures. His boss, the novel’s narrator, Felix Bellamy, decides Günther has to go. In turn, Felix starts speaking the same gibberish as the missing interpreter. And then his wife disappears, perhaps in search of Günther. He seeks help in a sanatorium in Munich where he is prescribed an intensive course in Romanian and forbidden from speaking French. He realises that he must talk to his missing colleague to understand what has happened to him and to have any hope of a cure. As he undergoes profound changes—speaking the language of dolphins, of whistles and squeaks—he is forced to confront the deep mysteries of life. Essential reading for fans of Diego Marani, and for anyone interested in language. Diego Marani was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1959. He has worked as a translator and policy officer for the European Commission and has written several other novels, collections of essays and short stories. New Finnish Grammar was published by Text in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award and the Best Translated Book Award. The Last of the Vostyachs was published by Text in 2013. Judith Landry won the 2012 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for her translation of New Finnish Grammar. ‘An enjoyable read rich with insight into how languages shape our lives.’ Daily Review ‘A mesmeric novel about communication.’ Saturday Paper ‘A great read...Playful and deliberately irreverent...[The Interpreter] is further evidence that Marani deserves to be better known than he is.’ Age/Sydney Morning Herald ‘A marvellous novel that is bound to be enjoyed by readers who appreciate the importance of language, identity and existence. Interesting, funny and highly original.’ BookMooch ‘Highly original, thought-provoking fiction.’ North & South

The Interpreter

'The Interpreter isn't merely the sequel to New Finnish Grammar and The Last of the Vostyachs: it is a singular and deeply felt thesis, a warped manifesto of sorts, derived from a career spent immersed in languages. For Marani is up to his old tricks. Like in its predecessors, the novel comes dripping in satire, but this time of a more avowedly self reflexive nature... A primordial, universal language is the trick, and it is this which, and it is this with which Marani's interpreter, the shape-shifter at the heart of this masked ball of a novel, purports to have 'infected' Felix. His 'incomprehensible blather' might in fact be 'the ancient language of Eden, the one in which the serpent spoke to Adam'. Marani's ideas are typically far-reaching and provocative.' Thea Lenarduzzi in The Times Literary Supplement 'This is more of a romp than the other two novels, more comedic, albeit a very dark kind of comedy; part investigation into the properties of language, part thriller. The only lead Bellamy has is a list of seemingly random cities: Vancouver, San Diego, Papeete, Vladivostok, Odessa ... At one point he is sent to a sinister therapeutic institution, where patients are taught languages unknown to them in order to address their problems (Bellamy is assigned Romanian. Each language has its own therapeutic effect, but “English is the language of cowards and queers,” says an inmate angrily at one point, which is certainly a new way of looking at it). When we find out what links the list of cities together we realise that we have, in a most enjoyable way, been subject to a kind of superior shaggy dog story. Marani understands the appeal of the idea of the primordial language, but knows well enough that it is a Snark, a chimera, which is why the novel ends the way it does, why it is deliberately not as haunting as Grammar and Vostyachs, and also why Marani says this is the last time he’ll address the subject in fiction. It is excellently translated by Judith Landry, who I hope is not suffering like Marani’s characters.' Nick Lezard's Choice in The Guardian

Il mondo in un possibile futuro. La Chiesa cattolica ha esteso il suo potere instaurando in Italia una teocrazia e controllando ogni aspetto della vita politica e sociale. Il Papa governa un feroce sistema inquisitoriale. L’eroe di questa sacra rappresentazione esplosa è Domingo Salazar. Orfano, allevato dai domenicani, è diventato un agente segreto pontificio, o meglio, un cane sciolto, che non disdegna l’amicizia del musulmano Guntur e combatte con ogni mezzo lecito e illecito gli atei, i negatori di ogni fede e senso dell’ordine cosmico. L’incarico che Salazar ha ricevuto da un misterioso Vicario è di catturare Ivan Zago, l’imprendibile capo dei nemici della Chiesa, e di sventare l’attentato che incombe sulla cerimonia per la santificazione del Santo Padre. Ma nella polizia vaticana qualcuno ordisce altre trame e Domingo da cacciatore, sta per diventare preda. Diego Marani ci porta con il suo nuovo romanzo, veloce e pieno di sorprese, nel cuore segreto me inquietante di un nuovo impero del male.

la prima avventura di Domingo Salazar detective al servizio di Dio

Il cane di Dio

Set in a not-too-distant future, and moving between Rome and Amsterdam, God's Dog is a detective novel unlike any you have read before. It is the eve of Pope Benedict XVIII's canonisation and Domingo Salazar, a Haitian orphan and now a Vatican secret agent, is hellbent on defeating the Angels of Death, pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia dissidents who are undermining the Pope's authority. But as Salazar closes in on the cell he finds his life turned upside down. Suddenly it is Salazar and his closest friend Guntur who are under suspicion of sabotaging the administration. Their concept for a globalised religion called Bible-Koranism has upset the Church and they are in grave danger, as is Guntur's infamous Swahili-speaking chimpanzee Django. God's Dog is a spoof on the absurdities of institutionalised religion that will delight aficionados of thrillers and detective novels as well as fans of Diego Marani. Diego Marani was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1959. He has worked as a translator and policy officer for the European Commission and has written several other novels, collections of essays and short stories. New Finnish Grammar was published by Text in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award and the Best Translated Book Award. The Last of the Vostyachs was published by Text in 2013. textpublishing.com.au

God's Dog

One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can identify him. When he regains consciousness he has lost his memory and cannot even remember what language he speaks. From a few things found on the man, the doctor, who is originally from Finland, believes him to be a sailor and a fellow countryman, who somehow or other has ended up in Trieste. The doctor dedicates himself to teaching the man Finnish, beginning the reconstruction of the identity of Sampo Karjalainen, leading the missing man to return to Finland in search of his identity and his past. New Finnish Grammar won three literary prizes in Italy; the Premio Grinzane Cavour, Premio Ostia Mare and Premio Giuseppe Desi. Judith Landry's translation won The Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2012 and was shortlisted for The Independent Foreign Fiction Award 2012. In the USA it was shortlisted for The Best Translated Book Award.

Diego Marani

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