Venice from the pen of Luther Blissett

Published: 2008 - December/2009 - January, Cultural and Artistic Paths

Luther Blissett is the author of ‘Q’. Or rather, some members of the Bolognese column of  The Luther Blissett Project have been authors of ‘Q’, signing with this multiple name a novel published in 1999 by Einaudi (for the United States, Harvest Books, 2005, 768pag., paperback). A group of writers ’Wu Ming’ (Chinese for ‘without a name’) also answer to the same name and have recently published a travel diary ‘Grand River’, on the traces of Native Americans.
At a certain point in the story, in ‘Q’, set in 16th century Europe and soaked in a spiritual war, some characters find themselves in Venice. In what way did you develop the writings on the city at that time? What were your sources?
“We consulted many books, images, paintings… Amongst the fundamental books were, a volume on the life in the city at the time of Titian, rich and detailed, and a book by Paolo Preto, ‘I servizi segreti a Venezia’ (The Secret Service in Venice), which shines a light on the spy system of the Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten) and on that of the citizen, made out of various mouthpieces, like postboxes where everyone could inform someone. Therefore, everyone can transform into a spy. Among the images, we looked at ‘La Veduta di Venezia’ by Jacopo de Barbari; for the paintings we lingered on those that were able to give a point of view not just architecturally but almost spiritually.”

The Press was one of the most established pillars of the city, determining conflicts between the powerful and the institutions. In Venice there was, for example, the secret council, organized by an anabaptist known as Tiziano, who appears in the book. What does the DNA of this city that was the navel of Europe look like today?
“I got the idea of the Venice of then which is also seen in its DNA of today. On one side a symbolically important city, for the many printers that gave place to writers, clandestine, of passages and crossroads and thus the ‘navel of Europe’ also for its position. On the other hand, studying the history of the period from the Ottoman side, it seems that Venice was not considered a super power but a provincial city important on a commercial and symbolic plane. In fact, later they lost their navel supremacy. Here, it seems to me that which reflects a little of how it feels as a non Venetian, the DNA of Venice which could be considered an archetypal of a city, rising from the sea, conceived as if it were a vessel. However it is also a marginal city: in Italy, in certain respects it’s in close up, while for others it seems a bit like a ‘sleeping old lady’ with which you could do without”.

To narrate Venice of the period, you described calli and locations in such as suggestive way as to induce travelers to revisit. Did you visit the locations in the book? If so, what was the guiding sensation?
“During the writing of ‘Q’, in which Luther Blissett organized a mock leafleting to promote, during the Venice Biennale, the work of a chimpanzee Loota. On that occasion we launched into a psycho-geographical diversion, filming at random, highlighting sensations and impressions. It was night, there was a lot of fog and appearing in places where you couldn’t see who or what was there was a remarkable experience. We transferred this type of experience onto paper, and then went to visit places mentioned in novels, like the ‘fondaco dei Tedeschi’ and the places we supposed would be the residences of some of the people in the books”.

Your ‘band of writers’ focus on narrating historical characters, through the stories that belong to the community. If Wu Ming should write a non-historical work set in Venice, from what imagery would you take your starting point?
“Let’s say I would like to work on a non fiction work on today’s Venice, not a novel but a choral tale, in which would emerge stories and points of views from those who live there, work there, passes through as a tourist of perhaps just passes through. A work that would merge and ‘short circuit’ amongst different ways of living in the city, in as much as I think that Venice is one of the cities where these different ways are effectively more different, from the moment that there is Venice but a short way away there is the Port of Marghera, with another situation, industrial, which in some ways resembles the Arsenale, which in the 16th century was the first proto-industry. There, this last thing is an aspect, a point which I would like to investigate because I think it could represent a slightly different point of view of Venice, which is rarely thought of as a working city that produces, but instead at its heart has had one of the first and most prolific naval industries in the West. It would be interesting to see, for example, how the ‘arsenalotti’ of the 16th century, the 19th century and so on recall the Arsenale”.