Reading for Restless Nights

Restless Nights
by
Dino Buzzati

Buzzati was a journalist, painter, writer of novels and short stories. His following has always been greater on the continent than in the UK or North America, some say due to late translations. Located for most of his life in Milan, Buzzati blended a journalistic style (sort of in this book) with the fantastic fiction you'd expect from Barthelme and Calvino. I suppose the goal was to ground tales in tropes of reality (there's a good one). Restless Nights consists of about 30 stories. Here we discover prisoners who must face the people of the town to plead for release (none have ever been granted) or who tell the real story of the Eiffel Tower. A girl jumps from a tall building and chats with people on her way down, eventually passing the lower floors as an old woman. I tended to read much of these tales as metaphors for the writing process, and indeed his The Scriveners is about the Lord's (as in ruler of the kingdom) scriveners who eventually are summoned by a red light. When that happens they must write non stop, or as near to that ideal as possible, for the remainder of their lives. Buzzati was a mediocre painter too, you can view some of his work here. These are surrealistic works for the most part, sort of de Chirico meets Art Brut.

Ex voto - Le formiche mentali, 1970

Here's the work of his that I like best, ants crawling through the brain. The stories are quick, fantastic, and worth a read.

Sundre Tops Bestseller List !

Pages On Kensington's Bestseller List (May 17, 2009)

• Original Edition Fiction and Poetry

1. Sundre - Christopher Willard

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith

3. Come Thou Tortoise - Jessica Grant

4. B is for Beer - Tom Robbins

5. Pygmy - Chuck Palahniuk

6. Stone's Fall - Iain Pears

7. Listening: The Last Poems of Margaret Avison - Margaret Avison

8. Book of Clouds - Chloe Aridjis

9. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

10. The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

Pages Reading (W)rap-up

A HUGE THANKS to everyone who showed up for the reading. What a pleasure it was to see lots of friends and colleagues, both from ACAD and the literary world. I hope everyone enjoyed hearing a portion of the book. When I read that last line it was like the end of a symphony where a palpable note hung in the air.

I'd gone back and forth on what part to read and as I gauged the reaction of you I knew I made a decent choice. I'm truly beholden many people; in particular I can't wait to give the people at Vehicule Press props in person, which will probably happen in the fall.

Later today is the reading in Sundre (the town). It's their 100th birthday this year, which I didn't know when I began this project at least two years ago. It looks like a beautiful day and it should be fun.

Véhicule Press is pleased to invite you to the launch of Sundre by Christopher Willard Wednesday, May 13, 7:30 pm Pages Kensington, Calgary Friday, May 15, at 3:00 pm 1135 Kensington Road NW, Calgary 403.283.6655 Sundre Museum 211 - 1st. Ave. SW,Sundre 403.638.3233 An unsettling secret joins husband and wife as they sift through layers of recollection in a quest to find comfort, philosophical acceptance, and ultimately forgiveness. Set on a family farm in Sundre, Alberta during the late 1960s, at a time of transition when farming was shifting away from tradition, Sundre is a haunting meditation on the limits of love and mercy, on the natural and the unnatural. Told in a tone that is as dignified as it is unsettling, Sundre builds to a foreboding and fundamental revelation in a mood reminiscent of Sam Shepard’s best drama. Sundre is an homage to a way of life bygone and to lasting hard-earned truths. Praise for Sundre: “An affectionate elegy for a gone time, laced with strands of old-fashioned prairie wisdom in the face of life's sad turns.” –Robert Coover “Christopher Willard writes with a razor blade, cutting language to the quick. His sharp-edged minimalist style strips this farm family saga to its bare essentials turning Prairie Gothic into Prairie Post-postmodern.” –Dave Margoshes "Christopher Willard's Sundre is an elegaic tone poem full of humour and longing, a paean to family lore and the enduring power of storytelling." --Adam Sol Christopher Willard is a writer and visual artist. His art appears in collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His novel, Garbage Head, was published by Esplanade Books in 2005. He lives in Calgary. Sundre is in the Esplanade Books fiction imprint of Véhicule Press. For more information contact: Maya Assouad, Marketing Manager, Véhicule Press marketing@vehiculepress.com, (514) 844-6073 www.vehiculepress.com