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Sandokan
I'm never coming back to my home town.
A major Italian author’s tale of growing up with Italy’s most brutal criminal enterprise, the Camorra.
This striking novella is based on first-hand research of the Camorra, an Italian organized crime network more powerful and violent than the Mafia. It's the brutal organization that was recently exposed by Roberto Saviano, both in his brilliant non-fiction account and the film adaptation. Saviano, as it turns out, first interviewed Camorra members while working as a research assistant to Nanni Balestrini, collecting the stories that would become Sandokan .
Though fiction, Sandokan is horribly, devastatingly real. The narrator is a resigned victim of the Camorra. The Camorra members are his neighbors, and he presents an uncompromising description of a world under savage occupation, the true combination of backwardness, violence, and ambition that locks small-town southern Italy under the control of organized crime. It is one of the most meaningful and riveting books to have been produced by Italian literature of recent years, by one of Italy’s most significant authors.
The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.
A major Italian author’s tale of growing up with Italy’s most brutal criminal enterprise, the Camorra.
This striking novella is based on first-hand research of the Camorra, an Italian organized crime network more powerful and violent than the Mafia. It's the brutal organization that was recently exposed by Roberto Saviano, both in his brilliant non-fiction account and the film adaptation. Saviano, as it turns out, first interviewed Camorra members while working as a research assistant to Nanni Balestrini, collecting the stories that would become Sandokan .
Though fiction, Sandokan is horribly, devastatingly real. The narrator is a resigned victim of the Camorra. The Camorra members are his neighbors, and he presents an uncompromising description of a world under savage occupation, the true combination of backwardness, violence, and ambition that locks small-town southern Italy under the control of organized crime. It is one of the most meaningful and riveting books to have been produced by Italian literature of recent years, by one of Italy’s most significant authors.
The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Nanni Balestrini
68 books78 followersNanni Balestrini was an Italian experimental poet, author and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia movement.
Nanni Balestrini is associated with the Italian writers movement Neoavanguardia. He wrote for the magazine Il Verri, co-directed Alfabeta and was one of the Italian writers publishing 1961 in the anthology I Novissimi. During the 1960s, the group was growing and becoming the Gruppo 63, Balestrini was the editor of their publications. From 1962 to 1972, he was working for Feltrinelli, cooperating with the Marsilio publishers and editing some issues of the Cooperativa Scrittori.
Balestrini's political activities are also noteworthy: in 1968, he was co-founder of the group Potere operaio, in 1976 an important supporter of the Autonomia. In 1979, he was accused of membership in the guerilla and fled to Paris and later Germany.
Balestrini got known by a larger public thanks to his first novel in the beginning of the 1970s We Want Everything. It describes the struggles and conflicts in the car factory of FIAT. In the following years, the social movements of his time continued to be his subject. With the book The Unseen, he created a literary monument for the "Generation of 1977". It shows the atmosphere of rapid social change during this years, concretising in house occupations, the creation of free radios and more, and also shows the considerable repression by the state of these movements. Other important works are I Furiosi, dedicated to the football supporters culture of the AC Milan, and The Editor, dealing with Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. His non-fiction book The Golden Horde, co-written with Primo Moroni, deals with the complex nature of the Italian communist movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
Nanni Balestrini is associated with the Italian writers movement Neoavanguardia. He wrote for the magazine Il Verri, co-directed Alfabeta and was one of the Italian writers publishing 1961 in the anthology I Novissimi. During the 1960s, the group was growing and becoming the Gruppo 63, Balestrini was the editor of their publications. From 1962 to 1972, he was working for Feltrinelli, cooperating with the Marsilio publishers and editing some issues of the Cooperativa Scrittori.
Balestrini's political activities are also noteworthy: in 1968, he was co-founder of the group Potere operaio, in 1976 an important supporter of the Autonomia. In 1979, he was accused of membership in the guerilla and fled to Paris and later Germany.
Balestrini got known by a larger public thanks to his first novel in the beginning of the 1970s We Want Everything. It describes the struggles and conflicts in the car factory of FIAT. In the following years, the social movements of his time continued to be his subject. With the book The Unseen, he created a literary monument for the "Generation of 1977". It shows the atmosphere of rapid social change during this years, concretising in house occupations, the creation of free radios and more, and also shows the considerable repression by the state of these movements. Other important works are I Furiosi, dedicated to the football supporters culture of the AC Milan, and The Editor, dealing with Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. His non-fiction book The Golden Horde, co-written with Primo Moroni, deals with the complex nature of the Italian communist movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 20, 2016
Il testo è stilisticamente molto interessante: è scritto in prima persona, suddiviso in capitoli a loro volta suddivisi da paragrafi distanziati da uno spazio bianco. Il testo non fa uso di punteggiatura. La lingua è un artificio letterario in cui B. cerca di imitare la lingua di un illetterato, di un uomo del popolo che non ha ottimi strumenti linguistici, ma tanto da raccontare. E' artificiale perché un uomo meridionale del popolo parlerebbe in dialetto, mentre la lingua di B. è un italiano semplice, macchiato da qualche tic verbale e caratterizzata da un flusso di informazioni continuo. E' un linguaggio fluido, nonostante la mancanza di virgole e altri segni di punteggiatura.
Colui che narra ci mostra l'antropologia di un luogo ben specifico, le zone del casertano martoriate dalla Camorra. Allo stesso tempo, in queste descrizioni di vita quotidiana, confluiscono i miti e le storie della criminalità del paese. Ma se il romanzo assume i toni di un racconto di provincia, ci si accorge che quello che vale per Casal di Principe vale per tante altre zone di Italia: la noia e il classismo conduce un piccolo manipolo di poveracci a imbracciare le armi per farsi largo in questa vita attraverso la violenza e l'arroganza.
Lo sguardo è quello di un giovane che ricorda la sua infanzia, infanzia solitaria perché per uscire puri da quelle terre si è costretti a rinchiudersi in casa. Lo sguardo del narratore è privo di qualsiasi tipo di retorica patetica, si limita a descrivere una realtà criminale che sembra essere nella natura delle cose.
La struttura del testo è anch'essa molto interessante: il romanzo si apre con una vittoria sui camorristi perché si parla dell'arresto di Sandokan. Poi, il romanzo torna indietro per raccontare in maniera cronologica come Sandokan sia riuscito a conquistare il potere. Eppure, dopo l'inizio positivo, il finale volge verso la rassegnazione: la terra, nonostante gli arresti e la scomparsa di molti criminali, è ormai accerchiata da quel tipo di mentalità. Quindi, anche se i capi non ci sono, la morte è dietro l'angolo: non c'è difesa da essa, poiché chiunque può essere coinvolto in una sparatoria. E il protagonista va via, come tanti altri, dal Meridione alla ricerca di un posto in cui esista un'altra logica, in cui la vita possa essere vissuta oltre la paura.
Un grande affresco di un'italianità malata, che però è frutto di un'indolenza e un'avidità tutta borghese che spinge i poveri alla violenza. Questi, una volta al potere, scimmiottano grottescamente la pacchianeria borghese nella speranza di elevarsi, mentre i borghesi reali abbassano le teste nella speranza di poter anche loro racimolare qualche soldo alla tavola dei nuovi potenti.
Colui che narra ci mostra l'antropologia di un luogo ben specifico, le zone del casertano martoriate dalla Camorra. Allo stesso tempo, in queste descrizioni di vita quotidiana, confluiscono i miti e le storie della criminalità del paese. Ma se il romanzo assume i toni di un racconto di provincia, ci si accorge che quello che vale per Casal di Principe vale per tante altre zone di Italia: la noia e il classismo conduce un piccolo manipolo di poveracci a imbracciare le armi per farsi largo in questa vita attraverso la violenza e l'arroganza.
Lo sguardo è quello di un giovane che ricorda la sua infanzia, infanzia solitaria perché per uscire puri da quelle terre si è costretti a rinchiudersi in casa. Lo sguardo del narratore è privo di qualsiasi tipo di retorica patetica, si limita a descrivere una realtà criminale che sembra essere nella natura delle cose.
La struttura del testo è anch'essa molto interessante: il romanzo si apre con una vittoria sui camorristi perché si parla dell'arresto di Sandokan. Poi, il romanzo torna indietro per raccontare in maniera cronologica come Sandokan sia riuscito a conquistare il potere. Eppure, dopo l'inizio positivo, il finale volge verso la rassegnazione: la terra, nonostante gli arresti e la scomparsa di molti criminali, è ormai accerchiata da quel tipo di mentalità. Quindi, anche se i capi non ci sono, la morte è dietro l'angolo: non c'è difesa da essa, poiché chiunque può essere coinvolto in una sparatoria. E il protagonista va via, come tanti altri, dal Meridione alla ricerca di un posto in cui esista un'altra logica, in cui la vita possa essere vissuta oltre la paura.
Un grande affresco di un'italianità malata, che però è frutto di un'indolenza e un'avidità tutta borghese che spinge i poveri alla violenza. Questi, una volta al potere, scimmiottano grottescamente la pacchianeria borghese nella speranza di elevarsi, mentre i borghesi reali abbassano le teste nella speranza di poter anche loro racimolare qualche soldo alla tavola dei nuovi potenti.
July 5, 2023
Πολύ ιδιαίτερη γραφή. Χωρίς σημεία στίξης. Ώμο και αληθινό. Μου άρεσε αυτή η πλευρά της Ιταλίας και της περιθωριακης ζωής.
May 19, 2016
Noto, Sicilia 2011.
A dark night, close to midnight. I urge my husband to drive faster. Why are you taking me through the mountains in the middle of nowhere close to midnight, he grumbles. I am starting to think the same.
Later that same night, after finishing a lovely gourmet meal in a hidden courtyard in that village in the middle of nowhere he smiles happily. You were right.
I was. Noto was a tiny lovely village. So picture perfect. After Taormina, posh pretty, overrated, we loved Noto. A political rally was on. Listening to the italian dialect raving on some political subject after a lovely meal. Warm heat on your skin.
A hidden gem.
Then I found the tiny bookshop of the square.
And that is where I found this book, in english.
On the mafia, of course.
A special and different book.
No periods, no big letters, no sentences. Just a horrifying story.
I think my journey colours my view of the book, but i still loved it. So unassuming, straightforward and realistic.
And Noto, Sicilia. Go to Sicilia and read the book :-)
A dark night, close to midnight. I urge my husband to drive faster. Why are you taking me through the mountains in the middle of nowhere close to midnight, he grumbles. I am starting to think the same.
Later that same night, after finishing a lovely gourmet meal in a hidden courtyard in that village in the middle of nowhere he smiles happily. You were right.
I was. Noto was a tiny lovely village. So picture perfect. After Taormina, posh pretty, overrated, we loved Noto. A political rally was on. Listening to the italian dialect raving on some political subject after a lovely meal. Warm heat on your skin.
A hidden gem.
Then I found the tiny bookshop of the square.
And that is where I found this book, in english.
On the mafia, of course.
A special and different book.
No periods, no big letters, no sentences. Just a horrifying story.
I think my journey colours my view of the book, but i still loved it. So unassuming, straightforward and realistic.
And Noto, Sicilia. Go to Sicilia and read the book :-)
January 13, 2022
3.5. Έχοντας διαβάσει του εξαιρετικούς "Αόρατους" δεν θα μπορούσα να δώσω την ίδια βαθμολογία. Ίσως γιατί η ποπ κουλτούρα μας έχει εξοικειώσει με το θέμα της Καμόρα, και του οργανωμένου εγκλήματος γενικότερα, και την κοινωνικοπολιτική επιρροή που είχε σε περιοχές που δραστηριοποιούνταν. Λίγο δύσκολος ο τρόπος γραφής του Μπαλεστρίνι. Σα να σου τα διηγείται ένας από τους αυτόπτες μάρτυρες λαχανιασμένος. Ανατριχιαστικές λεπτομέρειες και μια περιδίνηση θυτών , θυμάτων και σιωπούντων, πτωμάτων που οδηγεί στην κόλαση.
July 26, 2021
Ja, im ganzen Buch findet sich kein einziger Punkt und kein einziges Komma, aber lasst euch nicht davon abschrecken: es liest sich fabelhaft einfach und schnell. Lakonische, teils brutale, teils herzzerreissende, teils resignierte Tatsachenerzählung über das Leben unter/mit/neben der Camorra.
September 5, 2022
Ωραίος Μπαλεστρίνι με γρήγορη και ενδιαφέρουσα ροή.
Ιδιαίτερη προσοχή σε όσους/ρε δεν ξέρετε τη γραφή του. Δεν χρησιμοποιεί τελείες, κόμματα, σημεία στίξης. Οι προτάσεις είναι συνεχόμενες
Ιδιαίτερη προσοχή σε όσους/ρε δεν ξέρετε τη γραφή του. Δεν χρησιμοποιεί τελείες, κόμματα, σημεία στίξης. Οι προτάσεις είναι συνεχόμενες
May 2, 2011
This book is insane. Style, content, gall, everything about it.
Pure awesome.
Pure awesome.
October 19, 2017
4.5 "Small town" Stars
I read Sandokan for my Honors class in Italian Mafia: History and Fiction.
Sandokan tells the story of our narrator who lives in a small town that is overrun by the Camorra. The Camorra are a group of men who are ruthless criminals. They are far worse than the Sicilian mafia.
Before and while reading this, I did not realize that the Camorra is a real criminal group in Naples. But everything in Sandokan is purely fictional.
I am so glad that I am taking this class and that I made it an Honors Class because I am learning so much on the topic of the mafia.
Yes, the mafia and the Camorra are very scary, controlling, and powerful organizations, but to read and see why they started the way that they did. I can kind of see their side but nonetheless, they are breaking the law, multiple laws and they should be stopped.
Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed Sandokan. Well, minus the style of writing. There are no periods, commas, quotation marks, nothing, which threw me off when I first started reading.
I read Sandokan for my Honors class in Italian Mafia: History and Fiction.
Sandokan tells the story of our narrator who lives in a small town that is overrun by the Camorra. The Camorra are a group of men who are ruthless criminals. They are far worse than the Sicilian mafia.
Before and while reading this, I did not realize that the Camorra is a real criminal group in Naples. But everything in Sandokan is purely fictional.
I am so glad that I am taking this class and that I made it an Honors Class because I am learning so much on the topic of the mafia.
Yes, the mafia and the Camorra are very scary, controlling, and powerful organizations, but to read and see why they started the way that they did. I can kind of see their side but nonetheless, they are breaking the law, multiple laws and they should be stopped.
Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed Sandokan. Well, minus the style of writing. There are no periods, commas, quotation marks, nothing, which threw me off when I first started reading.
April 4, 2018
Somehow I made it through.
Dredging through this novella was one of my worst reading experiences in recent years. It is a loosely constructed story about the impact of mafia activity (“clans”) on a small town in Italy. It’s told in the first person, but the narrator is never really much of a presence. The writing style uses no punctuation, so sentences just end and start with no warning—which increases the difficulty of reading the book. The plot is chronological but built around repetitive mafia violence and inter-clan warfare. It often felt like I was reading the same incident described over and over.
Dredging through this novella was one of my worst reading experiences in recent years. It is a loosely constructed story about the impact of mafia activity (“clans”) on a small town in Italy. It’s told in the first person, but the narrator is never really much of a presence. The writing style uses no punctuation, so sentences just end and start with no warning—which increases the difficulty of reading the book. The plot is chronological but built around repetitive mafia violence and inter-clan warfare. It often felt like I was reading the same incident described over and over.
August 19, 2023
Με τον γνωστό τρόπο γραφής, -σε παραγράφους χωρίς σημεία στίξης, αφήγηση σε πρώτο πρόσωπο- ο Balestrini περιγράφει την κατάσταση στην επαρχία της Νάπολης που ελέγχεται από την Καμόρα. Χωρίς εξάρσεις, με έναν ήπιο νατουραλισμό μιλάει για τα πάντα. Για τις οικονομικές σχέσεις, τις προσωπικές, το σύστημα αξιών που επικρατεί, την διαφθορά, τα αδιέξοδα. Πραγματικά underated εδώ για ένα μυθιστόρημα που στέκεται δίπλα στο " Τα θέλουμε όλα" και το "οι Αόρατοι"... underated ίσως γιατί περιγράφει μια αντιηρωϊκή εποχή.
February 21, 2021
Non avevo mai letto un libro privo di punteggiatura, sebbene sia un pó traumatico all'inizio, ci si abitua quasi subito. Letto piano piano proprio perché a volte perdevo il filo e dovevo tornare a inizio paragrafo, ma nel complesso molto originale e interessante!
August 23, 2021
Οδυνηρή ιστορία για όποια/ον είχε την ατυχία να γεννηθεί σε αυτή τη γωνία της Ιταλίας, όπως ο αφηγητής. Είναι νομίζω η τελευταία νουβέλα που έγραψε ο Νανί και μας αφήνει χωρίς πολλή ελπίδα, μόνο με αυτή της φυγής και της πικρίας.
Ευχαριστούμε τον Αχιλλέα για τη μετάφραση.
Ευχαριστούμε τον Αχιλλέα για τη μετάφραση.
May 13, 2018
(θα του έβαζα πέντε αστεράκια, γιατί είναι εκπληκτικό βιβλίο, αλλά η επιλογή του συγγραφέα να γράψει χωρίς να χρησιμοποιεί σημεία στίξης με εκνεύρισε)
November 24, 2010
A must read not as a folkloristic tale of local hardship in southern europe but as a stand in for contemporary capitalism en large. This novella describes the reality of the centre-south of Italy as it has become increasingly plagued with camorra since the end of the first republic. The aspects of its political economy, not only in terms of its involvement in production and distribution - and in this respect, the parassitical origin of its financial fortunes based on network economies of waste and rent is well captured - but also as it levies on the political in terms of the formation and violence of small communities, are narrated from the standpoint of a participant observer.
Balestrini's prose is not an easy read because of its lack of punctuation, but in the context it adequates to the object: there is no easy way to digest the information and no pointers to its reasonability. Punctuation would make sense of the irrationality of the real, neutralising or obfuscating its violence.
Balestrini's prose is not an easy read because of its lack of punctuation, but in the context it adequates to the object: there is no easy way to digest the information and no pointers to its reasonability. Punctuation would make sense of the irrationality of the real, neutralising or obfuscating its violence.
May 20, 2014
The strangest Italian gangster book I to come upon my reading eyes. Sort of the Godfather meets Pasolini meets experimental 60's writing. Nevertheless a very fast read, with the longest sentences I have ever written in a book. The author, Nanni Balestrini, I think, is a very interesting artist and writer. His first novel, "Tristano," just came out in the English language, which sounds like it is highly experimental one-of-a-kind (really) novel. I'll check it out. Meanwhile, this book has more murdered victims then flies over a dead roadkill rodent. I didn't love it, but still an interesting read. It's fiction but reads non-fiction of an area in Italy that is controlled by a crime clan. Very brutal.
June 12, 2013
I have respect for certain aspects of organized crime: fraternity, a take-no-shit attitude, and omertà. However, there are also components I find fairly disturbing: Power-play, disregard for collateral violence, and the near-impossibility for absolution (sans death). This book gives a personal account heavily emphasizing the latter. The brutality comes off as very real. As usual, Balestrini's train of thought writing style expresses a sense of urgency and erraticism that places the reader in the narrator's position.
May 4, 2014
The punctuation-less syntax worked for me, but the overall plot as lacking a bit, as it was basically a factual/standard account of the rise and fall of a mafia organization akin to an essay or work of non-fiction
May 20, 2014
Great literature for the blind, @ great tune fore the deaf. Prosaic brail. Mrlville Hose succemeth. Morbid Rngrish Red heads play you YouTube fiddles. Need read less books and more Trojan ingreilients.
November 14, 2010
Una "Gomorra" ante litteram.
March 24, 2014
beautiful prose, unique phrasing, a wonderfully rich narrative
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews