Fra l’Adriatico e il West. 77 racconti «fuori campo»

Seventy-seven comic and surreal stories, sometimes irreverent, sometimes hyperbolic, written by the master of rural gothic. Tales infused with the influences of the silver screen and barroom chatter, pop culture, and memories of village life and childhood. Short, surprising stories that reveal a previously unseen literary facet of the author of Nevicava sangue.

But why seventy-seven? In the United States, in addition to the famous Route 66, there is also the lesser-known Route 77, which connects Brownsville, Texas, to Sioux City, Iowa. Places that evoke the myths of the West, of cinema, of the American dream—experienced from a land bordering the Adriatic that, for better or worse, can rival the Far West if read through Eraldo Baldini’s epic perspective.

These seventy-seven stories comment on current events, television shows, sports, real or imagined incidents; sometimes they are improbable reinterpretations of history, science, and medicine. The pieces are almost always written with intelligent, caustic humor, a touch of cynicism, and a keen eye on reality.