 First edition (Italian) | |
| Author | Luther Blissett |
|---|---|
| Translator | Shaun Whiteside |
| Language | Italian |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Einaudi |
Publication date | 1999 |
| Publication place | Italy |
Published in English | 2003 |
Q is a novel byLuther Blissett first published inItalian in 1999. The novel is set in Europe during the 16th century, and deals withProtestant Reformation movements.
"Luther Blissett" was anom de plume for four Italian authors (Roberto Bui,Giovanni Cattabriga,Federico Guglielmi andLuca Di Meo) who were part of the "Luther Blissett Project", which ended in 1999. They now write under the nameWu Ming.
The novel has been translated intoDanish,Dutch,English (British andAmerican),French,German,Greek,Lithuanian,Polish,Russian,Turkish,Basque,Czech,Portuguese,Spanish,Serbian, andChinese. All of the editions keep the originalcopyright statement, which allows the non-commercial reproduction of the book.
The book follows the journey of anAnabaptist radical acrossEurope in the first half of the 16th century as he joins in various movements and uprisings that come as a result of theProtestant Reformation. The book spans 30 years as he is pursued by 'Q' (short for "Qoèlet"), a spy for theRoman Catholic Church cardinalGiovanni Pietro Carafa. The main character, who changes his name many times during the story, first fights in theGerman Peasants' War besideThomas Müntzer, during which time he takes part in negotiations which are eventually formalised as theTwelve Articles. Following this, he battles inMünster's siege, during theMünster Rebellion, and some years later, inVenice.
Throughout Europe, several critics have readQ from a political point of view,[1] and maintain that the novel is anallegory of European society after the decline of the 1960s and 1970s protest movements. As in the 16th century, theCounter-Reformation repressed any alternative theological current or radical social movement, and thePeace of Augsburg sanctioned the partition of the continent among Catholic and Protestant powers, so the last twenty years of the 20th century were marked by a vengeful rebirth ofconservative ideologies, and theInternational Monetary Fund-driven corporateglobalization of the economy seemed to rout any resistance.
This interpretation stems from the authors describingQ as a "handbook of survival skills", which might cast a revealing light on the book's ending. But, this is just one of the many interpretations that have emerged following publication.[citation needed]
According to other readers and critics,[2]Q is a thinly disguised autobiography ofLuther Blissett as a subversive, identity-shifting collective phantom. Theprotagonist has no name (the authors later renamed themselvesWu Ming, which is Chinese for "no name"), is involved in every tumult of the age, incites the people torebellion, and organizeshoaxes, swindles and mischievous acts.
Both British novelistStewart Home and American novelistDavid Liss have interpretedQ as an "anti-novel", although their respective analyses come to different conclusions. While Home's review emphasized the social, political and subcultural references embedded in the plot,[3] Liss' review dismissed the book as unnecessary andself-referential.[4]
Other readers have suggested thatQ — apart from radicalism,post-modernism, and allegories — is above all anadventure novel, aswashbuckler in the very Italian tradition ofEmilio Salgari and other popularfeuilleton authors.[5]
In 2018, a reporter forBuzzFeed News suggested that the right-wing "QAnon" conspiracy theory shared many similarities to plot points in the novel.[6][7][8]
Rumours about a potential film adaptation ofQ have circulated since the mid-2000s. On December 9 2007, the British newspaperThe Observer published a lengthy interview withRadiohead in whichThom Yorke stated:
"Oh it's fucking ace! But my missus, that's her specialist field, so she's been explaining it to me all the way through. Medieval church carnage. It's mental. I want to get it made into a film. That's my next mission." The interviewer asked: "Using theIn Rainbows profits?", to which Yorke replied: "I doubt it. That would cover basically the catering."[9]
On January 21, 2011, the Italian producerDomenico Procacci optionedQ to make a movie and commissioned thescreenplay for the film to Giaime Alonge and Alessandro Scippa. Procacci's production company,Fandango, was planning a co-production with other countries.[10]
In May 2009 Wu Ming announced that they had almost finished writing a new book, set "in [their debut novel] Q's world and historical continuum". They announced it would be published in Italy in the Fall of 2009.[11] Later on, they revealed that the title would beAltai and explained:
We felt the urge to go back to the “crime scene” (our 1999 debut) after the collective lost a member, in the springtime of 2008. After months of crisis and conflict, we needed a new beginning. We needed a peculiar self-managed group therapy... Gert-from-the-Well appeared and told us: “I can help you, if you bring me back to life!”. And that’s what we did.[12]
The following are printed editions. Downloadable online editions in several languages can be foundhere.
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