Josep M. Argemí
Autor de The Angel of Santa Sofia
Sobre El Autor
Obras de Josep M. Argemí
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Fecha de nacimiento
- 1965
Miembros
Reseñas
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 5
- Miembros
- 15
- Popularidad
- #708,120
- Valoración
- 3.5
- Reseñas
- 1
- ISBNs
- 4
- Idiomas
- 1
Review of the Fum d’Estampa paperback edition (expected publication April 2023) translated by Tiago Miller from the Catalan language original "L’àngel de Santa Sofia" (January 2021).
The Angel of Santa Sofia is a tour-de-force novella of fantastical imagination which takes us from a demonology conference in Turin Italy, to meetings with fallen angels, to exorcisms, to a festival of satanic themed silent films, to mythology and legends of returns from the dead, to a vision of a mediaeval voyage to Constantinople and to a final revelation. This is all in the space of a slim 50 pages which are packed with fictional and non-fictional references and quite a number of foreign language phrases, most of which are untranslated.
See photograph at https://www.lleonardmuntanereditor.cat/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Langel-de-sant...
Photograph of author Josep M. Argemí. Image sourced from Catalan publisher Lleonard Muntaner Editor.
Really, all that keeps this out of 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating territory is the amount of research required for all of the untranslated words and the various real-life references, as no footnotes are provided. For the benefit of others, who like myself do not have the 'benefits of a classical education', I built my own glossary and footnotes which can be read below.
I read The Angel of Santa Sofia in advance of its official April 2023 release thanks to my monthly subscription to Fum d'Estampa Press. Subscribers receive Fum d'Estampa books weeks in advance of the official publication dates.
Trivia and Link
There is an interview with author Josep M. Argemí about the writing of The Angel of Santa Sofia at L’AvanGuardia (Note: In Catalan language, turn on web translator).
Glossary / Footnotes
pg. 9 Pesce cola - Italian, a fish soup named after a legendary Sicilian merman.
pg. 11 Carissimi fratelli - Italian 'Dear brothers'.
pg. 12 Aula Magna - Latin 'Great Hall'.
pg. 12 Apollyon - Greek name for the Fallen Angel/Demon aka Abaddon in Hebrew.
pg. 12 EX TENEBRAE LUX - Latin 'Out of Darkness, Light'.
pg. 13 Summa Theologica - Latin 'The Summary of Theology', the major work of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).
pg. 14 Ubique daemon... - Latin 'The Demon is all...'.
pg. 15 Josep Palau i Fabre - The protagonist introduces himself by the name of the Catalan poet Josep Palau i Fabre (1917-2008), but describes himself as a 'researcher of the Extraordinary'.
pg. 16 Il Diavolo - Italian 'The Devil'.
pg. 19 in articulo mortis - Latin 'at the point of death'.
pg. 22 mapamundi - Spanish 'map of the world'.
pg. 27 Circo Diavolo (Piero Nero, 1921) - Italian 'The Devil's Circus', a fictitious? Italian silent film, although IMDb lists an American film The Devil's Circus from 1926.
pg. 28 L'abisso (Gil Lanna, 1910) - Italian 'The Abyss', an actual film from 1910 which is listed on IMDb, but without a director's name as L'abisso.
pg. 29 Rapsodia Satanica (Nino Oxilio, 1917) - Italian 'Satan's Rhapsody', an actual film from 1917 which is listed on IMDb with the same director as Rapsodia satanica.
pg. 31 maschera - Italian 'mask'.
pg. 31 Facilis Descensus Avernis - Latin 'The descent to Avernis (the Underworld) is easy', a quote from Virgil's Aeniad, interpreted to mean 'The road to evil is easy'.
pg. 33 Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam - Latin 'To the Greater Glory of God'.
pg. 33 ignis fatuus - Latin 'fatuous light'?
pg. 34 borborygmus - Greek, an onomatopoeic word to describe the rumbling, gurgling sound of food passing through the digestive tract.
pg. 34 delirium tremens - Latin 'delirium of trembling', a term usually used to describe the state of confusion & shaking caused by withdrawal in those addicted to alcohol.
pg. 35 E disparito - Italian 'It's gone'.
pg. 39 Laudatio Deo - Latin 'Praise God'.
pg. 39 Santissimo ac beattissimo domino nostro pape - Latin 'Most holy and most blessed our Pope'.
pg. 39 Il fortuna del Diavolo - Italian 'The luck of the Devil'.
pg. 40 Peix Nicolau - Catalan 'Fish Nicholas', another name for the legendary merman (see pg. 9)
pg. 43 pater familias - Latin 'head of a family'.
pg. 44 La morte è presto - Italian 'Death is near'.
pg. 45 Scriptorium - Latin 'A place for writing'.
pg. 46 Church of Santa Sofia - The original Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople, now better known as the Hagia Sofia, as it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered the city in 1453.
pg. 48 L'Inferno non è più - Italian 'Hell does not exist'. As mentioned in the interview with the author linked above, this line is inspired by a 2018 incident with Pope Francis Vatican scrambles as pope appears to deny existence of hell from The Guardian, March 30, 2018.… (más)