Pavese's 'La luna e i falò' Gets Graphic Novel Adaptation by Magliani and D'Aponte

Marino Magliani and Marco D'Aponte have created a graphic novel adaptation of Cesare Pavese's final novel 'La luna e i falò', published by Tunué in 2021. The 160-page book, priced at €19.90, faithfully follows the original story of Anguilla returning to Santo Stefano Belbo in the Langhe after years in America, only to find his homeland changed. The hand-drawn illustrations maintain the novel's chronological sequence and raw, slow pacing. In the second half, the authors introduce a metanarrative device: Pavese himself appears as a black-and-white spectral figure, interacting with his protagonist. This includes a scene set in the Hotel Roma in Turin on August 27, 1950, foreshadowing the author's suicide. The adaptation includes introductory text by Marta Barone, who notes that the graphic novel presents the 'real Pavese and the real Nuto' as ghosts commenting on the story. The work is presented as a valid companion to the original, not a replacement, offering an alternative way to experience Pavese's dreamlike and ruthless world.