Cleto Munari
Cleto Munari’s Book List
In thinking about some of my favorite books I cannot avoid dreaming about my own desires for adventure and imaginary worlds. Dumas and Salgari are part of those childhood fantasies whereas my early adulthood found me leaning toward the aristocratic world described by authors like Tomasi di Lampedusa. Other books on this list are associated with my friendships and interactions with fiction writers such as Mahfouz and Saramago, or poets met through a friend of mine who translates and works with poets, including Wole Soyinka, Mark Strand, and Manuel Alegre. Still other books are those that I enjoy rereading every now and then.
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The sea voyage, the mystery, and the awe associated with the protagonist, Emilio—Lord of Ventimiglia, Valpenta, and Roccabruna—launched me, when I was a child, into a world of fantasy and mythical adventures. That was the period when I really started dreaming full-time.
In this novel Saramago imagines a near-total breakdown of society following an outbreak of mass blindness in which systems of law and order, social services, government, and schools no longer function. Families have been separated and roving bands of people squat in abandoned buildings. Violence, disease, and despair threaten to overwhelm humans’ ability to cope. They attempt to create homes and establish a new order. We all hope that blindness disappears from our society.
This is the only book of poems in Italian (the title translates as “There Will Be Another Sea”) by a wonderful Portuguese poet who is also a well-known politician. Alegre ran twice for president of Portugal (2006 and 2011) and leads the Portuguese Socialist Party. His resistance against the Salazar dictatorship and his return to his country after many years in exile is a well-known story in his country. I love his poetry because it captures our desire for travel and discovery and explores human ambition.
Demons combines two separate novels that Dostoyevsky was working on. One was a commentary on the real-life murder in 1869 by the socialist revolutionary group “People’s Vengeance” of one of its own members (Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov). The other novel eventually merged into Demons was originally a religious work. Through Dostoyevsky’s imagination I’m able to plunge into a totally new atmosphere to take a stand against any form of dictatorship that threatens personal freedom. My wife has written a book on this incomparable writer and I am particularly grateful to her for helping me get into some of his memorable characters.
Herzog’s ideas, as expressed in his letters, are brilliant and seductive. The beauty of the novel lies in this dissection of Herzog’s mind and in the descriptions of the characters’ emotions, and also in his examination of society in general. When I got to know Bellow during his involvement in the production of one of my fountain pens, I understood something of his character through the light in his eyes.
The richness of the Sicilian aristocratic world was fascinating to me growing up, mirroring my own ambitions, which were not based in reality but were part of a dream world. I really admired that proudness of the Sicilians who had to suffer more than one invasion and political regime. Yet, that form of resistance to innovation appears to be quite dangerous if we think about the great cancer in southern Italy: the Mafia.
Discovering this remarkable American poet was a revelation for me. We met thanks to one of his Italian poetry readings organized by a friend of mine, Marco Fazzini. I have even produced a table using his visionary poem dedicated to a man and his camel. His often surreal metaphors are a continuous inspiration for my work.
This is the first book of Wole Soyinka’s poems ever published in Italy and was written for me. When Soyinka decided to dedicate these poetical fragments to me, I understood what simplicity and clarity of thought mean. I would like to have his wise and clear vision on things and history, but it’s more than enough for now to know that our lives have met at some stage. My friend and translator Marco Fazzini has managed to produce a wonderful book out of those fragments and ideas.
This is the only book by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz not set in Cairo. The Egyptian background and the amazing list of characters who live and pass through the Miramar pension form a succession of longings and desires, while reflecting the ambitions of the young girl at the center of the novel. I felt myself sharing the author’s passion for beauty and ambition. My meeting with Mahfouz was one of the most moving and memorable events in my life, and Miramar was there, stuck in my head like a flickering diamond.
Pensées Philosophiques (“Philosophical Thoughts”) was an early work of Diderot’s, written around 1747. It was popular but also got him into trouble by criticizing religious belief and Catholicism. A few years later he would be an outright atheist. The “pensées” are more aphoristic than usual for the author; yet, even in these brief reflections of his I became convinced that passions and ideal desires are something you must not be ashamed of but represent the real essence of life.
When Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers he also was a practicing fencer, like many other French gentlemen. The three musketeers’ gestures were part of my dreams and desires for an adventurous life, full of noble values so important after the terrible devastion of World War II, which I lived through as a boy.
Announcements
Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister
Now is Better
By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023
Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)
By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023
This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.
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