Fiction. Translated from the Italian by Anna Cancogni. A novel, winner of Italy's Campiello Prize, that describes the gradual breakdown of a modern intellectual in the face of the inexplicable. It portrays a university professor's attempt to discover the true identity of the author who sends him a string of threatening letters. Eventually, he comes to see that the "invisible player" is not merely behind his back, but within his soul.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Against a stylized backdrop of narrow alleys, dark vestibules and winding staircases, this novel, the author's American debut, focuses on a nameless professor who is attacked in a letter to the editor published in an academic journal and who becomes obsessed with discovering its anonymous writer. During the course of his investigation he comes into contact with various figures in academia who constitute an insular and nepotistic society. The professor's encounters with these colleagues deliver the novel's best satiric moments. But his quest to unmask the critic becomes tediously protracted and readers will find it difficult to muster empathy for him. The book's effect is best expressed in a metaphor from its pages: it is like "a hysterical pregnancy," eventually revealing a "truth that bursts forth in a sudden and complete release of air." In the novel's ambiguous ending, the letter writer's identity is not absolutely disclosed, and the professor's only revenge is a weak rebuttal. All this makes for an earnest performance rather than an enthralling story.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
difficult to believe,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Invisible Player (Eridanos Press Library) (Paperback)
...but it's a great book. Psyconoir with culture, cold blooded slow hearted carachters that sink in their own lifes. Read it, even if you ignore who he is.
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