Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas [Paperback]

Dario Fo (Author), Ron Jenkins (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2001

Winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature, Dario Fo is one of the world's most important contemporary playwrights, forging subversive comedy, clowning, unusual linguistic experimentation, and brilliant playwriting into a comedy of complete originality. In a first-person monologue that bends and mutates language and historical fact, Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas is a brilliant, vividly imagined retelling of Christopher Columbus's voyage to America. Told by a last-minute conscript assigned to clean the shipboard pig stalls, who goes on to be adopted by a tribe of Indians and help them fight conquistadors, it posits a riotous alternate history in which the dynamics between native and white, male and female, history and comedy are never what they seem.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (April 27, 2001)
• Language: English, Italian
• ISBN-10: 0802137776
• ISBN-13: 978-0802137777
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,047,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas, December 10, 2001

By 

Aaron (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas (Paperback)

Are you ready to sit back, relax and laugh a lot? Well, if you are, there is not a better book for you to read than Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas. Being that this piece of fiction is a fast read, it is great for a wide range of readers. From the young to the elderly, I'm sure everyone will see the humor. Behind the humor lies a story that will captivate many. Once you start reading this book you will realize that it is not very complex. It is almost a one character story with a few off stage characters. Dario Fo, the fantastic author of this book manages to fit one man's journey to America hundreds of years ago into under 150 pages. The novel contains humor, action, sex and many other concepts that help make any reader enjoy a book. Once you start, you will not put it down, and I do not wonder at all how Fo managed to win the Nobel Prize for literature. His ability to take a rather bland topic and spice it up is amazing. The ability to deeply describe scenes where Johan is alone or with another woman is amazing. He created a character with a strong voice and one very interesting journey. Johan meets almost everyone: from the men and women around Europe to the almost cave like Indians he encounters when he reaches America. This story will leave you spellbound and screaming for more!

3.0 out of 5 stars Padan & Pigs, June 7, 2011

By 

iris flannery (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas (Paperback)

"Get moving! Quick, the ship is going under!"
Down in the hold the pigs were still squealing desperately.
"Save the pigs!"
"Why?"
"One should never go into the sea without a pig!"
Because these animals have an unrivaled sense of direction. They can orient themselves in the sea even during a storm. You throw them in the water and: TAK! They immediately point their snouts in the direction of the closest shore... When they go "OINK, OINK, OINK, OINK!" four times, you're headed to land, and they're never wrong!
And that's why the Genoese people say: "On every ship you should always bring aboard an authentic pig...besides the captain...who's just an ordinary pig."

If I am ever on a sinking ship I hope there are pigs available! This is just one of many helpful ideas embedded in the narration of Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas by Dario Fo. This is an unusual story in that it is told in a nontraditional manner with illustrations, and it is an alternate history, on the small scale, of interactions between Europeans and Native Americans.
Interestingly, the text is intended as a script for a one-man standup performance. It was originally composed in Italian "dialect," then translated to standard Italian, and then again into English (by Ron Jenkins and Stefania Taviano). The oral nature of the text is illustrated by the use of many words for sound effects. The narrative is told through dialogue and monologue. Despite the fact that this was composed as a script Fo started by drawing pictures to capture his ideas. From these pictures Fo then wrote his story. The line drawings illustrating the story are not high art, but they do show the scenes that were envisioned and mesh closely with the text.
As alternate history, The Discovery of the Americas is a small-scale story about the successful revolt of one group of Native Americans against a group of Spaniards with the help of Johan Padan. Padan, after spending several years with various native groups no longer sees them the same way as Europeans do (or as he did when he first arrived). So, when he encounters Europeans again he is surprised/reminded by their barbarity towards natives and casts his lot with them.
This is a thoroughly recommendable book. Though it is salacious and Eurocentric in parts it seems essential to the character of Johan Padan and the European world/belief systems being portrayed. The unique form also makes this a book that is engaging.
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