Transcribe
Translate
Acolyte, v. 3, issue 2, whole no. 11, Summer 1945
Page 10
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
FANTASY IN ITALY W R GIBSON (Note: This article is based on Mr. Gibson's library and bookshop excursions while serving in Italy with the Canadian Army. FTL) -o0o- There are, or have been, definite schools of science-fiction and fantasy in Italy. But almost, perhaps quite, without exception, the stories are old or juvenile, or both. It seems that imaginary depictions of ideal states did not flourish much under the Fascists, tho two of the first books reprinted after Mussolini's rise to power were La Nuova Atlantide by Bacone and Campanella's La Citta del Sole. Like almost all Italian books of the past twenty-odd years, they were paper bound. Mussolini evidently did not frown on the idea of interplanetary journeys. I have three non-fiction works with spaceships portrayed on the covers. Pictorially, the best is the scene on Il Libro del Cielo by Guiseppe Scortecci, one of a series called "The Golden Ladder" and designed for the very young. It shows the vessel taking off from an imposing launching cradle. E. Roggero's Ennima della Scienza Moderna: Realti di Domani shows it leaving a structure vaguely resembling a skeleton ski-jump in the middle of a city. The take-off must have jarred the huge ugly skyscrapers that crowded about the ramp! The third is by "Yambo"--of whom more later--who illustrated his own writings. Si Puo Andare Nella Luna contains an essay on the possibility of reaching the moon, and gives review of books by Eyraud, H. G. Wells, and Yambo himself. Another spaceship adorns the cover of M. Ciampi's Marionette nella Luna, a very light, reputedly humorous operetta. There are numerous fantasy or science-fiction books translated from foreign languages: English, French, German, and some Slavic tongue. Wells and Doyle, Jean de la Hire, Compte Villiers de l'Isle Adam, Jean de Quirielle, Jules Verne, Camille Flammarion, Edmond Flegg, Roberts Kalmann, Bernhardt Kellermann, N. Muhanoff, and many more. Apparently the most prolific Italian author of fantasy is "Yambo", Enrico Novelli, whose works were still being reprinted just before the war. Italian books run to small editions which are replaced as required, frequently by other companies, but Yambo's were almost all put out by one firm. Enquiries in many bookshops had results that varied uniformly with the age of the attendant: "The well-known writer" or "The great humorist" from the elderly, "The writer for boys" or "... children" from the middle-aged and a blanks tare from the young. Yet Yambo was still writing in the 30's, and is among the few accorded the distinction of hard-shelled editions in recent years. Many of his books are fantasies or stf, and many more contain traces of it. I do not think he was a very original writer--too many of his books parallel well-known works--but if his writing was like his illustrating there must have been considerable pleasure in reading it. His artwork is graphic, full of cartoon-like exageration and humor, sometimes very grim humor indeed. I regret not having seen La Colonia Lunare, Atlantide, and Viaggi e Avventure Attraverso il Tempoe e lo Spazio; and failing to get On Viaggio al Centro dell' Universe Invisible. (I have L'Atomo, which may be another form of the latter. Both are stories of man and his dog who visited an atom.) Gli Esploratori dell' Infinito tells of a tour of the solar system on an asteroid--as in Hector Servadac--with the addition of Mar- -- 10 --
Saving...
prev
next
FANTASY IN ITALY W R GIBSON (Note: This article is based on Mr. Gibson's library and bookshop excursions while serving in Italy with the Canadian Army. FTL) -o0o- There are, or have been, definite schools of science-fiction and fantasy in Italy. But almost, perhaps quite, without exception, the stories are old or juvenile, or both. It seems that imaginary depictions of ideal states did not flourish much under the Fascists, tho two of the first books reprinted after Mussolini's rise to power were La Nuova Atlantide by Bacone and Campanella's La Citta del Sole. Like almost all Italian books of the past twenty-odd years, they were paper bound. Mussolini evidently did not frown on the idea of interplanetary journeys. I have three non-fiction works with spaceships portrayed on the covers. Pictorially, the best is the scene on Il Libro del Cielo by Guiseppe Scortecci, one of a series called "The Golden Ladder" and designed for the very young. It shows the vessel taking off from an imposing launching cradle. E. Roggero's Ennima della Scienza Moderna: Realti di Domani shows it leaving a structure vaguely resembling a skeleton ski-jump in the middle of a city. The take-off must have jarred the huge ugly skyscrapers that crowded about the ramp! The third is by "Yambo"--of whom more later--who illustrated his own writings. Si Puo Andare Nella Luna contains an essay on the possibility of reaching the moon, and gives review of books by Eyraud, H. G. Wells, and Yambo himself. Another spaceship adorns the cover of M. Ciampi's Marionette nella Luna, a very light, reputedly humorous operetta. There are numerous fantasy or science-fiction books translated from foreign languages: English, French, German, and some Slavic tongue. Wells and Doyle, Jean de la Hire, Compte Villiers de l'Isle Adam, Jean de Quirielle, Jules Verne, Camille Flammarion, Edmond Flegg, Roberts Kalmann, Bernhardt Kellermann, N. Muhanoff, and many more. Apparently the most prolific Italian author of fantasy is "Yambo", Enrico Novelli, whose works were still being reprinted just before the war. Italian books run to small editions which are replaced as required, frequently by other companies, but Yambo's were almost all put out by one firm. Enquiries in many bookshops had results that varied uniformly with the age of the attendant: "The well-known writer" or "The great humorist" from the elderly, "The writer for boys" or "... children" from the middle-aged and a blanks tare from the young. Yet Yambo was still writing in the 30's, and is among the few accorded the distinction of hard-shelled editions in recent years. Many of his books are fantasies or stf, and many more contain traces of it. I do not think he was a very original writer--too many of his books parallel well-known works--but if his writing was like his illustrating there must have been considerable pleasure in reading it. His artwork is graphic, full of cartoon-like exageration and humor, sometimes very grim humor indeed. I regret not having seen La Colonia Lunare, Atlantide, and Viaggi e Avventure Attraverso il Tempoe e lo Spazio; and failing to get On Viaggio al Centro dell' Universe Invisible. (I have L'Atomo, which may be another form of the latter. Both are stories of man and his dog who visited an atom.) Gli Esploratori dell' Infinito tells of a tour of the solar system on an asteroid--as in Hector Servadac--with the addition of Mar- -- 10 --
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
