Castelvecchi Catalogue

Transcript

Castelvecchi was established in 1993. It publishes 50
titles a year (mostly non fiction). Many regard it as an
«Innovation Lab», more than a traditional publishing
concern. Youth culture, new social trends, controversial
issues, and very special communication skills are what
shows most in the media. But a lot of research and
fresh contents are the real substance behind it. At
Castelvecchi, we always say «from underground to
overground»whenwe explain the reason of our buoyant
approach to the market. We strive to be outstanding
and effective, and therefore we guard our reputation
for discovering new authors, new faces, new talents.
But we also say: «Street Credibility is our Core Business», because we never loose touch with places and
scenes that are the sources of innovation: be it «Rave
Culture and Cyberspace» (as it was in the Nineties), or
«New Competence: The iPod & Blog Generation» (as
it is today).
Will Machines Ever Learn
to Think Human?
Fuzzy Logic
Come insegneremo alle macchine
a «ragionare da uomini»
Fuzzy Logic
How We Will Teach Machines
to «Reason Like Men»
areas», to perceive the reasonable dimensions of «almost» and
«maybe», to feel and compromise. Fuzzy Logic is a revolutionary field in cognitive studies that attempts to identify all the
possible applications of human mind’s capability of flexibility.
Perhaps one day we will have super fast computers made in
man’s image and likeness, with an intuitive capacity as well as
a sense of approximation that will make our relationship with
artificial intelligence far more comfortable.
Author: Antonella Giulia Pizzaleo
pp. 192 – Euros 14,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: March 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-001-3
Man knows, unlike a computer, that in reality two and two do
not always equal four. All of the research on human intelligence
explains that the difference between man and computer lies precisely in man’s capacity to distinguish nuances, to see the «grey
Antonella Giulia Pizzaleo is a researcher at the University of
Rome «La Sapienza» in the field of Media Sociology. She is credited with numerous studies and specialist research.
Contemporary Italian Poets:
The Anthology
La poesia italiana oggi
Un’antologia critica
Italian Poetry Today
A Critical Anthology
big-name poets and little-known poets. Contemporary poetry is
treated as one body and is considered «present». The book
describes Italian poetry as it is now, critically judging it with
the clarity and amusement of one, a poet himself, who can
judge verse by subjecting other poets to a kind of exhilarating
«epigramic torture».
Author: Giorgio Manacorda
pp. 560 – Euros 24,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-002-1
This anthology is a portrait of Italian poetry at the dawn of
the new century, however, it does not represent a selection of
the most beautiful poems; it does not outline any tendencies
nor is it an anthology. It is a radical anthology in which the
editor takes a position, challenges value judgments by putting into direct confrontation (with often unexpected results)
Giorgio Manacorda teaches German Literature at the University of Rome «La Sapienza». He has published eight books
of verse: Iconografia (Lacaita, 1974), Tracce (Guanda, 1977), L’esecutore (Guanda-Poetry Society, 1981), Communista crepuscolare (Daga, 1989), Soldato segreto (Marcos y Marcos, 1999), Poesie per fare l’amore (Es, 2000), Il cielo delle parche (Empirìa,
2002), Scrivo per te, mia amata (Castelvecchi, 2003). He has published two books of essay on poetry: Per la poesia (Editori
Riuniti, 1993), La poesia è la forma della mente (De Donato-Lerici, 2002). Since 1994, he has been editing an annual review of
Italian poetry (Castelvecchi).
Revenge Is in The Air
Breve storia della vendetta
Arte, Letteratura, Cinema: la giustizia originaria
A Brief History of Revenge
Art, Literature, Cinema: the Original Justice
Author: Antonio Fichera
pp. 448 – Euros 18,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-003-X
Revenge: primordial form of justice, the necessary action that
restores «lost balance». In such a sense, as the author provocatively affirms, revenge even constitutes the present-day model
of lawfulness. However, in the modern era, direct rebellion
against an unjust action of a strictly personal nature is bypassed by the law, which is abstract and impersonal, and by the
idea of the State as an indifferent collectivity that must guarantee the rights of its citizens. Banished, therefore, from the
world of institutions, revenge has taken refuge in the arts in
order to survive: at first, in painting and literature then, above
all, in cinema where it has become a massive expression of the
beginning of a real age of rancor. This book is a journey through
the history of an emotion that is ancient yet deeply modern: from
fables to archaic myths, from epic tales to classic tragedies, from
Shakespearean masterpieces to contemporary mass phenomena, such as the film Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino.
Antonio Fichera, a graduate in Architecture, has attended
schools of scriptwriting as well as specialization courses in
film directing and has directed several documentaries in Italy,
South America and Asia. He has contributed to the culture and
theater sections of newspapers and journals and is responsible
for the Cinema and Essay columns of «India» magazine.
When Fetish Goes Global
De Erotographia
Nuove scritture del desiderio
De Erotographia
an ever more provocative and intriguing erotic challenge, extreme, yet ambiguous. Sado-chic porn has now become a universal language. The book opens by posing a disturbing question: sexual liberation or clever marketing?
New Scriptures of Desire
Author: Daniela Ranieri
pp. 224 ill. b/w – Euros 15,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: April 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-006-4
Why is no one amazed any longer by the evident pornographic
allusions in «Me and My Magnum» or in the Stefanel advert
where the secretary whips the supervisor? Through mass
communication and advertising, eroticism and fetishism of the
body have spread exorbitantly; permanent modifications, cosmetics and fashion have now taken on the unique features of
Daniela Ranieri received her degree in Communications from
the University of Rome «La Sapienza» and, since 2002, has been
working in collaboration with the departmental chair of Cultural Anthropology. She is interested in the fields of theoretical research and digital video art and in particular the areas of
the body and writing, the eye and surrealist ethnography.
Kids Are Back After
Tien An Men
Punk in Cina
Nuovi fuochi di rivolta dopo Tien An Men
Punk in China
New Rebellion Flames after Tien An Men
Author: Serena Zuccheri
pp. 192 (ill. b/w + 16 color pages) + music cd – Euros 18,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: May 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-010-2
What have the Chinese youth done, written, and dreamed in the
last ten years? By now, everyone knows the «official» China but
few know the subterranean, metropolitan, underground China that, for the last ten years, has been growing and relentlessly screaming that Mao was the first punk in the world (sic!). A
journey through the protest of images, sound and verse, abso-
lutely unedited in the West and in most cases clandestine, for the
first time, this book sheds light on the Asian offspring of the Sex
Pistols and the Ramones: including poems and songs (with parallel text) and even a cd of unedited music tracks. China has
never seemed so «bitter and intimate».
Serena Zuccheri holds a degree in Languages and Oriental Civilization from the University of Rome «La Sapienza». She became involved in the study of the Chinese underground phenomenon after a long stay in Peking with the Beijing Language
and Cultural University.
«Now, don’t tell me that
you never…»
BDSM
Guida per esploratori dell’erotismo estremo
BDSM
treme fantasies, gives inedited information regarding their
origin and, moreover, introduces the reader to the mysterious
codes of behavior that regulate this fascinating underworld
like an unwritten law.
Guide for Extreme Sex Explorers
Author: Ayzad
Series: Le Navi
Release date: October 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-025-0
In recent years, Bdsm (an acronym for «Bondage Domination
Sado-Masochism») has truly become a parallel universe that has
ended up spreading into the realms of fashion, communication
and advertising photography. This book is the first well-informed,
encyclopedic guide that has ever been written by «an insider»:
it explains and analyzes all of the practices and the most ex-
Ayzad, in the «profession» entry of his identity card, he has written «journalist». He has always loved Bdsm and has practiced
it since he was nineteen years old. After a full-time initiation under a German master, he has chosen the dominant role in his relationship with his companion-slave. A well-known figure in Milanese Bdsm, he has written many practical guides and short
stories for Bdsm journals that are now collected on his website: <www.ayzad.com>.
The «Ghostly Planet» Guide
Guida alle case più stregate del mondo
Cento posti in cui (non) vorreste passare la notte
Guide to the Most Haunted Houses
in the World
One Hundred Places Where you Would (not)
Want to Spend the Night
Author: Francesco Dimitri
pp. 288 – Euros 15,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: November 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-027-7
Seeing a ghost does not happen everyday. The problem is
that spirits are by nature evanescent creatures that do not
always want to be seen. However, it is not difficult to find a
haunted house. Then there are haunted houses in which the
spirits love meeting as if they were a club for otherworldly
gentlemen, houses so full of ghosts that it makes the
encounter easier. Sometimes, they are damp and rickety, others are modern, but always characterized by an elevated
«ectoplasmic» activity. In this guide, you will find not only
the histories of the most haunted houses in the world but
also instructions for how to transform yourselves into skilled
ghost busters. And if you are among those that do not believe
in ghosts, it is all right: you do not need to believe to have
fun. Just let yourself go with the story, the only thing we can
be sure exists.
Francesco Dimitri studies Communication Science at the
University of Rome «La Sapienza». He covers magic, ufology,
anthropological topics and pop culture. He is the scriptwriter
for Colossaeum Comics Group and he published with Castelvecchi Neopaganesimo and Comunismo magico. His blog is:
<immaginauta.blogspot.com>.
Guess What Dark Ladies Drink
Le vampire
Crimini e misfatti delle succhiasangue da
da Carmilla a Van Helsing
Female Vampires
The Crimes and Misdemeanors of Bloodsuckers
from Carmilla to Van Helsing
Authors: Franco Pezzini - Arianna Conti
pp. 416 + 16 color pages – Euros 20,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: January 2005
ISBN: 88-7615-023-4
Fatal dark ladies, lymphatic adolescents, centuries-old mon-suckers, disconcerted haemato-dependents, high-fashion bad girls in
the eternal return of cinema and pop culture, vampires, the female version of the most enchanting inhabitant of nocturnal
fables, find their greatest fortune. Like in the epic poem of Carmilla, young undead of Sapphic languor evoked in the namesake novel of 1871 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the demonic
apologue becomes the dark mirror of all perturbing feminini
drome, fatal eros, but also generational clashes, (extreme) unreproductive and homosexual sex connote and entire line of
blood sisters.
Franco Pezzini, graduated in Canonic Law with a thesis on
Exorcism and Magic in Church Law, is a scholar of the relationship between Literature and Anthropology. Among the
founders of the journal «L’Opera al Rosso», he has contributed articles to the review «L’Indice dei Libri del Mese».
Arianna Conti has a degree in Jurisprudence and works on the
editorial staff of Zanichelli. She is interested in fantasy cinema, science fiction literature and, above all, heavy metal music.
L’Afrique, c’est Chic
African Style
Stilisti, moda e design nel Continente Nero
African Style
Stylists, Fashion and Design on the Black Continent
tion and local traditions. The history of textiles and costume is
one of the indicators of social change and cultural influence.
Fabric, accessories and hairstyles are messages laden with
meaning. Between the folds of a dress, lies hidden the sacred
right to beauty and the enormous creative and artisanal
potential of the people of the Black Continent.
Author: Michela Manservisi
pp. 192 – Euros 15,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-029-3
From neo-traditional fabrics to Senegalese fashion system, from
the vestments of those in power to the language of afro hairstyling, the goal of this book is to give voice to long-underestimated African creativity. It is a guide complete with images,
profiles and interviews with the most important creative designers of today’s fashion world, poised between extreme innova-
Michela Manservisi, a graduate in Communications and Public
Relations, has worked for several years in the fashion sector and
published the essay Sotto il segno dei bottoni (Nuova Libra,
1993). A lover of Africa and attentive investigator of its cultural
trends, she founded and was the director of the magazine «Africa». She has contributed to many of the major Italian newspapers and in 2002, she was responsible for the artistic direction and the exhibition catalog for «Made in Africa Fotografia», first edition of the bi-annual exposition of African photography. She currently collaborate with Associazione Afritudine on the realization of projects for cultural cooperation.
The Mirror and Its Double
in Contemporary Arts
I’ll be Your Mirror
– up to more recent contributions. Includes an ample insert
of color photographs.
I’ll be Your Mirror
Fabiola Naldi is an art curator and critic. She collaborates on
the History of Contemporary Art course at University. She
writes for the magazine «Flash Art». She was responsible for
the Art section of three editions of the Festival «Brescia Music
Art» and author of the video-art program ARTTV on Match Music Satellite. She lives and works between Bologna and Milan.
Travestimenti fotografici
Costume in Photography
Author: Fabiola Naldi
pp. 208 – Euros 16,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-037-4
This book is the first complete study of costume in its myriad
varieties in photography. Beginning with the first half of the
last century with Rose Sélavy, the well-known photomontage
by Marcel Duchamp (1921), through the revolution of culture
and tradition in the second half of the twentieth century –
when art encounters its destiny in media, Rock, and politics
Carboni Is a Real
Maı̂tre-à-penser
Non vedi niente lì?
Sentieri tra arti e filosofie del presente
Don’t You See Anything There?
Paths Between Art and Philosophy of the Present
Author: Massimo Carboni
Series: Le Navi (new edition, revised and amplified)
Release date: September 2005
ISBN: 88-7615-093-5
This book investigates the relationship between modern-contemporary art and philosophic thought. «You don’t see anything
there?», Hamlet asks his mother pointing at the ghost of the
assassinated King. «Absolutely nothing», she replies. In light of
this same question, Massimo Carboni analyzes philosophical
speculation on the terrain of aesthetic experience. Has art in
its hyper technological drift, its progressive commercial hybridization, indeed lost the path of the «Absolute» consequently
excluding hermeneutics? Or does contemporary thought still
continue to feel involved by art and forced to rethink precisely
by virtue of those changes that occur in art? Carboni proposes
an investigation of four artists (Malevič, Burri, Lo Savio, Castellani) along with the works of four twentieth century philosophers (Deleuze, Gadamer, Gehlen, Merleau-Ponty). Therefore, it is not only Philosophy that allows itself to be interrogated
by Art, but also Art that in its own creation rediscovers thought.
Massimo Carboni, professor of Aesthetics, has published Cesare Brandi. Teoria e esperienza d’arte (Editori Riuniti, 1992), Il
Sublime è Ora. Saggio sulle estetiche contemporanee (Castelvecchi, 1993), L’ornamentale. Tra arte e decorazione (Jaca Book,
2000), L’occhio e la pagina. Tra immagine e parola (Jaca Book,
2002) and Lo stato dell’arte. L’esperienza estetica nell’era della
tecnica (Laterza, 2005).
The Pleasure and the Fury
Don Giovanni
Il potere della seduzione,
la musica, il mito
Don Juan
The Power of Seduction,
the Music, the Myth
Author: Loredana Lipperini
pp. 312 – Euros 16,00
Series: Le Navi
Release date: February 2006
ISBN: 88-7615-117-6
Why is the centuries-old Don Juan still one of the most vivid
characters of the present day culture? It’s because he is top
of the myths, of course. What’s special in this seducer, traitor, and playful gentleman? Don Juan is above all a sort of
mirror, which easily reflects the spirit of every age and allows each one to look through it at his desires: Eros, self-destruction, freedom, impossible lives, sin, clash against power
and death. Since in eighteenth century Mozart composed his
masterpiece voicing the symbols of the Libertine’s ancient
legend, Don Juan became an icon not only for musicians but
also for artists and stern scholars.
Loredana Lipperini, journalist, writer, and author for radio
and television, writes on culture for «la Repubblica» and «Il
Venerdì». She published Invito all’ascolto di Bach (1984), Introduzione al Don Giovanni (1987), Mozart in rock (1990), Generazione Pokémon (2000), La notte dei blogger (2004). Her
blog is: <loredanalipperini.blog.kata web.it/lipperatura>.
All is Three
and Three is One
Il grande libro degli haiku
The Great Book of Haikus
Author: Irene Starace
pp. 1520 – Euros 40,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-085-4
Extremely short (seventeen syllables and three verses), maybe
the haiku is the literary genre that expresses at best Japanese
sensibility, which prefers hints to completeness and fragments to redundancy. Western readers will find themselves
amazed by the recalling power of three lonely verses: Bashō’s
love for the Nature in the 17th century, the pictorial and ro-
mantic taste of Buson, great master of the eighteenth century, Issa’s melancholy irony, and Ogiwara Seisensui’s attention
for social problems in the twentieth century. Even the most
hostile to tradition among poets shares their sensibility, which
survived modernization and the machine age. Haikus teach
an ethical and aesthetical lesson, a priceless one indeed.
Irene Starace holds a degree in Languages and Oriental Civilization from the University of Rome «La Sapienza». She
translates the classics and also modern authors.
The Girl of the Next Century
La ballata delle prugne secche
The Ballad of Dried Plums
Author: Pulsatilla
pp. 120 – Euros 10,00
Release date: June 2006
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-128-1
Pulsatilla is a genuine blessing for our times. This book is
neither merely a good literary result nor the biography of an
Italian twenty-year-old girl, but a practical handbook. It helps
you to cope with the most ambiguous sides of life, from hair
set to inquiring the I-Ching, from struggle against superfluous fat to picking up on the Internet, and tells you about
shameful ploys to drag to bed bold youths as easily as snapping your fingers. It makes you laugh your head off and
moves you to tears. From Foggia to London, from Milan to
Rome, this girl looks for answers, or at least for interesting
questions, for emotions, love and flirts. Have you ever noticed that neither men nor women want to be born again as
a woman? It’s up to you to draw the conclusions.
Pulsatilla used to live in Puglia until she eventually reached
the age of discretion, then she ran away at full speed. In
Milan she was a copywriter, but she fell madly for a guy who
lived in Rome so she packed her stuff and moved there.
Now she is single and jobless.
«Me? Phobic? W-W...What?»
Fobie
Le nuove ossessioni del secolo XXI
Phobias
New Obsessions of the XXI Century
Author: Adriano Purgato
pp. 187 – Euros 15,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-134-6
If twentieth century was the «age of anxiety», the new century will be the age of phobias: we don’t tolerate to seem poor,
we can’t be «normal», we are afraid of Muslims, of too emancipated women, we are deadly worried about China. This book
covers dozens and dozens of collective obsessions, nightmares,
and frenzies. It describes the mass anguishes we paradoxi-
cally face alone. Transmitted by mass media thanks to advertising and news from all over the world, these psychic viruses affect all of us and distort our thought. This book assures
neither a cure nor recovery, but a sound (as it were) informed
consent…
Adriano Purgato is a psychologist and a criminologist. He
is also an expert in new technologies. He works in a residential therapeutic community and in a street unit for drug addiction prevention. He studied in Padua, Rome, Florence and
Barcelona. This is his first book.
Simple Living
Mediterranean Style
Vivere semplice
Come spendere bene quel poco
che ci è rimasto e vivere felici
Simple Living
How to Spend Wisely the Little Money
We Have Left and Live Happy
Author: Antonio Mazza
pp. 240 – Euros 12,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-143-5
Why does it seems that money «is never enough»? Because we
are the slaves of a mental model based on Economism, which
changed us into servants of luxury, of surplus, of appearing.
Since Euro inflicted us the coup de grâce, we all need individ-
ual, easy, «homely» saving strategies which, in eliminating
extra consumptions, may assure us a good quality of life. It’s
not about tightening the belt, it’s about consuming in a more
human and clever way: a choice that changes your life, here
and now!
Antonio Mazza, a journalist since 1968, wrote for «Il Tempo», «La Gazzetta», «L’Informazione», «La Stampa», and other
alternative newspapers. All at once came a turning point that
brought happiness and a more human dimension: simple living is a rebellion that comes from inside and calls into question human dignity.
Italian Literature
in the Eighties
Campo di battaglia
Poeti a Roma negli anni Ottanta
(antologia di «Prato Pagano» e «Braci»)
Battlefield
Poets of the Eighties in Rome
(an Anthology of «Prato Pagano» and «Braci»)
Author: Flavia Giacomozzi
pp. 352 – Euros 18,00
Series: Le Navi
ISBN: 88-7615-091-9
From late Seventies to late Eighties a few poets and artists
found themselves gathered in Rome to work for two magazines: «Prato Pagano» and «Braci», which shared the same
poetics, even if not the same structure. A spontaneous and
young community, they tried to restore strength to poetry to
which everyone attached weakness, as if the world was saying goodbye to the twentieth century. These poets, who wished
to revive not only the poetic language but also a culture and
the heart, blossomed during a season, the one of youth. While
modernity seemed to have wiped out any horizon, they took
Italian literary tradition as a reference in order to shape the
future.
Flavia Giacomozzi graduated in Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at «La Sapienza» University of Rome
with a dissertation on poetry in Eighties. This is her first book.
The Noble Art
of Disappearing
Manuale di sparizione
La sfida dell’invisibilità
nella società del controllo
Manual of Disappearance
Invisibility as a Challenge
in the Society of Control
Author: Filippo D’Arino
pp. 192 – Euros 15,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-116-8
Why to disappear while everyone longs for appearing? Why
to get out while everybody else wants to join in, to belong to
some social scene? An easy question: in a world where existence is assimilated with presence without ceremony, disap-
pearing is one of the last goals of self-fulfilment. Someone
who disappears unwillingly is a victim, but someone who desires to vanish and does it is the extreme and conscious author of his destiny. He wants to change, to test himself, to
break conventions, even if in an elaborate, personal, puzzling
way. There may be a body disappearance, a soul disappearance, a mind disappearance… Put down your stakes!
Filippo D’Arino covers advertising and communication
since 1966. In 2003 he published his first novel Perderei la
faccia se ne avessi una and he is writing his second one.
Counter-Information
Controinformazione
Stampa alternativa e giornalismo d’inchiesta
dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi
Counterinformation
Alternative Press and Investigation Journalism
from the Sixties to Today
Author: Massimo Veneziani
pp. 256 – Euros 15,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-144-3
This book tells the history of Italian militant information and
investigative journalism, from the inquiry on bandit Giuliano’s death to the days of G8 in Genoa, from Sindona’s death
to the massacres of Piazza Fontana and Ustica, to the more
recent inquiries. Even if, at that time, these events have been
described by radios, magazines and newspaper, they left disquieting shadows on Italian conscience. Thanks to archive
materials, old newspapers, and personal testimonies of brave
journalists and scholars who wrote about those days, this fluent account runs through counterinformative flows, from the
Sixties and the Seventies to today.
Massimo Veneziani graduated in Communication Science
with a dissertation on journalistic communication changes
in the Seventies. He lives in Rome and works on a Tv editorial staff.
An Italian Dirty Dozen
of Boy-Terrorists
Mucchio Selvaggio
Ascesa apoteosi caduta
dell’organizzazione Prima Linea
Wild Bunch
Ascent Apotheosis Fall
of the organization Prima Linea
Author: Giuliano Boraso
pp. 288 – Euros 18,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-115-X
How happened it that thirty year ago a party of very young
people thought of armed fight as a life plane? In the Seventies
they declared war on an enemy society and replaced speeches with facts, then Molotov and cudgels with the P38s and
the Kalashnikovs. They didn’t incarnate the Marxist-Leninist
armed struggle, but a spontaneous, reversible, and multi-centred armed movement. A clan made up of friends and lovers
who longed to be a forefront of a (fancied) people liberation
army, Prima Linea addressed «urban proletariat», the mass
that claimed fulfilment of their «immediate needs». It ended
as it began, with the collective choice to dissociate themselves
from armed struggle. This is the not-quite-authorized story
of a group who left a wake of blood, too quickly wiped out
from Italian memory.
Giuliano Boraso graduated in Communication Science with
a dissertation on the relationship between mass media and
terrorism after Br-Pcc assassination of Massimo D’Antona.
He writes for <www.brigaterosse.org>.
The Intelligence Service
of the SS
SD
L’intelligence delle SS e la cultura tedesca
SD
The Intelligence Service of the SS
and German Culture
Author: Pier Carlo Bontempelli
pp. 288 – Euros 18,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-121-4
This book investigates the connection between the enormous
occult power of SS in the Nazi government and German culture, especially in University. After having examined unpublished archive documents, which were formerly secret, the
author can describe the SS Security Service (Sicherheits-
dienst, or SD) from the inside. It was a narrow elite made up
of young intellectuals who paid so much attention to ideological controversies and desired to increase their cultural
leadership. They aimed at restoring a «German» knowledge
in contrast with the western «universal» one, the former being
the sole prerogative of a spiritual, warlike «aristocracy». After
having covered up their traces, they kept on with influencing
German culture in post-war period.
Pier Carlo Bontempelli teaches German Literature at the
«Gabriele D’Annunzio» University in Pescara. He was interested above all in German literary culture of the nineteenth
century and Weimar Republic. In last few years he studied in
depth the connections between power and knowledge in
Germanic literature and culture. He published essays on
Mann, Jünger, and Brecht. He wrote also a Storia della
Germanistica.
Lenin Is not Dead:
He Is Just Sleeping
Comunismo magico
Leggende, miti e visioni ultraterrene
del socialismo reale
Magical Communism
Legends, Myths and Otherworldly Visions
of Real Socialism
pp. 496 – Euros 18,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-007-2
Lenin is not dead: he is just sleeping. He is waiting in his fourdimensional mausoleum for someone to bring him back to life.
While mediums and ufologists were populating the Russian territories, Mao Tse-tung was zealously defending the ancient wis-
dom of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Could Fidel Castro possibly be the last incarnation of Obatalà, god of justice in Cuban
Santeria? Orientating itself among theosophical Sandinists,
Masonic revolutionaries, immortality theorists and modern
alchemists, Communism has always been deeply intertwined
with the world of magic, the bizarre realm of existence on the
boundary between reality, politics and imagination. It is a story,
full of mystery and disturbing events, that has never been told
in its entirety.
University of Rome «La Sapienza». He contributes to l’Osservatorio Corpo e Società and covers magic, ufology, anthropological topics and pop culture. He is the scriptwriter for Colossaeum Comics Group and he published with Castelvecchi Neopaganesimo and Guida alle case più stregate del mondo. His blog
is: <immaginauta.blogspot.com>.
Rule n. 1: If You Want to
Mindfuck Somebody,
Start Smiling…
Mindfucking
Come fottere la mente
Mindfucking
How to Fuck the Mind
Author: Stefano Re
pp. 368 – Euros 18,00
Series: Analisi
Release date: July 2004
ISBN: 88-7615-019-6
In every communicative interaction – a job interview, romantic
encounter, political discussion, police interrogation – there is
always someone that tries to manipulate the other person’s personality. When the will gives way and the defenses break down,
when they get us to say or do what we did not want to (good or
bad), then the mind is «fucked»; mindfucking is a term that,
in the slang of those who do the «dirty work», actually indicates
the breaking point where the «victim» loses control of the game
and puts his or her mind unconditionally into the hands of the
interlocutor. This book was born from the various secret manuals of the Cia, Fbi and Kgb, as well as studies of criminology
and psychology, to explain: 1. What Mindfucking is. 2. What it
means to submit to Mindfucking. 3. How to learn to defend oneself and counterattack.
Stefano Re, a graduate in Political Science, achieved a profession in Criminology after years of study and work in the
fields of sexual and serial homicide, crime scene analysis, behavioral prognosis, criminogenesis, dynamic criminological analysis of urban centers, crisis management and specific modes of
preventive and repressive intervention. In 2003, he published
FemDom for Castelvecchi.
Mussolini Flirting
With Big Brother
La Tv di Mussolini
Sperimentazioni televisive nel Ventennio fascista
Mussolini Tv
Experiments in Television During the
Two Decade of Fascism
Author: Diego Verdegiglio
pp. 496 – Euros 20,00
Series: Analisi
ISBN: 88-7615-043-9
Few people know that the Fascist regime initiated some interesting experiments in television, including live broadcasts,
which were only interrupted by the rigors of war. Forty televisions were installed in homes of an equal number of party officials and other highly regarded persons while a couple were
exposed to the public in Rome (in PiazzaVenezia and the Galleria Colonna). Did the regime understand the potential of television? And if it did, why did television only become widespread throughout Italy in the sixties? This book presents pioneer research from unpublished and rare sources, including
interviews with the operators (now in their nineties) who from
Eiar studios on Via Asiago (the current studio of Rai Radio)
made these experiments possible. One thing is curious: the director of Mussolini Tv was the head reporter of Eiar, that is,
Walter Veltroni’s father…
Diego Verdegiglio, journalist and history researcher, is the
author of several radio and television programs.
To «Out»
or not to «Out»...
E adesso che lo dice a mamma?
Who’s Going to Tell Mum Now?
Author: Flavio Mazzini
pp. 216 – Euros 13,00
Series: Contatti Nuova Serie
ISBN: 88-7615-153-2
Is it right to tell everybody that you are gay? Sometimes you
repress yourself because of shyness, good manners, religion
or because of the fear of being always forced to sharpen your
own wits in order to solve «that problem». Moreover, even
though politics and newspapers cover these subjects, things
don’t get better: nowadays homosexuality is often «protected» rather that truly accepted. This book offers the chance to
read what protagonists really think and to discover that the
concerto of voices and opinions is more varied than one
could expect. Between misunderstandings, sense of guilt and
love towards parents (and grandparents), gays, lesbians and
transsexuals, who talk about themselves with passion and
irony, show that the only answer consists in taking one‘s
choice bravely.
Flavio Mazzini is that kind of non-journalist that sometimes
writes a book because he doesn’t give up the idea of describing the world around him. Having already met the perfect woman, the perfect man, and an impressing number of rogues,
he makes no demands.
When The i-Pod meets
a Metropolitan Landscape
Il piccolo isolazionista
Prolegomeni ad una metafisica della periferia
The Little Isolationist
Prolegomena to a Metaphysics of Suburbs
Author: Tommaso Labranca
pp. 160 – Euros 13,00
ISBN: 88-7615-141-9
Being an anchoret or a hermit is quite simple: you have only
to withdraw into a monastic cell or a cave. On the contrary,
being a Little Isolationist is much more difficult. You have to
keep the balance between being immersed in the outer world
and your desire to avoid social relations. To a Little Isolationist other people are nothing more than necessary extras,
who produce by day the design, the electronic machines, and
the music he needs at night, when streets go empty and lose
their geographic identity. After having used more and more
modern walkmans, the Little Isolationist changed into an iPod,
which reproduces at random private events, formative songs,
and socio-technological scenarios.
Tommaso Labranca has published Andy Warhol era un coatto (Castelvecchi 1994), Chaltron Hescon (Einaudi Stile libero
1998) and Neoproletariato (Castelvecchi 2002). His television
contributions for a demanding audience, his daily press
review on Play Radio and his refusal of performing readings
in libraries are the things he’s proud of.
Cheer Up.
The Time Has Come
Manuale del cattivo
Cattivi si nasce. Bastardi si diventa
The Wicked’s Manual
You are born wicked,
but you can become a true bastard
pp. 264 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-103-6
In reading this book you’ll rediscover the child in yourself: a
genuine, perfect, adorable son of a bitch. Welcome to Bastard
Street. First: take a sheet of paper. Write down five advantages goodness brought to you. Now, write down five more,
the ones wickedness brought to another one. Compare the
two lists and… show your claws! For becoming a wicked person requires an intensive bastard training, this book provides
you also some progressive exercises. Once you become a firstrate wicked man or woman, passions won’t get better of you
any longer. You are going to free yourself from good people
who pollute the whole world with their inane hypocrisy.
University of Rome «La Sapienza». He contributes to l’Osservatorio Corpo e Società and covers magic, ufology, anthropological topics and pop culture. He is the scriptwriter for
Colossaeum Comics Group and he published with Castelvecchi Comunismo magico and Guida alle case più stregate del
mondo. His blog is: <immaginauta.blogspot.com>.
How the food you get every
day modifies your soul
Cucina stupefacente
Nuovi stati alterati di coscienza:
introduzione alla Neurodietologia
Stupefacient Cookery
New Altered States of Consciousness:
An Introduction to Neurodietetics
Author: Elisabetta Valentini
pp. 192 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-083-8
Is there a relationship between food and mood? Which one?
Neurodietetics explains in every detail the deep powers of
every food, even of the ones that are used to be thought of as
common. Not only special mushrooms, nutmeg, and thou-
sands of (quite legal) others, but also salads, fruits, and every
kind of foods with the power to stimulate or relax, to induce
meditation or make introspection easier. The genuine source
of every state of mind lies indeed in the endless area between
mind, body, and soul…
Elisabetta Valentini, restless countercultural plotter and
alchemist of contemporary thought, is able to range from
public television to the lowest underground. However, don’t
call her author or artist: «Art is neither an author nor a
work. It’s a sign, in preference a disruptive one…».
How To Survive Your
Narcissist Partner
Ho sposato un narciso
Manuale di sopravvivenza
per donne innamorate
I Married a Narcissist
Survival Handbook
for Women in Love
Author: Umberta Telfener
pp. 240 – Euros 9,00
ISBN: 88-7615-110-9
He charms and hurts. He is cleverer than many others. Sensitive, seductive, grand. Sometimes he appears abruptly depressed and unequal to the situation. What does the Narcissist wants from women? In most cases he only wishes them
to help him love himself, love himself, and… love himself.
But what if a woman ends by needing his help? That’s the
point. A narcissist always tends to the absolute, he’s so involved
in big, heroic ventures that he cannot allow any doubt or
diversion. Shrew and fluent, this book covers a very serious
theme studied in depth over many years of clinical work. It’s
also a real survival manual, because maybe changing a narcissist it’s kind of impossible.
Umberta Telfener, a psychologist and a psychotherapist,
teaches in the School of Specialization in Health Psychology at «La Sapienza» University of Rome. She is an expert
in Systems’ Theory and published several essays of psychology and epistemology, among which Sistemica. Voci e percorsi nella complessità (Bollati Boringhieri 2003).
The New generation
of Italian Jews
Melagrana
La nuova generazione degli ebrei italiani
Pomegranate
The New Generation of Italian Jews
Author: Lia Tagliacozzo
pp. 256 – Euros 14,00
Release date: Novembre 2005
ISBN: 88-7615-107-9
They «came after», after Shoah, after Israel Independence.
Italian Jews of the new generation, fathers and sons of the
striding forward globalization, talk intimately about a modern, possible identity in the plural. A town councillor, a Rabbi
in black from Tripoli, a principal of a Jewish school, the honorary chairman of the first Italian progressive synagogue, a
graduated costermonger who works as scribe, they all have
doubts, hopes, and a few certitudes. Together with old fellows, non-Jewish companions, doubtful friends, and the
ones being about to lose themselves, they talk about Israel,
memory, and children education. All of them are like the
pomegranate grains: one sweet and the other sour. All of
them are part of the most ancient Italian minority trying to
think up another identity.
Lia Tagliacozzo graduated in Political Science at «La Sapienza» University of Rome. She works as a journalist for
magazines and newspapers. She is an author, editor, and producer for television, covering the Jewish history and culture.
How to Survive
Conventional Wisdom
Neo-conf
(Auto)ritratto del nuovo conformista
Neo-conf
(Self-)portrait of the New Conformist
Author: Andrea Pugliese
pp. 176 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-101-X
Old conformism fell together with the Wall and the certainty of «strong ideas» and social classes. On the contrary, New
Conformist keep on adapting himself to a flow of weak ideas
and fickle fashions, he has to exhibit opinions without having ideas, he pretends to have a personality but is not even a
person. The old conformist and his family went to bed at 11
p.m. The Neo-Conf feels single even if married, he stay up
late, he likes to show off but don’t want to take the responsibility that comes with it. The old conformist knew the Ten
Commandments by heart. The Neo-Conf remembers one hundred Tv channels by heart. And he doesn’t feel ashamed: «I’m
a conformist, what’s wrong with it?».
Andrea Pugliese lives in Rome and runs a communication
company. In writing he investigates possible lives in order
to choose a not-so-worse one. In 2005 he published Persone
smarrite, a novel.
Fractals and Lysergic Visions
Fisica lisergica
La mente profonda e la struttura
dell’universo
Lysergic Physics
The Deep Mind and the Structure
of the Universe
Author: Alessandro Haag
pp. 128 – Euros 9,00
ISBN: 88-7615-102-8
«If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would
appear to man as it is: Infinite». So wrote William Blake over
a century and a half ago. Maybe, he thought he said something deeply mystical, intimately spiritual, but he had had a
scientific insight instead, a grand one, which has been entirely understood a long time after his death. That’s exactly
what modern scientific thought affirms: everything is infinite. This book reveals the non-occasional and non-superficial
ties between Theoretical Physics achievements and millennial beliefs of cosmological and esoteric traditions.
Alessandro Haag graduated in Elementary Particles Physics
with a dissertation on his research in the Gran Sasso Laboratory. Since 2002 he is an IBMer. He said he found his way
in Fighting Karate, Goa parties and role games.
Some Meaty Good Reasons
to Eat Meat
Il manuale del carnivoro
Perché non dovete sentirvi in colpa
se mangiate animali
The Carnivore’s Manual
Why You do not Have to Feel Guilty about
Eating Animals
lution, the arguments of the vegetarian movement are taken
apart one by one. Therefore: 1. Meat is extremely digestible and
our body is perfectly capable of assimilating it without being
contaminated; 2. The traditional religions, above all, the Asian
ones, have no qualms about authorizing meat consumption;
3. Livestock have always existed for human consumption and,
moreover, it is not written anywhere that our diet should be
based upon feelings of guilt.
Author: Carla Pagani
pp. 192 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-011-0
Why should we feel guilty about eating animals? The Carnivore’s Manual demonstrates that meat, if eaten in the right
quantity and accompanied by a balanced and varied diet, is
very good for you. With great courtesy as well as great reso-
Carla Pagani is a graduate in Communication Science in 2002.
Presently, she collaborates with a research group from the
Department of Communication Science of the University of
Rome, coordinated by Alberto Abruzzese and Valeria Giordano. She writes for the weekly newsletter «Rassegna sindacale» issued by Cgil trade union and for «2087-Rls», a journal that
addresses issues of job security.
Surviving The Italians? Er…
Come sopravvivere agli italiani
Anche voi potete farcela
How to Survive the Italians
Even You Can Do It
Author: Francesco Zardo
pp. 144 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-018-8
You do not need to be an alien from Mars to feel like an alien
in our country. Those who land on planet Italy see a population of pleasant, noisy people who gesture a lot (more than
any other population in the world), always talk on their cell
phones (more than any other population in the world), make
comments about women on the street (more than any other
population in the world) and ignore traffic lights, queues and
street signs (more or less like in Bogotá or Bombay). But
then you see Venice, Florence, Rome, you see our fashion
and taste our cuisine (including the 400 different ways to
order coffee) and you ask yourself: 1. How could these semisavages give birth to such delights? And, above all, 2. «Will
we ever survive the Italians?».
Francesco Zardo, journalist and writer, has lived in France,
where he taught Italian Language and History at the Borgogna University of Digione (in the future he hopes to return to
Paris to live). He covers culture, theater and sport for several
newspapers. The first of the two books he has published is called
Come sopravvivere ai francesi (Cooper&Castelvecchi, 2003).
Into Umberto Eco’s
Secret Laboratory
Il segno e la rosa
I segreti della narrativa di Umberto Eco
The Signs and the Rose
The Secrets of the Narrative of Umberto Eco
Author: Franco Forchetti
pp. 352 – Euros 18,00
ISBN: 88-7615-055-2
What are the links between the most famous literary inventions of Umberto Eco? What unites the labyrinth library of
the Name of the Rose, the mystery of the Templars in Foucault’s
Pendulum, the Baroque short story about a shipwreck off an
island where a mysterious dove lives, the vicissitudes of the
lying hero Baudoline of Medieval fantasy and the mnemonic
voyage of a man who has lost his memory in the Mysterious
Flame of Queen Loana? This book is a voyage in search of the
symbols that populate the narrative of the most well-known
Italian writer today. It is an introductive guide that explores the
mysterious terrain of his novels. Archetypes of the collective
imagination, literary myths, ancient obsessions and contemporary anxieties come together in a narratological model, of the
novel and of the conscience, where «one recounts that which
cannot be explained by theory», and where the mysteries of
philosophy are incarnated in the mystic body of literature.
Franco Forchetti is a Communication and Marketing professor at Universitiy. He has also taught Epistemology and Decisional Logic. Graduated in Aesthetics with a thesis on the poetics of symbol in Eco’s narrative, he has been involved in the
study of semiology, criticism and the sociology of new media.
Don’t Read the News.
Fuck It Up
Mind Invaders
Come fottere i media: manuale di guerriglia
e sabotaggio culturale
Mind Invaders
How to Fuck the Media: a Manual
of Cultural Guerilla War and Sabotage
Author: Luther Blissett
pp. 160 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-057-9
Recently, the ten-year anniversary of Luther Blissett’s debut
was celebrated with the release of this book. Luther Blissett
is collective identity that has persecuted newspapers, the
media and the police headquarters of half of Europe for a
long time. The only weapons needed are those of psychological guerilla warfare. His objective is to «bring panic into the
sanctuaries of power», insinuate antibodies into the system
of falsity and deception that advanced societies engineer to
extend their police-like control over the identity, lives and
consumption of millions of citizens. Luther is a «multiple
name»: all activists are called Luther, making the identification of their personal data impossible. Our shared journey
begins with the elimination of personal individuality, then
we are free to act as we like.
Luther Blissett is a literary, political pseudonym under which
five writer-activists debuted. They have now become famous
under the collective name of Wu Ming (published by Einaudi
Stile libero, Baldini & Castoldi, etc.). This was their first,
successful debut book.
The Gods Are Back in Town
Neopaganesimo
Perché gli dèi sono tornati
Neo-Paganism
Why the Gods Have Returned
pp. 224 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-063-3
Carl Gustav Jung thought that the Greek, Roman and Indian
gods, relegated to the margins of social life by the modern
world, had transformed themselves into illnesses, psychological tension and unconscious processes. If Jung was alive
today, he would see that Artemis the Huntress scampers hand
in hand with the goddess Kali through the streets of every
world metropolis, that Thor and Odin sit alongside the living
in cafes, that Celtic, Roman and Egyptian myths are sought
after by technocrats and Internet surfers alike. What is happening? Who are the Neo-Pagans? Into how many different
currents are they subdivided? What distinguishes them from
Satanists and mysterious cults? What is Wicca, the cult of
the mother goddess that has ancient roots, yet attracts thousands of young people from all over the world? This book is
the first up-to-date and documented guide to a phenomenon
that will continue to expand over the following years.
University of Rome «La Sapienza». He contributes to l’Osservatorio Corpo e Società and covers magic, ufology, anthropological topics and pop culture. He is the scriptwriter for
Colossaeum Comics Group and he published with Castelvecchi Comunismo magico and Guida alle case più stregate del
mondo. His blog is: <immaginauta.blogspot.com>.
The Western Way
to Combat & Zen
La spada occidentale
Combattimento, arte sacra, iniziazione
The Western Sword
Battles, Sacred Art, Initiation
Author: Livio Bessi
pp. 192 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-065-X
In western civilization, as in the Ancient Orient, the sword is
at the center of reflection and has nothing to envy from Zen
philosophy. This book directly reconstructs, from original
sources, how the unblemished and fearless medieval knights
prepared for battle, from their physical training to deep meditation, from alchemical powders to the dust of battle; the
life of a warrior depended on his knowledge and identification with «the steel serpent», «the tree of knowledge» and
many other ways of alluding to the sword. A complex anthropomorphous symbology accompanied this vision: the sword
as «the integrity of the soul», the supporting axis of the human
body, the foundation of energetic balance, the testimony of
Christ’s cross, the living symbol of the accomplishment of esoteric operations (that only the initiate could use and understand).
Livio Bessi is a scholar of Science and Ancient Medieval
Traditions. He has studied Ancient Herbalism and is in the
process of publishing an important study on this topic for
Edizioni Mediterranee.
The History of Trash Started
One Night at Studio 54
Andy Warhol era un coatto
nential «trash logical» drift, squared, cubed…
Vivere e capire il trash
Andy Warhol Was White Trash
Live and Understand Trash
pp. 128 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-072-2
Contrary to what everyone believes, Trash is a very complex
object of study, that analyzes all of the failed imitations of
«lofty», «winning» products (la Rutella for la Nutella, Dylan
Blog for Dylan Dog), that produce a real sub-cultural delirium. Then, when the initial model is already garbage in and
of itself, it is here that its failed emulations develop an expo-
Tommaso Labranca has published Estasi del pecoreccio
(Castelvecchi), La vita secondo Orietta (Sperling & Kupfer)
and Chaltron Hescon (Einaudi Stile libero). In addition to
being the greatest living «trashologist», he is known as well
for his numerous television contributions.
Is Your Husband Dating Boys?
Quanti padri di famiglia
Vita e peripezie di un prostituto intelligente
What a Lot of Family Men
Life and Vicissitudes of an Intelligent Prostitute
decides to work for a period as a gay «call-boy» when he finds
himself with neither home nor job, becoming the involuntary
protagonist of absurd and clandestine nocturnal adventures,
at times dangerous, but for the most part comical and
grotesque. An extremely well written book: a real, human
comedy of an Italy that is both hypocritical and slutty…
Author: Flavio Mazzini
pp. 192 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-074-9
«At twelve, I prayed to God that it wouldn’t be too small. At
fifteen, my first girlfriend proved me wrong. But I would
never have imagined that, at over thirty years of age, my cock
would have become my one and only source of income…».
This is the true story of a young guy from Rome, a journalist
and Tv scriptwriter, just a few years out-of-the-closet, who
Flavio Mazzini is thirty-five years old, was born in Rome
and is really an author and journalist. This is his first book
and his story: «In the end», he says, «journalism is one of the
world’s oldest professions as well…».
The Other Side of the
American Dream
Russ Meyer
Una macchina da presa tra le gambe
dell’American Dream
Russ Meyer
A Cine-Camera Between the Legs
of the American Dream
Authors: Roberto Lasagna - Massimo Benvegnù
pp. 192 – Euros 12,00
ISBN: 88-7615-076-5
Russ Meyer is the absolute prophet of underground erotic
cinema: the first to bring into focus the underworld of strippers and go-go girls in sixties America. In Faster Pussycat,
Kill Kill! he recreated the role of woman as a «well-endowed»
avenger with a huge bra, ruthless and reckless. In Italy, it was
launched by the program Fuori Orario by Enrico Ghezzi and
boasts a true cult following. This book recounts the story of
his life, his ideas as a director and his filmography. It is the
other side of the economic boom of the mythical sixties.
Roberto Lasagna and Massimo Benvegnù are two of the
foremost Italian experts on American cinema. Together they
have also published America perduta: I film di Michael Cimino
(Falsopiano, 1998). Massimo Benvegnù is the author of the
book, Filmare l’anima: Il cinema di Peter Weir. Roberto Lasagna contributes to the magazines «Duel», «Panoramiche»
and «Segnocinema». He is the author of many books, among
them Martin Scorsese and (1998), Walt Disney e il cinema (1996).
One of the Last Masters
Colloqui con Foucault
Pensieri, opere, omissioni dell’ultimo
maître-à-penser
Interviews with Foucault
Thoughts, Works and Oversights of the Last
Maître-à-penser
Author: Duccio Trombadori
pp. 128 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-077-3
Michel Foucault can rightfully consider himself the last great
interpreter of Western thought. His unconventional ideas and
the extraordinary sophistication of an inquiry that pushes the
limits of our «culture» makes this book a point of arrival for
anyone who aspires to an intelligent understanding of our times. In 1978, Foucault gave this long interview when, by then,
his philosophy had already been self-described as a «radical
practice of unmasking». Here, the master restricts himself to
the key themes of his research: the archeology of knowledge,
the «death of man» in the apparatus of power, the birth of repressive society and ideological crisis. It is an intellectual biography and a constant proposal to escape the world of «total
organization». A unique opportunity to discover (or continue
to explore) that magnificent laboratory of thought that was
Michel Foucault.
Duccio Trombadori, a cultural and political journalist, has
worked for «L’Unità» and «Rinascita». He writes for daily and
weekly national newspapers and journals and is the director
of the magazine «Quadri&Sculture» as well as the head of the
Press Office for the Cisl trade union.
Are Ideas Just Mental
Viruses?
Memetica
Genetica e virologia di idee, credenze e mode
Memetic
Genetics and Virology of Ideas, Beliefs and Fashion
Author: Francesco Ianneo
ISBN: 88-7615-089-7
A meme is a unit of cultural transmission, a particle of information whose objective is to spread itself throughout society following a Darwinian process of evolution. A meme seeks
simply to implant itself, exactly as a virus does, in as many
human minds as possible. Language, religion, fashion, urban
myths, simple idiomatic expressions compete for dominance
by working on the Mesosphere, the mental equivalent of the
more renowned Biosphere, giving birth to a struggle that reduces man to a mere information «vehicle». Born just two decades or so ago, yet already added to the Oxford English Dictionary, mimetic reinterprets Darwinism in light of new biological and philosophical theory. Between the enthusiasm of
adepts and the scepticism of many scientists, the study of the
«natural selection of ideas» has made its breakthrough by proposing itself to the Internet age as the equivalent of what the
Origin of the Species was for the nineteenth century.
Francesco Ianneo (Roma, 1968) is a Doctor of Research in
Philosophy University of Rome. At present, he is involved in
the study of Darwinian Epistemology and themes related to
the evolutional of digital reality.
Beauty is Stronger than Fear
Istruzioni per l’uso del lupo
Lettera sulla critica
Instructions for the Use of the Wolf
Letter on Criticism
Author: Emanuele Trevi
pp. 56 – Euros 7,00
Series: Contatti
ISBN: 88-7615-035-8
Contrary to literary criticism that professes to understand,
analyze and describe aesthetic texts and phenomenon, Emanuele Trevi, the most important among the new generation
of Italian critics, claims that the concept of beauty comes
from a sense of fear, similar to the incapability of controlling
our emotions and reactions. A bit like the «wolf» used to fright-
en us as children when they told us «here comes the wolf».
But now it is time to grow up, thanks to this little manual on
mental happiness.
Emanuele Trevi, a thirty-eight year old from Rome, is by
now considered the most creative and authoritative of the
new Italian critics. He published the book Musica distante
(Mondadori, 2000) and his next book will be published by
Einaudi Stile libero. He collaborates with Rai Radio Three
and Stream Tv, writes for the literary magazine «Nuovi argomenti», for the newspaper «il manifesto» and runs the publishing house Quiritta along with Roberto Parpaglioni and
Arnaldo Colasanti.
Are We All Neo-Proletarians?
Neoproletariato
La sconfitta del Popolo e il trionfo dell’Eleghanzia
Neo-proletarian
Working Class Defeat and the Triumph
of the «Eleganzia»
Series: Contatti
ISBN: 88-7615-038-2
By now, almost all of us have become cogs in the television/neo-capitalist machine. The fake Irish pub has taken the
place of the osteria, the aspiration of becoming famous like
the characters on Big Brother have substituted dreams of a
professional career. Even the «intellighenzia», Tommaso La-
branca explains disappointedly, has been replaced by the
«eleghanzia» whose aspirations are for designer clothes and
the exclusive world of the nightclub jet set. This is the neoproletarian condition in a nutshell: everyone from business
executives and middle-range mangers to white-collar professionals and blue-collar workers wears Nike shoes and Armani
jeans, everyone eats the same Japanese sushi and watches the
same Tv programs. Only irony and a sense of the strange can
keep us from becoming total imbeciles.
Tommaso Labranca is a well-established television author.
He currently oversees the program «Trend» for «La7» (Channel
7). He published the memorable book Andy Warhol era un
coatto for Castelvecchi (1995).
Does Osama… Ehm...
Smoke It?
Hashish e Islam
Tradizione e consumo, visioni e prescrizioni nella
poesia, nella letteratura e nelle leggi
Hashish and Islam
Traditon and Consumption, Visions
and Prescriptions in Poetry, Literature and Law
Author: Fabio Zanello
pp. 176 – Euros 10,00
Release Date: September 2003
ISBN: 88-7615-042-0
Cannabis and hashish have become widespread in the West –
as a habit with a large portion of the population – in relatively
recent times. However, they already appear in Medieval and
Classical Arabic civilization at the center of a discussion curi-
ously similar to, if not more evolved than, that of our own society. From literature, hetero – and homo –sexual poetry, legal and
religious treatises, to Sufism and the inherent controversies concerning what is onsidered a «reasonable quantity», sophisticated Arab culture brings us in as early as 1100 a.d. in the midst of
a debate between «prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists», supporters of the mystical benefits of the plant and its sour detractors.
Fabio Zanello is a graduate in Literature from the University
of Rome «La Sapienza». In Italy and abroad he has conducted
research on the texts of René Guénon, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
and Titus Burckhardt. His short stories and articles have appeared in the following magazines: «Erre!», «Zero in Condotta», «L’Ostile», «’tina». He authored the novel Hanno rapito Gorbaciov (Castelvecchi, 2001). His last publication appears in the
anthology of short stories: Sei nella Guerra (Edizioni Non Luoghi, 2003). For the last few years, he has been taking further his
study of Classic Arab literature.
Nasty, nasty, nasty…
Sexy Kids
Diario erotico degli adolescenti italiani
Sexy Kids
Erotic Diary of Adolescent Italians
Author: Marco Gigliotti
pp. 224 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-090-0
There are those who want to free themselves of a dead weight
and those who want someone else’s boyfriend. There are
those who want back what they have lost (because they have
lost it) and those who would like some better friends. There
are those for whom it is only a question of centimeters and
those who only ask for tenderness. But all of them are look-
ing for something alive and real: more real than a videogame,
an sms, the Internet. Sexy Kids are the real stories of twentyfive teenagers between the ages of twelve and sixteen, male
and female; all have sex as the main theme, yet illustrate the
most wide-ranging characteristics of Italian adolescents. Each
story faithfully recounts the events narrated by the interviewees and offers a different point of view on intimacy and
eroticism. From one story to the next, one is tossed from one
part of Italy to another, from towns to cities, from beaches to
mountains, following kids who are doing everything possible
to reach their goals.
Marco Gigliotti is studying for a degree in the History, Science
and Technique of Music and Theater at the University of Rome.
This is his first book.
Here Comes the Dress
Decoder…
Dress Code
Sincretismi cultura comunicazione
nella moda contemporanea
Dress Code
Syncretism Culture Communication
in Contemporary Fashion
trends make our relationship with clothes less univocal. If
clothes are our interface with the world, can we still manage
to cope with their symbolic power? This book may certainly
be of some help as an instrument of de-codification, adopting
an anthropological approach that uses dress codes as a unit
of measurement. The only regret? To have renounced, for obvious reasons, Barbie’s collaboration, the undisputed master of
style, the priestess of dress code.
Author: Ornella Kyra Pistilli
ISBN: 88-7615-060-9
Fashion splinters apart and reassembles itself, filling with contradictions. What is better: Techno fetish or glow burqa? Do
you feel like recasting chinoiserie with some baroque ’n’ roll accessories, or chic electronic? A range of styles, symbols and
Ornella Kyra Pistilli, anthropologist and a graduate in Sociology from the University of Rome «La Sapienza», organizes
and runs press offices. In the field of theory, she is interested in
cultural processes, particularly regarding the ecology of ideas.
The Other guide
Amsterdam
L’altra guida
Amsterdam
The Other Guide
Author: Doc Mirabilis
pp. 168 – Euros 10,00
ISBN: 88-7615-130-3
Even if you have never been in Amsterdam, you already know
that once you’ll come to the home of dikes and mills, of Van
Gogh and Leerdammer cheese, its capital will disclose to you
plenty of surprises. Lots of people think of it like a sort of modern fashioned Sodom & Gomorrah, others praise it for being
an Open City where cleverness and respect for differences are
family friends. This politically incorrect guide relates of those
places to which official guides dedicate nothing more than a
mention. Coffee shops, the Red Light District, the most delirious nightspots, youth tribes. Have you already been in Amsterdam and wish to know more? Are you ready to leave? Do
you wish to know what are you missing out? Well, welcome
on board and undo your seat belt…
Doc Mirabilis, also named The Doctor, is the son of an Italian clockmaker who emigrated in Holland, he got a Ph.D. in
Particles Physics and began at once to work for government
agencies. His graduation didn’t prevent him to enjoy the thousands of amusements his city offers to those who need a break
from studying, working, from «normal» life.
Beyond the Confines
of Spirit and Matter
Teologia materialista
Discorso sull’esistenza di Dio nella società
dell’informazione
Materialistic Theology
Discourses on the Existence of God
in Information Society
Author: Roberto Terrosi
pp. 192 – Euros 10,00
Series: Contatti
Release date: Setptember 1997
ISBN: 88-8210-032-4
Does there necessarily have to be such a stark contrast
between being an atheist and being a believer? Modern culture would like to exclude all other possibilities, even if the
history of Philosophy is full of attempts at the reconciliation
of these two concepts. However, this book is not trying to
find the umpteenth compromise that will safeguard the scientific mentality and calm religious apprehension. More than
anything, it is an attempt to overcome the limits of materialism itself and move toward a new conception of lay and pluralistic philosophy.
Roberto Terrosi is a graduate in Philosophy. He took part in
producing the cyberpunk magazine «Codici Immaginari». He
has published Atlante del cyberspazio (Synergon, 1995) with
M.A. Garcia and A. Saliera Bove) and La filosofia del postumano (Costa&Nolan, 1997). He has also published articles in
several magazines and contributed to miscellaneous books:
Cultura giovanili e conflitti metropolitani (Costa&Nolan, 1995)
and Nubi all’orizzonte (Castelvecchi, 1996).
Pop Idols Are Teenagers’
Only Religion
Teen Idols
Da James Dean a Leonardo Di Caprio.
Gli dèi pagani del secolo XX.
Teen Idols
From James Dean to Leonardo Di Caprio.
The Pagan Gods of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Fabrizio Salini - Francesco Denti
pp. 336 – Euros 10,00
Series: Contatti
ISBN: 88-8210-132-0
This is the first comprehensive guide to juvenile myths, passion
and hysteria over the last fifty years. Until immediately after
World War II, adolescents virtually did not exist. The economic boom, consumer society, the discovery of leisure time would
give birth to the most interesting (and, for some, the most disturbing) social class of our century: teenagers. This book is enriched by a filmography, discography and a complete gallery
(full of dates, curiosities and revelations) displaying the profiles and careers of those who, for one day or for their entire
lives, played the role of the «teen idol».
Fabrizio Salini lives in Rome, where he works for various publishers and press agencies. He is an aficionado of teen culture
in addition to Anglo-Saxon artistic ferment.
Francesco Denti, close to earning a degree in Architecture, cultivates far too many passions to give in to his chosen professional path. He is blessed with an encyclopedic memory and writes
short stories for several fiction magazines.
The USA and Its Underground
Movie Scene
Underground e Trasgressione
Il cinema dell’altra America in due generazioni
Underground and Transgression
The Cinema of the Other America
in Two Generations
Author: Antonio Tedesco
pp. 190 – Euros 10,00
Series: Contatti
ISBN: 88-8210-210-6
This is the story of a handful of extreme and marginal artists,
far from the intellectual and critical lobbies that gave birth
to a movement referred to as the Cinema of Transgression in
New York City during the eighties. Similar to punk and nourished by metropolitan subculture, people like Richard Kern,
Nick Zedd, Lydia Lunch and Casandra Stark are the natural
heirs to that American underground cinema that, after exploding in the sixties with Andy Warhol and John Waters, reemerges
up to the historic avant-garde of the twentieth century.
Antonio Tedesco is a journalist as well as a theatre and cinema critic. He has contributed to the daily newspaper «Il Giornale di Napoli» and to the magazines «Diritto allo studio» and
«Hystrio». In 1996, he published a monograph dedicated to
Quentin Tarantino edited by Ripostes for «Le guide del Cinema» series. In 1998, he published Il fantacinema di Robert
Zemeckis for Falsopiano.
Don’t Play It, Noise It!
Noise
Suonare al massimo volume: storia, luoghi
e personaggi di una musica estrema
Noise
At Full Blast: the History, Places and Characters
of an Extreme Music
Author: Andrea Prevignano
pp. 192 – Euros 9,40
Series: Contatti
ISBN: 88-8210-066-9
The electronic tide comes from another planet, a mysterious
gift at man’s service, claims Lee Ranaldo, guitarist for Sonic
Youth, one of the many who have pushed the limits of exploitation until the point of no return. This book contains profiles of
musicians, stories from music labels and interviews with people united by the same penchant for guitar sound. It is the testimony of one of the many possible journeys through the limitless landscape of independent American music production.
Andrea Prevignano holds a diploma from the Academy of
Criticism in Rome and contributes to the magazine «Rumore» in addition to collaborating with the editorial staff of the
«Repubblica Internet». He edited the book Genesis: La nascita del Rock’n’Roll by Ernesto Assante and Gino Castaldo (Castelvecchi, 1997). He plays in a Noise band.
Human Beings.
Too Human...
Supereroi e Superpoteri
Storia e mito fantastico nell’America inquieta
della Guerra Fredda
Superheroes and Superpowers
History and Fantastic Myth in Turbulent
Cold War America
the Second World War to Cold War conflict, from the assassination of J.F. Kennedy to the conquering of the Moon, from
the emergence of the information age to the sinister scourge
of Aids, the multi-colored universe of the American superhero
has become the reflection of the emotional state of a nation.
Superheroes are not only role models; they often become masks
of tragedy, condemned to bringing order back to an ailing society, if not the very symbols of moral decay.
Author: Alessandro Di Nocera
pp. 396 ill. in full color – Euros 20,00
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-8210-104-4
Spiderman, the Fantastic Five, Electra, Watchman, Devil,
Spawn… a successful series, born in the Usa in the late thirties, that wrapped up the anxieties, hopes, dreams, fears, conquests and failures of an entire century. From the heroism of
Alessandro Di Nocera graduated in the Sociology of Art and
Literature. He was one of the main driving forces of the magazine «Linea Chiara» that, between the eighties and nineties, attempted to create a new standard for criticism in Italian comics. He has contributed to special interest magazines («Fantastic Four», «Starmagazine», «The Tomb of Dracula», «Sandman», «Schizzo», «Fumo di China»), and designed the index CulturAlternativa for the weekly magazine «Metropolis».
The Amazing History
of Mazes
Labirinti
Da Cnosso ai videogames
Labyrinths
the journey and coming home. However, the labyrinth is also
a structure of Nature, a reoccurring element that is regularly
encountered in the relationship between thought and image
and in the models of all intelligent behavior.
From Cnosso to Videogames
Author: Marco Maria Sambo
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-044-7
Thousands of images, from remote antiquity to renaissance
gardens, from behavioral experiments to videogames, from
chess to the Internet, tell us only one thing: the labyrinth is
a universal metaphor, a mirror of the deepest and most
ancient layers of our brain. It is the limit of risk between the
known and the unknown, between life and death, between
Marco Maria Sambo is a young architect engaged in design,
history, the cultural interpretation of architecture and fantasy literature.
Tackle a Running Train:
Wanna Try?
Elogio del rugby
Sport degli ultimi guerrieri
In Praise of Rugby
The Sport of the Last Remaining Warriors
Author: Marco Tilesi - Manfredi Maria Giffone
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-058-7
In Italy, Rugby is felt to be a «foreign» sport. However, the history of Italian rugby is long, underground and compelling.
This book describes all of the facts as well as the characters
that have passionately carried on the Italian rugby tradition,
a counterculture sport made up of underground masters and
kept alive in the locker rooms, pubs and on the playing fields
of only a few Italian cities until its emergence into the limelight. The moment has arrived. Since 2000, the Italian rugby
team has been a part of the most long-standing sporting
tournament in the world: the Six Nations. But the team,
more than being just being «on the cutting edge» of rugby, it
is the «tip of the iceberg» as well because there are dozens of
clubs that push to ensure that this sport is appreciated even
in football dependent countries.
Marco Tilesi, graduated in Physics and deep-sea diver, has
been an organizer and assistant in several world record competitions in deep scuba diving. He has played rugby for the
Lazio team. He has been a journalist since 1997.
Manfredi M. Giffone, graduated in Communication Science,
is the scriptwriter of «Fading Suns», a series of comics in the
process of publication. For Castelvecchi he translated and edited The Life of Bruce Lee (2004). He teaches martial arts at the
Wu Chi Kwoon Kung Fu.
Perfection Is So Boring…
Imperfezione
Il fascino discreto delle cose storte
Imperfection
The Subtle Allure of Things Askew
Author: Maria Claudia Rampiconi
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-079-X
What is imperfection? Nowadays, defects seem to be the main
characters of our age: in fashion, the choice by big-name designers to manufacture asymmetrical clothing and accessories of odd shapes and sizes; in advertising, the proliferation of
models with various defects of the body and soul; in design
the «monstrous» creations of interior designers; in photogra-
phy, the transgressive and disturbing images from the latest
generation of lens artists; in art and literature, defined by Umberto Eco as «zeppe», the anomalies that distinguish an author’s
works. And that’s not it, videogames, comics and feature films
have acquired a certain taste for the deformed and deviant…
this, however, is neither a mere stylistic exercise of recording
and classifying communicative occurrences, nor is it simply a
collection of photographs, quotations and illustrations. Here,
one discovers with a critical eye, the reasons why this happens
and if any precursors to the anomaly phenomenon exist. A
book for those of us who want to understand ourselves a little bit better.
Maria Claudia Rampiconi is a graduate in Communication
Science. After a brief period spent in the field of semiologic
research, she became part of a multi-media publishing firm
three years ago and has been working there ever since.
Italian Beat Generation
in the Age of The Dolce Vita
Beat italiano
Dai capelloni a Bandiera Gialla
Italian Beat
From Beatniks to Bandiera Gialla
Author: Tiziano Tarli
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-098-6
Thanks to its stars (and starlets), its fashion, to that spirit of rebellion, the Italian beat phenomenon represented a turning
point in an Italy wrecked by World War II, immobile in its traditions. Sure, it only lasted a few years but it was a dazzling meteor that illuminated the dormant minds of a generation of
brain dead young people, unconscious of how wonderful being
young, just for the sake of being young, could be. Beginning
with its roots linked to the American Beat Generation up to
the London of the Beatles, this book analyzes about fifty Italian beat artists, the most significant hot spots like The Piper
in Rome, Beat magazines like «Big», musical programs like Il
Cantagiro and the radio show Bandiera Gialla. And there is
more: the birth and the diffusion of the beat-mass phenomenon («mystico-religious compositions for electric guitar, drums,
organ and voice»), the boom in discography, the Hit Parade of
beat songs, anti-militarism and pacifism, the protest against
an old-fashioned world, the beatnik movement in Italy and the
analysis of their ideals.
Tiziano Tarli musician, historian and expert on beat culture,
he is the singer and guitarist for the rock band Sweepers. This
is his first book.
Turn, Play, Dance
into the Circle of Life
Capoeira
La danza degli dèi
Capoeira
The Dance of the Gods
Author: Cristina Polverini
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-099-4
A spectacular and warm dance of two, who pretend a real
struggle made of acrobatics and turns to an irresistible rhythm.
That’s Capoeira. While an orchestra plays percussion instruments and traditional ones, they dance in the middle of a circle of people, the «roda», who sing and clap their hands. Even
if it’s a very ancient dance, more and more young people find
it charming. An in-depth description of the discipline, this
book tells the first complete history of Capoeira. The wonderful photos that enrich the text have been taken on purpose by
a capoeirista.
Cristina Polverini graduated in Cultural Anthropology in
Rome. This is her first book.
Surfing is a Philosophy
Elogio del surf
preciate moments of full self-fulfilment. Time stops and a
tiny homo sapiens rides enormous, powerful bodies of water.
In Praise of Surfing
Madeira Giacci studied Anglistics and Germanistics in Naples
and Cologne. She started surfing on the waves of Lanzarote
then tried those of California and Basque Country. She works
in Rome as translator and this is her first book.
Author: Madeira Giacci
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-132-X
Surfing runs through all our history, from mythical origins
in Polynesia to the sunny beaches of California, from Hollywood movies to the alternative cinema. Surfing is music, lifestyle, culture, and spirituality. It’s a challenge to the power of
sea and Nature. It’s a way of finding oneself, a way of seizing
the day, a philosophy that teaches to seize the wave and ap-
Welcome
to the Future of Mankind
Mondi virtuali
Virtual Worlds
Author: Mario Gerosa - Aurélien Pfeffer
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-109-5
Every night thousands of people date in dream nightspots
without never meet each other, they fight epic battles in legendary landscapes, they have sex without even touch each
other, they marry thanks to an avatar, a virtual alter ego…
they even prostitute themselves in an imaginary world to earn
their living in the real one. Someone went as far as killing a
real person for being wronged in a virtual life. It happens to
the players of MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer On Line Game),
an international market worth about 500 million euros.
Mario Gerosa, a journalist, is editor in chief of «AD Architectural Digest». Since he is interested in imaginary places
and non-places, he studied the geography of Proust’s Search,
the locked rooms of John Dickson Carr, and famous literary
hotels. He owns a travel agency for virtual worlds.
Aurélien Pfeffer is a French jurist who specialized in the relationship between law and new technologies. He was cofounder and editor in chief of the site JeuxOnLine, dedicated to virtual worlds.
Japan: the Place to be
if you go Underground
Japan Underground
Japan Underground
Author: Gabriele Rossetti
Series: Quadra
ISBN: 88-7615-146-X
Imagine the Love Hotels, where courting couples pay for
having fun in a Swiss wood or a Mexican ranch made of
plastics and latex. Imagine the hundreds of nightspots where
the most absurd desires come true: from being with ten girls
dressed up in teddy bear costumes to standing and watching
at two adolescents who spit at each other. Now, imagine a
distinguished manager who’s sitting in a crowded tube train
reading erotic comics quite shamelessly: that’s contemporary
Japanese eroticism. A historical and cultural survey, this book
deals with a basic matter: are eroticism and pornography in
Japan two distinct things?
Gabriele Rossetti, collaborates with the chair of History
of Art and Philosophy of East Asia at University. He studies
the interaction between space and Japanese contemporary
sculpture.
The History Of The Universe
According to Nepalese
Shamans
Riddum
Miti di generazione del mondo
degli sciamani nepalesi
Riddum
Creation Myths from the World
of Nepalese Shamanism
planation or revision of the words of the tribe’s shaman allows
the reader to capture the all of the magnificent colour of the
story and feel all of the force, significance and value it has for
a population who, even today, considers it sacred. The photographic image, characterized by its immediacy, emerges as
the perfect accompaniment to the myth. This book is unique
in its ability to project us into this far away world and allow
us to perceive it in all its austerity and simplicity.
Author: Martino Nicoletti - Fabrizio Gaggini
pp. 96 in full color – Euros 18.00 (Text Already in English)
Series: Castelvecchi Arte
ISBN: 88-7615-088-9
Riddum recounts a myth, a legend passed down orally, that illustrates the history of one of the least known and least documented Nepalese populations in the entire Himalayan region.
The almost reckless choice of reporting without comment, ex-
Martino Nicoletti is an anthropologist that works on the Everest-K2 expedition of the National Research Council. He is an expert in Oriental culture and Shamanism in general and has
dedicated several scientific publications to these subjects.
Fabrizio Gaggini, photographer and ethno-cultural researcher, for years has carried out research that is valuable both from
an aesthetic and scientific point of view and that combines
both art and anthropology.

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