(1980)

This is Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s first book, composed of six stories, although the author would have preferred the definition of “episodic novel”. Each story, although being self-contained, reaches its conclusion in the wholeness that has ” … as a common thread, the experiences of young people in the Seventies ; such as trips to Amsterdam and London, drugs, student struggles, identity searches and utopias of freedom”.

Referring to the readings that had influenced the origin of these texts, the writer stated, “I think that it is a book belonging to so-called ‘emotive’ literature ; that is above-all based on the reading of Céline, Arbasino, Baldwin and all hard, violent literature. From William Burroughs to Richard Price and even Selby; let’s say a type of dramatic narrative strongly based on the action, the intrigue and the characters. Therefore, a book that is very easy to recount, that can be summarised in speech and in speech finds its dimension of writing”.

“Altri Libertini”, published by Feltrinelli in 1980, was confiscated by the authorities under charges of obscenity twenty days after it appeared in the bookstores, when the third edition had already been prepared. The trial was held in Mondovì (Cuneo) in 1981. The defendant and the publisher were absolved of all charges.

In the last months of his life, the writer had readied a partial revision of the text in order to highlight errors and modify linguistic situations within the stories.

The French translation, entitled “Les Nouveaux Libertins”, was published by Seuil in 1987. The German translation, entitled “Andere Freiheiten”, was put out by Rowohlt in 1990.