Starting with Tondelli’s vindication of the importance of films and songs in his fiction, ‘Il sommo revival’ is a reconnaissance of the ambiguous role of entertainment in his four novels, which can be interpreted as a single Bildungsroman of failed formation.
From the astonishing debut of ‘Altri libertini’ (the last Italian book prosecuted for obscenity) to the sorrowful epilogue of ‘Camere separate’ (the first Italian novel about Aids), ‘Il sommo revival’ weaves a two-way dialogue between Tondelli’s most touching scenes and his theoretical writings on spectacle and the culture industry: on the one hand, the former represent a unique narrative rendering of critical theories on late-capitalist society; on the other hand, these theories provide an interpretative key to the existential ‘magone’ of which Tondelli is an interpreter in his writings.

Il sommo revival. La società dello spettacolo nei romanzi di pier vittorio tondelli