An Italian naif from the town of Reggio Emilia travels America and his home province, reflecting as he does on the oddity of what he finds. Through his unguarded eyes, the world is revealed in all its fundamental strangeness, pathos and humour. If there are blues to be heard, then this is partly because any description or explanation, however successful it may be, is bound to go awry when it is required to pass into another language. At once story and reflection, essay and narrative, this cahier by one of Italy s most eminent translators and translation theorists is a celebration of the space between languages, which both unites and divides us.
