If you know you are to die tomorrow, how would you spend the last night of your life? The same dilemma troubles four political prisoners, a baron, a soldier, a poet, and a student in Gesualdo Bufalino's Night's Lies. On the last night before they go under the guillotine for plotting against the Bourbon monarchy, the four characters review their lives. Is it more betrayal and regret? Or do they find vindication in confession?

Night's Lies is good story-telling. This tale is a brilliant execution of setting, characterization, narrative, and irony. The setting parallels the moral and spiritual exile of the prisoners. Set in a remote fortress on an inhospitable island that "is known as an island but ought to be called a rock. For it is nothing more than a stack of volcanic tufas heaped up into the form of an enormous snout, wearisomely steep in places, but for the most part bare, sheer crag". "As by a tortuous path you clamber up, your eye embraces on the one hand the immensity of the open sea, an infinite reach of blue to the western horizon; on the other, beyond the neck of water, there is the mainland, where you glimpse a harbour, a crescent of dwarf houses; but neither man nor motion."

The man who holds part of the key to their destinies is Consalvo De Ritis, the Governor, who strikes a deal with the prisoners. If one of them should anonymously name their leader by sunrise, then all of them would be freed. If not, all of them hang. They are placed in a small room for the night.

Ingafu, the Baron; Saglimbeni, the Poet; Agesilaos, the Soldier; and Narcissus, the Student narrate in turn their own tales of intrigue, love, lust, violence, jealousy, honour, and twists of fate. They seem to be trying to convince not only the others but also themselves of the sense and purpose of their lives, all knowing that death awaits them in one form or another.

Do they betray their leader but lose their own souls? Or do they find some way to escape their fate? Night's Lies is an intriguing tale that evokes the danger and relief of holding a mirror to our lives and wondering what it all means. Just the ending in itself is worth the read.

Bufalino writes gorgeous prose and I think that's the first thing anyone who reads this book will notice. In fact, the language seemed a little too beautiful for the cruel subject matter and the lives of some of the characters.

Although this book has a political theme (four prisoners are sentenced to death for plotting against the Bourbon monarchy), this really isn't a political book in any sense of the word. Instead, it's a study of deception, of truth, of what is real and what is only imagined. It's a study of cunning storytelling that will keep any intelligent reader engrossed until the very last page. Bufalino is certainly playing a game with the reader, but he does play fair.

The four prisoners decide to pass the last night of their lives with each telling a tale that is significant in his life. While each has a tale to tell, how much of his tale is truth and how much is deception? And who, in the end, will discern the truth from the lie?

The answer is right in front of us, almost from page one, something that makes Night's Lies all the more intriguing.

Night's Lies is a short book, a novella really, that can easily be read in one sitting, surely in one evening. It is, however, despite its brevity, a book that packs a punch. Well worth the time and highly recommended.

I just finished the book and I strongly recommend it. Although very hard to read and full of historical references, the plot is very thick and keeps your attention high throughout the journey. If you liked the Decameron you'll love this book, if you like historical fiction this is the book for you, if you want to know more about Sicily's history don't hesitate to pick the book in your hands. Best to read with a glass of Brandy on a coffee table, out on a porch overlooking the ocean, during a warm starry summer night. E-mail me for suggestion on similar books. Enjoy it Simone

I am an Italian College student and browsing on the Internet I find out that one of my favourite book has been translated in enghlish. That is a really pleasant surprise for me, for I think that Bufalino is a really good writer. Moreover when I read this book I found myself living in another place and time and I could feel the warmth of the Sicilian sun even when lying on my bed in a cold winter night. The style of the author is certainly admirable since he uses words in such a way that this book sounds more like a poem than the narration of a period of the author's life. I believe that Bufalino's "Blind Argus" is a fantastic book! If you know how to fly with your imagination and read it, believe me, you will think the same!

Anna Ferigo

One hell of a southern Italian joy-ride! Joycean in all respects with a dash of Kafka to excite the soul!

I had been impressed by the work of Marta Morazzoni in The Invention of Truth; I am even more impressed with her work after reading this collection of short stories - a back cover blurb compares her to Flaubert and not without reason.

These stories are presented in a very quiet manner; with subtlety they display facets of human behavior in a very realistic manner - sometimes showing, sometimes hiding the motivations, thoughts and emotions of the characters.

The first story is a story of Mozart's death with an exploration of the coming of death and its contrast to the liveliness of his wife.

The second story revolves around the ambition of a libretist especially when that ambition comes into conflict with a egotistical and successful composer - Saleri.

The third story revolves around family ties and ties to art - in this case to a Vemeer. Especially revealing is the merchant's changed perceptions of the painting in his Dutch home and in the Danish manor where he expects to sell it.

The fourth story considers the nature of fidelity - explored in the context of Charles V and his steward. This story has remarkable use of a gypsy woman and a cat to further the story; they are examples of how tightly the stories are written. They seem to be liesurely reads but every element and word is used.

The final story is the response of a wife with a very strong sense of propriety and place to her husband's sudden paralysis; here the awkwardness of the children and the diligence of the servant assigned to the invalid's care are especially notable. I initially was disturbed by the author's reading the mind of the invalid, but by the end of the story I appreciated the need for her technique.

This is a stunning book that you truly should read.

A new italian Futurist Manifesto, but this time a good one.

It was a an Italian virtuoso contrabassist who told me to read these Lectures. Stefano plays all the arduously difficult new music literature for the contrabass. He travels with a violoncello,so he can play all that repertoire as well. When he plays this music he often ponders Calvino, five primary conceptual corridors toward what he thought of as literature,but music as well can be contemplated with these ideas. "Lightness", well music has a density, Mozart played games with it, and interpreting Mozart can be a treatise in the dialectic,the transformations and timbral modulations of lightness to heaviness.,ask any violinist.Calvino of course expounds on Kundera's popular book, on the weight of the lifeworld of living in the East,the coal-dusted passageways,or of a fallen love,begun transgressivly there as well. Dante is a frequent pilgrim(example) here the lightness of snow falling imperceptibly on the mountainside. "Quickness", but not how fast things move,(our Silicon Valley) odious airjets that may puncture the ozone layer,or violins, but the quickness of an image to transform our consciousness,to lighten it up from the cruel oppression of citylife.That's poetry. I think.Robert Musil is here as well, the complexity,the numbering imagination of his transitory work to modernity the opening two decades of this century,his "Man Without Qualities" a seemingly endless work.And Gedda's "Awfull Mess. . . " on the street a probing detective novel of complexity of a murder in Rome,on the way to the Labor Bureau of the Roman Government. In music I frequently think of Visibility when I have nothing to transport me into the bowels of a Bruckner or an Antheil Symphony,what do I see in the music,like the weight of this century in the "Largo" from the "Fifth Symphony" of Shostakovich.Multiplicity as well another Calvino chapter is here,sprouting its wings like a peacock, all around us if we only have the patience for it. To phanthom and explore all images of a work as looked at through a plexiglass. We seldom do that. How exact is art, "Exactitude" is what Leonardo di Vinci lived his life with, rewrote almost everything,Calvino tells us, as Leopardi,the Essays.

My interest in reading this collection of essays stems from a curiousity about narrative structure. I found that, while Calvino writes candid insertions about his own works, and while he writes with great fluency of ancient, medieval, contemporary world writers, the power of this short book lies in his erudite observations and keen, bits of wisdom. Here's a sample: "Saving time is a good thing because the more time we save, the more we can afford to lose" (p. 46), and this one, "Were I to choose an auspicious image for the new millennium, I would choose this one: The sudden agile leap of the poet-philosopher who raises himself above the weight of the world, showing that with all his gravity he has the secret of lightness, and that what many consider to be the vitality of the times--noisy, aggressive, revving and roaring--belongs to the realm of death, like a cemetary for rusty, old cars" (p. 12).

Calvino writes about five different qualities of literature: Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, and Multiplicity (he had intended to write a sixth chapter on Consistency, before his untimely death). He examines these qualities closely, using his own facile language as the medium.

Read it, by all means.

Pereira Declares is OK, an entertaining lecture.
The story is about a newspaper editor, Pereira, who is suddenly having moral issues. The plot develops in Portugal, in a time period where fascism rules and the media is strictly supervised by the government. Pereira is an easy going man, he leaves alone, his wife passed away and he doesn't have any kids. His life is a boring routine, but he doesn't want to get in any trouble. The something happens, he meets this kid who wants to work with him at the news paper. Well, he starts thinking of this young man as his own son (he sees himself reflected), but the boy's writings are far too controversial for the time. And, he finds out that this kid may be involved with government opposition forces in Spain...and the story goes on (I don't want to spoil anything, if there's really anything to spoil). Hmm...the plot reminds me a little bit of a script for a Hollywood B movie, the main character is doing fine, but something external happens so he has to make choices....and he makes the right ones! (cliche)...and then the end (In fact it was portrayed by Marcello Mastroianni in a film). Absolutely no surprises, this novel lacks emotion.

Well, but it's a fine story. The narrative style is OK, the plot is OK. An OK novel. Don't get your expectations too high, but if this book bounces into your hands, you may read and not regret it

One more thing, Tabucchi could really have avoided repeating the phrase "Pereira Declares" 10,000 times throughout his book, it seemed something that a teenager writer would have done, it got to my nerves.

Pereira Declares is set in Lisbon as Portugal is sliding into an oppressive state. Pereira is the editor of a cultural page where his work reflects not what he would wish to write but rather what is acceptable to write. He life revolves around his dead wife, food and his dream of writing a book. After seeing a piece by Monteiro Rossi, a recent university graduate in philsophy, he hires Rossi to write a column for the cultural page. Rossi is as politically aware and active as Pereira is blinded and inactive. The story is of the growing relationship between the two men and the choices Pereira is forced to make as he starts participating in life.

While the plot is predictable in the sense that people are predictable, the writing and wit of the novel not only is entertaining but also forces the reader to consider their own stance regarding death, religion and politics.

This novel is well worth your time.

Antonio Tabucch's short (136 pgs.) and magnificant 1994 novel Declares Pereira is a devistating study of the coming of totalitarianism. Set in Portugal in 1938, Tabucchi's tale, originally written in Italian, is the story of an overweight, fading, and ill newspaper reporter now editing the culture page of a mediocre Lisbon newspaper who befriends, and then helps, a young writer with unacceptable political views. Pereira steadfastly tries to avoid any political involvement whatsoever, but the nature of the coming Nazi state makes neutrality impossible. Pereira must choose, and this choice involves either betrayal of his young comrade or his own political suicide. I will not disclose how or why Pereira exercises his option. Read this book and find out!

What do animals dream? Some possible answers are given in couplets. Humorous mixed media artwork accompanies and enhances some absurd dreamlike ideas. Preschoolers will enjoy the idea that their favorite farm animals may dream; my son thought it was a riot and laughed out loud. Adults may appreciate the farmer's resemblance to Sigmund Freud.