Politics and magic, international intrigues, secret services and enigmas are the ingredients of The forbidden bookoccult thriller set between Italy and America, which to a precise knowledge of the esoteric and hermetic sources – which is very rare, in this kind of literature – combines a narrative bite that has made a literary case in different countries. Is signed by Josselyn godwinone of the major scholars of esotericism worldwide, with various publications also in Italy, for the types of seventh seal and Mediterranean, e Guido Mina of Simpiroessayist and author for Rizzoli, Ponte alle Grazie and – soon – Lindau. The plot of the Forbidden book It is hermetic and fascinating. Around one pseudobiblium of the sixteenth century, the unknown version of The magical world of Gli Heroi of Cesare della Riviera, murders and police investigations, interrogations and plantings are unraveling. While the protagonist tries in the deciphering of Ancient alchemical codestraveling in parallel size and hallucinated scenarios, Europe is crossed by an impressive clash of civilization between Christianity and Islam. A fascinating labyrinth of past and present, physical and metaphysical, containing arcana that it would be better not to reveal … having already reported the volume on this blog when the Italian translation was still in mind ofwe took advantage of its recent publication in the catalog of Berlet to ask the two authors some questions.
Has finally come out in Italian The forbidden book. How old have they moved from its writing in English? I know that in the meantime it has been translated into many other languages …
GMDS: It must be traced back to the distant 2004-’05, then about twenty years ago. Yes, the novel was translated into nine languages, including Thai; Who knows what effect he must have in Thailand reading a book so deeply rooted in theWestern esotericism…
The whole plot revolves around one pseudobiblium. Who came the idea of drawing on the Alchemical masterpiece of Cesare della Riviera?
Jg: I bought the book at Europe bookshop, treasure of subversive wisdom within the Vatican wallswhile I was in Rome for the centenary conference of Julius Evolain 1998. Ours modus operandi It has two aspects. One, semi-humorous, is to invent a private edition with further “kabbalistic” clues, while the other is a serious attempt to imagine what metaphysical practices the author could have in mind.
GMDS: I too, by coincidence, bought the book at the Europa bookshop; I don’t remember exactly when, but more or less in the late nineties.
A question to Josselyn Godwin. You are above all known as an esoteric scholar. Many historians of religions (I think, for example, of Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu), next to the academic nonfiction have ventured into fantastic literature, where they were able to express their ideas with greater freedom. Is it your case? How does the “Godwin essayist” relate to the “Godwin narrator”?
Jg: I had never written narrative, nor do I read a lot. Guido, on the other hand, had seven novels behind him and a profound knowledge of world literature; Hence, he was able to provide the appropriate imaginative and creative structure. Maybe because of mine Youth experiences of composerit was easier than expected to invent scenes and dialogues, integrating them to those of Guido. In general, I consider all my work, however erudite, as a form of game (untranslatable term, because in English the musicians “play” (play) and a comedy is a play).
Your novel has various levels of reading. The esoteric, the political one … then there is the plane of the characters, and another, relating to the police investigations. How do they intersect? What do they go to compose, together?
Jg: To resume what has been said previously, I think of theRenaissance alchemist Michael Maier e to his books Lusus Serius And Jocus Severus. Ours is also a “serious game”, with private jokes that only a few readers will understand. At the same time, it is a moral story with a voucher and a bad guy. But it poses ethical issues that are not the simple contrast between good and evil. The Baron of the Riviera It has a much higher level of culture, taste and education than the American professor. The two represent, Inter aliathe meeting between the old and the new world. By mixing the levels, we wanted the reader to be amused, comforted, instructed and also troubled.
GMDS: We explored various tòpoi literary, also of the Whodunitof course, but giving them the Josselryn/Guido treatment, that is, in its own way, playful. Without revealing the plot, let’s say that the inspector, despite his good will and a great desire to unravel the skein, is not exactly a top. An American reviewer took it, accusing us to put a honorable to the sedan tópos of the detective genre: the investigator with a infallible nose in the same way as Holmes, Poirot and many others. The shocking reality is that many assassinations remain unsolved, and often the investigator must surrender. Another reality belongs to so -called “esoteric” novel: Often the mystery is, so to speak, “magical”, but it is resolved for conventional, that is, rational ways, because the authors do not really know esotericism. We, on the other hand, set ourselves with Solve the mystery through what is content or The magical world of Gli Heroi – both the public edition and the private edition – that is, thanks to magic.
Writing a four -handed book is a less simple company than you might think. How did you give materially to your drafting? Did one of you have a first version and the other corrected it? Reading it, there is an extraordinary impression of organicity, as if the author was only one …
Jg: In the drafting of this novel and of Forbidden Fruitswe had a basic idea of the characters and what could happen to them. If I remember correctly, everyone wrote a scene, not necessarily connected, and sent it by e-mail to the other, which improved it to him. I don’t think we’ve ever quarreled. Guido has a perfect mastery of English, but I am native speaker and much of the surface diction is mine. I had no experience of narrative writing or dialogues and I needed advice about the good and bad ideas that came to mind – therefore, the form of work is mostly work by Guido. He has a knowledge from within of the aristocratic world Italian, while I know how the types behave like Nigel, the English husband of the co-protagonist. I had recently passed five months in Venice with university students; So, I made most of the Venetian scenes, including the invention of Riviera Palace on the Grand Canal. Guido had just published a splendid biography of a tree, and therefore the arboreal theme was perfect for him.
GMDS: I remember with great pleasure when I received a “piece” written by Josselyn, a bitas he called him. We worked a lot by e-mail, every now and then by phone. I opened the email as a child discarded a gift under the Christmas tree. I don’t know if for Josselyn it was the same when it was I who sent him a “piece”, but I know that neither of them ever wanted to touch the piece of the other because we always liked. It goes without saying that we have not written the novel in a sequential way, an amateur approach. We have created a large number of “pieces”, skits and scenes, without worrying about their location. After creating a puzzle, we gave ourselves to unite the many pieces. If something was missing between one piece and another, it was added ad hoc. It seems a great complication, but in reality it has been The funniest and most exciting artistic experience of my life. I too studied as a musician and instrumentalist, and I also found writing four hands similar to playing the four -handed plan: a duo of artists who complete each other. Furthermore, although Josselryn had never written narrative, it has a natural instinct for well -thought out plots and twists. In reality it is first of all an artist, and then also an erudite, in various fields. I know from experience that the scholars without artistic proclivities are, to be kind, tedious; Josselyn, on the other hand, has An imagination equal to that of Cesare of the Riviera himself.
One last question, to conclude. You wrote another novel together, which Josselyn mentioned a little while ago, that is to say Forbidden Fruitswhose title is assonant to the one published by Bietti … is it a sequel?
GMDS: In a sense, yes. The male protagonist of Forbidden Fruits It already appears The forbidden book…
Jg: I add that the idea of writing another one could be tempting, especially to unite some of the characters of the two novels. It only needs to establish one thing: that there is “forbidden”Today?