(2 March 2016) Jasper Gwyn is a writer. He lives in London and is a man who loves life. But all of a sudden he wants to stop doing everything. Even writing. He is the protagonist of the book edited by Feltrinelli and written by Alessandro Baricco that will be presented on Thursday, March 10 at 9pm in Cologne. The German version of the novel “Mr. Gwyn “(Hoffmann und Campe, 2016) will be presented during Lit.Cologne, one of the biggest and beloved literary festivals in Germany, during which famous celebrities and writers present their works. The event with the Italian writer, essayist, music critic and writer is the Italian Cultural Institute of Cologne. Baricco will read along with German actor Joachim Krol some passages of his book. In “Mr. Gwyn,” the author chose to create a character who wants to start over: one day, the famous English writer decides to stop writing novels, but to be merely a “copyist” and create portraits – not with paintbrushes or palettes – but with words. He draws from his daily experiences to inspire himself and collect the people he will later depict in his portraits. Among them, there is the Queen’s tailor, two wealthy newlyweds and a dangerous girl. When Mr. Gwyn disappears mysteriously, his assistant, Rebecca, sets out in search of the solution to the riddle of his life, only to find that Mr. Gwyn hid many mysteries. In this book, Baricco moves two formidable characters that mid-novel invert their roles: if Mr. Gwyn shuffled the cards and created the mystery, his assistant has to reassemble the pieces and reveal the truth. (Red)
