The Synesthesiac

Author: Maddie Oatman

syn·es·the·sia from the Greek (syn-) union, and (aesthesis) sensation; is the neurological mixing of the senses. A synesthete may, for example, hear colors, see sounds - and taste tactile sensations.

The Algorithm for Literary Teamwork

On March 31, Italian author Roberto Bui gave a talk at Middlebury College entitled "Who is Wu Ming? Global Fiction from Italy" about his collective writing group Wu Ming and a new wave of fiction called the "New Italian Epic." Even without the support of his Italian mother tongue, Bui's lecture was a breathless blend of intelligent tidbits and insights on the direction that contemporary writing has been taking in Italy and beyond. Many of the terms Bui referenced, such as UNOs (unidentified narrative objects), "lexical cluster bombs" and "New Italian Epics," probably seemed foreign to most Middlebury audience members, probably because most of the authors he alluded to haven't been published in English. As Bui argued, "the Anglophone industry is slow in recognizing a popular trend of literary significance."

So what makes Bui so sure that Wu Ming is worth the clamor, that it has indeed produced works of "literary significance?" According to their Web site, Wu Ming is an offshoot of an earlier group of European social activists and writers who first formed a group called Luther Blissett in 1994.

The group's online autobiography includes such descriptions as "This Robin Hood of the information age waged a guerrilla warfare on the cultural industry, ran unorthodox solidarity campaigns for victims of censorship and repression and - above all - played elaborate media pranks as a form of art."

Four Bologna-based writers belonging to Blissett decided to jointly author the book "Q," published in 1999, set in the 16th century during the time of peasant protests and riots before Luther and the Reformation. That's right, four separate people wrote a sensational piece of historical fiction together. The book has been translated into 13 languages and elicited attention from intellectuals and celebrities such as Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

"Medieval church carnage," said Yorke after reading the book, "It's mental. I want to get it made into a film ... A tremendous book that makes the inquisitions of the 16th century Europe sound exciting" (from an interview with The Observer Music Monthly, 2007).

After acquiring a fifth writer, the authors formed the collaborative writing group Wu Ming, which means either "anonymous" or "five names" depending on how you pronounce the first syllable in Chinese. The apt title characterizes both the number of men in the group and their attitude that ambiguous authorship may serve the literary scene better than another singular ego. The men go by Wu Ming 1, Wu Ming 2, et cetera, they refuse to be photographed or filmed though they frequently give talks in person, and they willingly publish their works, such as the novel "54," free online as a part of their "copyleft" movement.

Their writing belongs to what Bui called the "New Italian Epics," novels that often blend history and science fiction and many times paint historical events or characters in a new light. Bui characterized these novels as large in scope, popular and also highly cognitive and complex, and subversive in their use of language and style. The novels suggest alternative realities, similar to Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle," which questions what would have happened if Hitler had won World War II.

While seemingly postmodern in approach, the New Italian Epics reject the bitter irony and sense of detachment that many postmodern works present. Yet like postmodernist works these epics remain suspicious about unity and cohesion, often doubting the optimism of historical periods that claim a "return to order," such as post-World War II. Cynical about violence and the illusory peaceful state of the world, Bui asserted that." We are not at peace and what's more art should never entertain the idea that we are at peace."

In their collaborative creation of such "New Italian Epics," Wu Ming risks putting forth disjointed and choppy work containing a confusion of styles and voices that might arise from five separate minds attempting to merge as one. But so far, the group has enjoyed popularity and success. Bui attributed their accomplishments to the intimacy and camaraderie of the group as well as their meticulous writing and editing process.

They do months of research on a particular time period, assign people different chapters and characters to write and then come together to read the product aloud and participate in intense and lengthy workshops. Bui stressed that all five of them were friends before Wu Ming began, and he cited another collective writing group that lacked the friendship factor as producing "cold, sometimes almost bleak" works.

Despite the exhaustive nature of collaborating in a creative process often attempted solo, Bui said he now feels lonely when writing alone. "Even my solo novels are collective," he admitted, explaining that he relies on his group for editing and reading aloud. For those sick of the isolation creativity often affords, Wu Ming stands as a tribute to teamwork, a war cry against war and tyranny and an inspiration for disenchanted artists tired of attempting the prickly road of socially active writing alone.