The central protagonist, a Venetian secret policeman hiding his Jewish heritage, is forced to flee the city state after he becomes a convenient scapegoat for an episode of sabotage. Altai takes us further east to the Ottoman empire of Selim II during a period of intense inter-imperial struggle within the Mediterranean, which would soon culminate with the naval battle of Lepanto. Written under the previous nom de plume of Luther Blissett, Q was a sprawling epic set within the borders of Christendom during the reformation and its accompanying political upheavals. After having explored the cold war (’54) and the American war of independence (Manituana), Wu Ming return to the 16th-century world of their first novel, Q. Altai is the latest novel by the radical Italian writing collective, Wu Ming, to be translated into English.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |