De Chirico’s Novel Hebdomeros Gets Revised Translation

A revised translation of Giorgio de Chirico’s 1929 novel Hebdomeros has been published by David Zwirner Books. The book, de Chirico’s only novel, is described as hallucinogenic and untimely, complementing his metaphysical paintings. The narrative proceeds as a cascade of prescient memories, influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, with Nietzschean keywords like stimmung left untranslated. The titular figure, Hebdomeros, is a pseudo-philosopher with quirks such as leukophobia. The novel eschews modern conventions for medieval chivalric tales like Yvain and Le Roman de la Rose, and its tone shifts from stream of consciousness to conventional prose, then to a found text, and back to description. The Surrealists praised the book upon its first publication, though André Breton accused de Chirico of reproducing earlier work. The translation is by Jonathan Odden, and the review appears in the May 2025 issue of ArtReview.