I popoli della Terra was my favorite reading in 1974. I have organized three trips to Afghanistan. The first with my friend Francesca, the second with Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Both of them went without me. The last time I made it to the border, in the desert of Baluchistan. Beyond the watchtower the road was mined. No one asked for visas or passes. Beyond that point was war, and a regime no one knew a thing about. Only armed combatants, doctors, drug traffickers, and smugglers went ahead. I smuggle words, and I went ahead, too—without leaving any footprints in the sand. Limbo is my journey.
TRANSLATOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped me bring Melania Mazzucco’s novel to life in English; without them this project would have remained in its own form of limbo.
Giovanni Marizza, Lieutenant General, Italian Mountain Troops, and former Deputy Commander of the Multi-National Corps in Iraq, indefatigably explained Italian and coalition military hierarchies, equipment, and terminology.
George H. Calhoun, Captain, Infantry, U.S. Army, read several chapters of the manuscript, offering precisions and editorial advice that would make his mother proud.
Daniel Jewiss, former Master Sergeant in the CT Army National Guard, provided military expertise and brotherly encouragement.
Brendan Kelley, Team Leader, Third Battalion, Seventy-fifth Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army, shared precious military details and lingo from his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Deborah Miller coached me through Traian’s soccer match.
Gail Jewiss, R.N., guided me through Manuela’s operations.
Dr. Giancarlo Di Maggio counseled me on psychological terms.
Patricia Caprotti, Rita Fabbrizio, and Stefano Spadoni unflaggingly explicated the intricacies of Melania’s prose.
Miranda Popkey, my creative and ever-cheerful editor, refined the translation at every step.
My warmest thanks for their generosity, meticulousness, and patience.
ALSO BY MELANIA G. MAZZUCCO
Vita
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR
Melania G. Mazzucco has written nine novels, including Vita (FSG, 2005), which was awarded the prestigious Strega Prize and named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. For Limbo, she was awarded the Premio Elsa Morante and the Premio Bottari Lattes Grinzane. Her many other honors include the 2011 Premio Letterario Viareggio-Tobino (which she received as writer of the year), the 2011 Premio Vittorio De Sica for literature, and the 2013 Premio Ignazio Silone. She lives in Rome.
Virginia Jewiss received her Ph.D. in Italian literature from Yale University, where she is a lecturer in the humanities. Her translations include Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah (FSG, 2007) and screenplays by Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone, and Gabriele Salvatores. She is the translator of Melania G. Mazzucco’s novel Vita.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 2012 by Melania G. Mazzucco
Translation copyright © 2014 by Virginia Jewiss
All rights reserved
Originally published in Italian in 2012 by Giulio Einaudi Editore, s.p.a., Italy
English translation published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
First American edition, 2014
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mazzucco, Melania G., 1966–
[Limbo. English]
Limbo / Melania G. Mazzucco ; translated from the Italian by Virginia Jewiss. — First American edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-374-19198-6 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-374-70990-7 (ebook)
1. Women veterans—Italy—Fiction. 2. Afghan War, 2001—Participation, Italian—Fiction. 3. Psychic trauma—Fiction. I. Jewiss, Virginia, translator. II. Title.
PQ4873.A98 L5613 2014
853'.914—dc23
2014016985
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