Barry Pierce's Reviews > That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana

That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda

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That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana
by

Carlo Emilio Gadda,

William Weaver (Translator),

Italo Calvino (Introduction)

Barry Pierce's review

Nov 08, 2015

it was ok

bookshelves: 20th-century, read-in-2015

This novel is the perfect example of "lost in translation". Nearly every page has a footnote which has to explain a joke that doesn't work in English or tell you that Gadda is basically subtweeting Mussolini here. I'm sure in its original language this novel is a masterful critique of Italian politics that inspired both Calvino and Pasolini. However, in English, this novel is like walking into a joke and only hearing the punchline.

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