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English
Verso
01 March 2014
“You cannot read this novel, unless I lend it to you, as each of the copies Verso publish this month contain different iterations of the same text.” Rhizome

This book is unique as no other novel can claim to be: one of 109,027,350,432,000 possible variations of the same work of fiction.

Inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde, Tristano  was first published in 1966 in Italian. But only recently has digital technology made it possible to realise the author’s original vision. The novel comprises ten chapters, and the fifteen pairs of paragraphs in each of these are shuffled anew for each published copy. No two versions are the same. The random variations between copies enact the variegations of the human heart, as exemplified by the lovers at the centre of the story.

The copies of the English translation of Tristano  are individually numbered, starting from 10,000 (running sequentially from the Italian and German editions). Included is a foreword by Umberto Eco explaining how Balestrini’s experiment with the physical medium of the novel demonstrates ‘that originality and creativity are nothing more than the chance handling of a combination’.

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What happens when a love story has an infinite number of possible endings? What if a computer re-sorts a novel so that no copy is the same? A radical assault upon the novel from one of Italy's most radical artists.

The story involves two lovers, there is disruption on the streets of Milan, protesters by Porta Ticinese. Can they escape and be together? How will events change their destiny?

In Tristano, Nanni Balestrini brilliantly experiments with form and storytelling to create a new type of novel in which technology, author and the reader themselves collaborate to create the narrative. Constructed of ten chapters, each consisting of twenty texts taken from guidebooks, atlases, newspapers and fiction, each printed edition of the novel is ordered uniquely.


By:  
Introduction by:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Verso
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 9mm
Weight:   168g
ISBN:   9781781681695
ISBN 10:   1781681694
Pages:   128
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

NANNI BALESTRINI is a poet and novelist, cultural and political activist. He began publishing his poetry in the early 1950s and wrote his first computer-aided poem Tape Mark I in 1961. In 1973, he joined the movement Autonomia Operaia and on April 7, 1979, was accused of subversive association and involvement in nineteen murders, including that of Aldo Moro. He took refuge in Paris until the charges were dropped. His novel The Unseen is also available from Verso.

Reviews for Tristano

"""Goodbye Gutenberg. Many alternative ways of spreading the adventure of literature are emerging. This exercise by Balestrini is absolutely central."" La Stampa ""Finally the historical impasse between literature and new media ... turns into an opportunity to create something radically new."" Aldo Nove, Il Sole 24 Ore ""Balestrini has created with Tristano a kind of poetry of the language ... promoting language to the role of protagonist, that is of hero, and where in traditional novels language voices the hero's thoughts and actions, in this new Tristano language voices itself and celebrates its wide number of opportunities and movements."" Angelo Guglielmi, L'Unità"


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