Q (novel)
"Q" is a historical thriller , the 1999 under the collective pseudonym Luther Blissett in Turin publisher Einaudi has been released. The Italian novel spans 40 years in the 16th century in Germany shaken by the turmoil of the Reformation . Q is an agent of Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa , to whom he regularly reports on his interventions, mainly in the Anabaptist community .
content
The main characters of the novel are a young theology student, advocate of peasant interests, leader of the heretics and his invisible enemy: Q, the faceless man and spy Carafas , the future Pope Paul IV. The novel combines historical facts with a fictional story that keeps coming back takes unexpected turns.
Authors
According to the daily La Repubblica , Q was written by the quartet of writers Federico Guglielmi, Luca Di Meo, Giovanni Cattabriga and Fabrizio Belletati.
background
The novel tells the story of the left Italian counterculture in the guise of a historical novel about the Reformation. The authors said that they chose the 16th century because "back then was the hour of birth of everything that goes wrong in modern life: Europe, mass communication, the police state and financial capital".
Open content
Since the imprint allows the book to be freely copied, it is probably the most commercially successful open content publication to date.
The book has been translated into more than 10 languages, including English and German.
Adaptations
In 2018, the WDR published an 8-part radio play based on the novel. Jörg Schlüter took care of the editing and direction.
See also
Three of the four authors later continue their work under the new pseudonym Wu Ming with several successful novels and extensive reading tours.
The continuation of Q, Altai , was also published by Einaudi in 2009, ISBN 978-88-06-19896-1 German: Altai , from the Italian by Klaus-Peter Arnold, Berlin, Association A , 2016, ISBN 978-3-86241- 452-9 .
German-language editions
- Q. Roman , Munich, Zurich: Piper 2006, ISBN 978-3-492-24721-4 .
- Q. Roman , Hamburg: Association A 2016, ISBN 978-3-86241-450-5 .
Web links
- Wu Ming Foundation - Homepage of the authors with download option
- lutherblissett.net - Information and reviews about the book
- Why the alphabet doesn't end with Q , reviews in the Rheinpfalz and Graswurzelrevolution