Revision #266170

Assumed Name (from original Nombre falso), is a book by the Argentinian writer Ricardo Piglia, first published in 1975 by the "Siglo XXI Editores" publishing house. The stories included in "Nombre falso" confirm once again that the writer Ricardo Piglia belongs to the best contemporary literature, in any language. By deliberately contaminating the short story with the review-essay or the fiction that slides toward autobiography, Piglia elaborates a text that repeatedly crosses the boundaries between genres. The appeal and originality of his unparalleled style reside precisely in this intersection, where the concern to distinguish the role of the critic from that of the writer disappears. The 2002 Anagrama editorial anticipation presented the same six stories as the 1994 Seix Barral edition, the latter prefaced by the author himself and featuring at least two variations. As noted in the article, there is a reference to a story titled "Mata Hari55" (which is also a good story), and the six main stories are as follows: - El último viaje - El Laucha Benítez cantaba boleros - La caja de vidrio - La loca y el relato del crimen - El precio del amor Finally, the story that gives the book its name, "Nombre falso," is in turn divided into two parts that are independent stories and which unite to form a whole. Therefore, the book title includes the following chapters: - Homenaje a Roberto Arlt (Homage to Roberto Arlt) - Apéndice: Luba (Appendix: Luba) In general, the first five stories seem well-executed and of excellent quality. The last one, characterized by such a classical structure, is a particularly disconcerting ending and gives the sensation of reading something already known, even without being able to specify the influences concretely. This time, the Argentinian writer uses the same characters in different stories, especially one named Emilio Renzi (who is his alter ego), also seen in "Artificial Respiration" (Respiración artificial). A separate mention must be made of the story titled "Nombre falso," which is more extensive than the previous ones, covering half the book. It must be acknowledged that this is a masterpiece that is striking for a style similar to that used in the second part of "Artificial Respiration," but with a much more convincing result. It is a clear example of what is defined as "literature of deception," a real-fictionalized story taken to the extreme, with a structure similar to the intended essay-fiction. A true "paranoid fiction." Here Piglia discusses the supposed meeting between Hitler and Kafka, but uses an investigation into a much less known author, Roberto Arlt, thus achieving almost perfect credibility by blending real facts with invented ones. The author even uses footnotes and authentic quotes from Arlt. He wants us to believe that he is narrating a real, personal investigation involving the discovery of unpublished writings by Arlt, consisting of a novel outline and a story called "Luba," which is added as an appendix. In the story "Homenaje a Roberto Arlt," the voice of the other is the voice of a writer. The text is divided into two parts: a first part where the journalist Emilio Renzi speaks about an unpublished text by Roberto Arlt, blending fictional data with "real" data. The second part of the text (presented as the work of the writer Arlt) is actually a rewriting that Piglia did of a text by Leonid Andreyev. However, by creating a climate of objectivity (showing that unattainable objectivity is based only on a type of discourse), it lends itself to confusion. It is even said that more than one critic mistook the text "Luba" (the rewriting of Andreyev's text) for a story by Roberto Arlt himself. Furthermore, there are two facts that generate confusion: the doubt suggested in the text concerns the author of "Luba," that is, whether it is Arlt or the character Rinaldi. Perhaps it is the fact that the presentation of a fictional text is a place presented as distant from literary fiction.

Un viaggio notturno per raggiungere un padre in fin di vita; un vecchio pugile che si aggrappa a un ritaglio di giornale per rievocare gli antichi splendori; un uomo che tace invece di pronunciare le poche parole che potrebbero salvare la vita di un bambino; un amore che oscilla tra violenza e malinconia; carte perdute o forse rubate. Sono solo alcune delle indelebili scene di "Falso nome", la raccolta di racconti in cui Piglia dà vita per la prima volta a una mescolanza di generi unica – dal poliziesco all'autobiografia allo scritto testimoniale – appropriandosi di suggestioni e influenze letterarie: dall'imperitura presenza di Borges, che troviamo fra le righe, alla prosa spigolosa ed espressionista di Roberto Arlt. Proprio ad Arlt è dedicata la nouvelle che dà il titolo al volume: un omaggio all'enfant terrible delle lettere argentine e insieme un piccolo capolavoro di stile in cui l'eterno alter ego di Piglia, Emilio Renzi, si mette sulle tracce di un manoscritto perduto, e finzione e realtà si sovrappongono fino a diventare del tutto irriconoscibili. In questa raccolta Ricardo Piglia gioca con la realtà e la maschera, mostrandoci in ogni pagina la sua idea di letteratura.