Overview:
54 is a novel by Wu Ming first published in Italian in 2002.
Wu Ming is a collective of five authors founded in 2000. The members were formerly associated with the Luther Blissett Project, and four of them wrote the international best-selling novel Q.
The novel is set in Italy, former Yugoslavia, Britain and the US during the year 1954. It has been translated into several languages. All of the editions keep the original copyright statement, which allows for non-commercial reproduction of the book.
'There is all a best-selling novel is about: Impossible love stories, enduring friendship, tangled family relationships... Only, unlike what happens in the typical North-American flick, this time the good are the "bad", i.e. the poor, the oppressed, the idealists.'
(El Pais, Spain)
54 plays with the forms of espionage novel, the noir genre, and social realism. It seeks to transcend those forms, and it does: this is mutant fiction, a living narrative organism composed of various bodies that aim at multiple endpoints. The most accomplished: a spy story on the surface, with an eye on the ordinary citizen, who acts as witness or protagonist of history. This happens at a level where myths - the archetypical hero, but it goes beyond that - are described as doubtful and ambiguous constructions. It makes sense then that Cary Grant reads Casino Royale (the first James Bond novel) with perplexity and amazement, before he meets Marshall Tito and ends up talking with him about the personality cult.'
(Qué Pasa, Chile)
'54...is a sprawling epic... The plot is a formidable feat of imagination that moves restlessly between Bologna, Naples, California, Moscow, Dubrovnik and Marseilles... Daring... A more accomplished piece of work [than Q]... 54's scope is no less ambitious, but has a refreshing lightness of touch. The portrait of a world-weary Cary Grant...is utterly convincing.'
(The Times, UK)
'This new work amply confirms their talent... Utterly convincing. What emerges is an epic about identity and celebrity, communism and corruption... A stupendous, charming, provocative and profound novel. It makes most modern books seem paltry in comparison.'
(Scotland on Sunday)
'Centred around beautifully written human relationships, Wu Ming explore European and American politics and history, weaving distinct narratives (separated by time, place, and characters) together as Don DeLillo did in Underworld. It's an exciting read, not only due to the language and various writing styles but also because of the powerful - and often conflicting - ideas that it contains... It seems like each member of the Wu Ming has been driven on by their peers to take risks and produce their best and most challenging work.' (Clash Magazine, UK)
'54 is a great, sprawling epic. Serious and satirical, it can be read as a spy novel, gangster thriller and political manifesto, with enough scenes of unsavory characters, drug smuggling, shoot-outs, and doomed love affairs to resemble a Romanzo della Polpa (pulp fiction). But this would be a shallow reading - 54 is much more complicated, and simple. At its heart it is a story of the hopes and expectations we have for ourselves and each other, and how the forces of history, life and love can dash and rebuild these.'
(The Philadelphia Inquirer)
'Basically, they’re trying to write V, The Odyssey, Casino Royale, Underworld, Pereira Declares and The Godfather all at once. And have fun with all of them.'
(Bjorn from Stockholm, reviewing 54 on World Literature Forum)
'I’m gonna get this description tattooed on my butt!'
(Wu Ming 2 from Bologna)
ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
And Blessed Are The Ones Who Care For Their Fellow Men!
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