Francesco Guccini - Books

Books

In his career as a writer, Guccini published several novels and essays, experimenting with different genres. His first novel, Cròniche Epafàniche, was published by Feltrinelli in 1989, and was one of his most successful works. Even though it is not explicitly an autobiography, it can be considered the first of three autobiographical books. It describes past events of Pàvana, the town where he spent his childhood. Guccini recounts stories he heard from elderly people living on the Tuscan Apennines; critics praised the "philological accuracy" of the book.
His next two novels, Vacca d'un cane and Cittanòva blues were also bestsellers, and covered different periods of his life. Vacca d'un cane depicts a teenage Guccini in Modena, as he realizes that the city's provincialism will be an obstacle to his intellectual growth, while Cittanòva Blues the last part of his trio of autobiographical books, tells of his time in Bologna, seen as a "little Paris". Guccini also collaborated with Loriano Macchiavelli for a series of Noir books, and published a Dictionary of the dialect of Pàvana which showed his ability as dialectologist and translator.

Guccini has also worked as a comics artist. He is a lover of comics, and some of his songs reference them. He's been author and script writer of comic books, such as Vita e morte del brigante Bobini detto «Gnicche», illustrated by Francesco Rubino, and Lo sconosciuto, illustrated by Magnus, and script writer of Cronache di spazio profondo, drawn by his friend Bonvi.