Swiss Literatures
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[ book tip by Literatur Schweiz ] Pierre Lepori's novel has an unusual publishing history. «Sessualità» was launched simultaneously in three languages: Italian, French and German. The author did his own translation from Italian to French, and the German translator based her version on the two 'originals'. In addition, there is a trilingual version that switches between all three languages, depending on which character is speaking.
Olivier has been out of touch for fourteen years. After a severe depression and an ensuing divorce, he moved to Paris. He left his three-year-old son Michele with his sister Laura and asked her to raise the boy. Over time, the nephew becomes like a son to her – until Olivier resurfaces years later and asks to see his child, now a young man. This is the starting point for the novel.
They are due to meet in Geneva. But the two adults want meet and talk first, before Michele joins them three days later. Laura travels from Zurich with her partner Erika, a well-known theatre director. Erika has written a play called 'Sexuality'. Just like characters in a play, Olivier and Laura talk and argue – about their shared lives, their hopes, fears and suffering – while Erika watches them very closely.
(Martin Zingg, trans. by Marcy Goldberg)
Recommended for translation by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia:
www.12swissbooks.ch
[ Favourite quote ] «This is what they call an 'international hotel', high class. Grey and white, designer chairs, flat-screen TV. Two sides of the room are all glass, like a booth overlooking the city — a giant aquarium, a silent prison.»
[ book info ] Lepori, Pierre: Sessualità.
(original language: Italienisch) Sexuality.
Casagrande,
Bellinzona, 2011
.
ISBN: 978-88-7713-596-4.
