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FAR EAST FILM FESTIVAL 19: HOMAGE TO YOSHIHARU TSUGE

Renewing the fruitful partnership between FEFF and Canicola: the graphic novel The Man without Talent to be presented in Udine.

Thirty years since the retirement of great cartoonist Yoshiharu Tsuge, and on the 80th anniversary of his birth, Canicola edizioni has announced it will publish the graphic novel The Man without Talent this coming April. The novel will be presented during Udine’s 19th Far East Film Festival (21st – 29th April), renewing the partnership between FEFF and Canicola and paying homage to Tsuge also through an exhibition and a meeting with director Nobuhiro Yamashita. It is worth remembering that FEFF’s and Tsuge’s paths had already crossed back in 2003 on the occasion of the memorable retrospective on Ishii Teruo: six titles were presented, among which two in particular stood out, Master of the Gensenkan Inn and Wind-up Type, both conceived through the fruitful collaboration between Ishii and Tsuge.

The publication of The Man without Talent (1986), praised by art and literary critics who consider it Tsuge’s masterpiece, is a crucial turning point in the history of modern manga, mixing realism with surreal and grotesque aspects. The book tells the story of a man incapable of providing for his family, a dreamer whose projects end up facing the harshness of reality. The Man without Talent is a watakushi manga (‘ego-manga’), characterised by a deeply introspective first-person narrative. This novel is the swansong of Tsuge’s extraordinary career that turned him into a global cult figure.

Since its release, Tsuge’s novel has influenced many artists and intellectuals in Japan, initially, and eventually in the rest of the world. Many of the great cartoonists, such as Art Spiegelman or David Mazzucchelli, have appreciated and loved his work. On the occasion of the graphic novel’s publication in Italy, Canicola has gathered quotes from different authors and personalities who have shared their admiration for the Japanese master.