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Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 171 ratings · 27 reviews

In the intersection of the 15th and 16th centuries, a Dwarf (Big "D" to show respect) goes from the mean streets of Rome to walk with the giants of that world. Madsen remarkably gives us a tour of Europe, Italy, Rome, the Vatican, the papacy, Gnosticism, side-shows, sex, gore and love - always love. The Inquisition is in bloom and heretics are treated in ways that are desc...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published February 28th 1998 by Dedalus (first published 1998)

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Mar 15, 2012 Giulia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Peppe il nano gnostico, all’anagrafe Giuseppe Amadonelli, nasce a Trastevere da una madre screanzata e snaturata che ride delle deformità del proprio figlio fino a farsela addosso e tenta persino di stuprarlo durante uno dei suoi tanti momenti di alcolica lascivia. Non sembra esistere misericordia, umanità per lui, fino al giorno in cui viene salvato da donna Laura de’ Collini che lo introdurrà alla dottrina gnostica.

Lui che è un nano storpio, più degli altri, riesce a comprendere e ad abbraccia...more Peppe il nano gnostico, all’anagrafe Giuseppe Amadonelli, nasce a Trastevere da una madre screanzata e snaturata che ride delle deformità del proprio figlio fino a farsela addosso e tenta persino di stuprarlo durante uno dei suoi tanti momenti di alcolica lascivia. Non sembra esistere misericordia, umanità per lui, fino al giorno in cui viene salvato da donna Laura de’ Collini che lo introdurrà alla dottrina gnostica.

Lui che è un nano storpio, più degli altri, riesce a comprendere e ad abbracciare i principi di questa dottrina, la cui prima verità essenziale è che questo nostro mondo è l’inferno ed è maledetto, come tutte le cose materiali, incluso il corpo che è prigione della nostra anima. Infatti esso non è stato creato dal vero Padre, bensì dal suo nemico, il diavolo, Yahwèh-Jaldabaôth. E la nostra ultima meta è il regno di luce del vero Padre, dal quale la nostra anima è caduta.

La vita di Peppe diventa una rocambolesca avventura: passa anni a girovagare come attrazione in un baraccone itinerante di “scherzi della natura”, si trova a dover fronteggiare il terribile inquisitore Tomaso della Croce, conosce il padre dell’amata Laura, il Maestro della setta gnostica, che avrà un ruolo determinante in tutta la vicenda e, attraverso mille comiche, tristi, grottesche peripezie, infine entra a far parte della corte papale di Leone X.

Leone X avrà un ruolo importante nella vita di Peppe. In un certo modo sarà il suo bambinone da consolare nei momenti in cui la politica internazionale lo mette a dura prova. Infatti Leone, oltre a dover fare i conti con un certo Lutero che comincia ad essere un po’ troppo fastidioso, si trova a dover decidere più e più volte come e con chi schierarsi: prima con l’Imperatore, poi con la Francia, e ogni volta è un grattacapo, soprattutto perché deve salvaguardare l’eredità del suo glorioso predecessore Giulio II, noto per il suo coraggio in battaglia. Invece lui, secondogenito di Lorenzo il Magnifico, ha un’indole ben più cauta ed è votato alle arti, più che alla guerra. Oddio, da quanto racconta Peppe è votato anche a molte altre cose ben più sconce. Infatti Leone viene descritto come un talentuoso petomane, un grassone che ama farsi sodomizzare da ragazzotti nerboruti raccolti nei vicoli più malfamati della capitale, innamorato di un Raffaello che è tanto angelico nei suoi quadri quanto perverso nella sfera sessuale.

E Peppe si trova invischiato in losche trame: vendette, fughe, rapimenti, inciuci. Insomma: il Rinascimento raccontato da questo nano gnostico è una vera delizia.

Innanzitutto c’è da dire che Madsen scrive benissimo. Il linguaggio di Peppe è colorito ed oltraggioso, ma anche forbito e curioso.

Il libro è pieno di curiosità storiche e non, che vedono coinvolti personaggi del calibro di Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello e, appunto, il Papa. Ma ce ne sono molti altri.

Si passa con facilità dalla commedia alla tragedia e, è doveroso dirlo, questo non è un libro adatto a chi ha una sensibilità religiosa facilmente suscettibile. Così come è doveroso dire che certe scene sono piuttosto violente e oscene.

La trama, oltre ad essere molto interessante, è avvincente e piena di colpi di scena. Un finale inaspettato e sorprendente.
(less)

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Feb 07, 2013 Giuseppe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1990-s, esimio-sconosciuto, genre-historical-fiction, literature-english

Prendete un nano deforme, un culto eretico dell'alto medioevo, un papa con tendenze omo, un Raffaello noto per le sue prestazioni sessuali, un Leonardo con tendenze macabre, una trama che bim bum e pure bam, un linguaggio boccacesco ed una prosa albertiana, uno scrittore inglese che però ha vissuto a Roma e ne è rimasto stregato, agitate, mescolate e servite.

Avrete un romanzo godibilissimo, machiavellico (aulico e volgare al tempo stesso), dettagliatamente storico e pieno di colpi di scena.

P.S:...more

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Nov 27, 2008 Liviu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mainstream

This is a book for people who are not easily offended since it has quite a bit of shock value, though I found it funny more than anything else since it has an ironic rather than a pure decadent tone a la Sade and similar authors.

I've read several books narrated by dwarfs and taking place in Europe of the 1400-1600's and this one is the weakest of all as storytelling and narrative pull go, with Arts and Wonders by G. Norminton the strongest in my opinion at least.

Very funny in a darkly ironic...more

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Apr 05, 2013 knig rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, whatthe-hell

Circumstantial yet trouvaille read to coincide with the election of Pope Francis. During that particularly non operose endeavour, I was sidetracked somewhat catering to my own non theologically minded stygian appetites to feel the wanderlust, but I do remember wondering ‘WTF’. One octogenarian decamps in an emeute of exquisite humility and what should have been a plangent threnody from whose cradle springs some big bang Catholic rebirth (which the catholic church is so overdue) degenerates into...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic read, unless you have a low tolerance for filth. The story begins with a detailed description of Pope Leo X's sore and leaking anus, and it only gets better from there. Peppe, the self-described Gnostic dwarf, is a wry and clever narrator who will take you from profundity to puerility within the same sentence. His memoirs are partially a deep contemplation of the hideousness of this world as experienced by a man trapped in a monstrous body—hideousness that leads Peppe to beco...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Jason Golomb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, italy, renaissance, rome

This is a hard novel to categorize. It's part historical fiction, part tragic-comedy, part treatise on gnostic thought, and it's part historical lecture on European renaissance-era religion and politics. But somehow it works.

In essence, "Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf" is a story of the mysticism of Gnostic thought, orbiting around the interesting and sometimes madcap reign of Pope Leo X, Giovanni de Medici. Peppe (the dwarf) serves as narrator by providing glimpses of his youth, his introduction to...more This is a hard novel to categorize. It's part historical fiction, part tragic-comedy, part treatise on gnostic thought, and it's part historical lecture on European renaissance-era religion and politics. But somehow it works.

In essence, "Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf" is a story of the mysticism of Gnostic thought, orbiting around the interesting and sometimes madcap reign of Pope Leo X, Giovanni de Medici. Peppe (the dwarf) serves as narrator by providing glimpses of his youth, his introduction to Gnosticism, love, and education, which ultimately lands him in a circus, and then the 'court' of Leo X (itself not an actual circus, though one could make that arguement based on Peppe's descriptions).

Peppe is more tragic than comic. He ruminates on his physically painful youth (did I mention he has a rather large hump on his back?) "In the beginning was the pain, and the pain was with me, and the pain was me. It constituted the entirety of my burgeoning consciousness."

And one can't help but make comparisons to George R.R. Martin's own tortured dwarf, Tyrion Lannister. Peppe's mother, in a drunken fit, says, "God knows, I should have suffocated you at birth." Peppe responds in his narrative, "There was a time when I would have wholeheartedly agreed with this; now, however, I am rather glad that she did not suffocate me at birth. Strange, isn't it, how one can always learn to love oneself, however ghastly one is?"

Madsen displays a large and complex vocabulary which dually proves the literate nature of the writer as well as the value of having an e-reader with a built-in dictionary. His writing is big, bold and vividly descriptive.

In one particularly expressive scene, Peppe's only love is tortured for heresy. His description displays well Madsen's vibrant writing abilities: "...what followed fills me with anguish; the memory of it grips my heart like an icy vice. As I write, I know that tears will soon come. A huge and heavy sadness covers me like a shroud, and I cannot shake it off; indeed, I do not want to - for every act of recall, every rearoused memory of what they did to her, merits the expiation of a fresh agony of the soul. A sword pierced and entered the fabric of my psyche that day, and it is there still, for I feel its blade, as sharp and as deadly as ever, move between the infinitesimal spaces where socket meets socket and joint meets joint."

The middle third of the book, author David Madsen focuses much of his time on the political wranglings of and around the papal states. I'm always very appreciative of the historic angle of any historical fiction, however the complications surrounding the Vatican, Spain and France come at the cost of any real propullsion of Peppe's story.

The themes are rather large and heavy, and several plot lines are laced with overt sexual activities. Some may argue that it's gratuitous, but I would respond that it works effectively with the overall tone and themes of the novel.

What is Gnosticism, the reader may ask. One needn't wait long as Peppe provides his definition early in the story. "We hold that there are two equally-matched powers in the universe, one good and the other evil, and these are perpetually at war with one another. The good power created spirit, while the evil power created matter. Matter...corporeal form, the body, flesh, is evil...The devil (or at least a devil) created this world and it is hell."(less)

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Mar 30, 2010 Milan/zzz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, historical-fiction

This was fantastic historical novel indeed and certainly very unique. It is a story about Vatican during pope Leo X, known as a patron of Michelangelo and Raphael (but the reason for his affection toward master Raphael wasn’t that much artistic or at least not only related with his artistic abilities. It is about political situation in Vatican and rise of Martin Luther. Story is told by Peppe a Gnostic dwarf, an incredibly eloquent, witty and likable character.

Book is very carnal, decadent and...more This was fantastic historical novel indeed and certainly very unique. It is a story about Vatican during pope Leo X, known as a patron of Michelangelo and Raphael (but the reason for his affection toward master Raphael wasn’t that much artistic or at least not only related with his artistic abilities. It is about political situation in Vatican and rise of Martin Luther. Story is told by Peppe a Gnostic dwarf, an incredibly eloquent, witty and likable character.

Book is very carnal, decadent and is not for religiously sensitive, homophobic readers. I like very much that history interweaves with some less known, private things about the characters; later I checked on the net and in textbooks and find out indeed that this novel has incredible level of historic accuracy (including those private little things as well).

The Inquisition, Gnostic philosophy, political intrigues, freak show, poisoned drinks, screams of horror and the ones of carnal pleasure that are coming both from the dark street alleys and the papal chambers … this grotesque image has been paint with blood and semen and in the end you really don’t know if the bad ones were really bad and good guys really that good? Of course you really must dismiss [your own:] morality otherwise you’ll be completely lost. I’ve found myself longing to understand and agree with some things but just couldn’t, some things on the other hand were so insane that I couldn’t even forced myself to comprehend. I mean their essence.

I really have no doubts that Mr. Madsen informed himself about the way the Gnostic liturgy has been performed [after all, everything else I was keen to check it turned out to be exactly as he wrote in the book:] but then, there’s no way I could understand the meaning of certain rituals. And maybe that could be the “flaw”: Peppe didn’t explain the essence of the rituals while in the same time he’s sending a message directly to the reader (he’s fully aware that you’re holding this book) of a Gnostic ideology and its goals. But he left rituals naked and as such quite repulsive and even ridiculous. Oh and utterly grotesque for sure!

Then it gives one great and quite unique view on the Lutheran schism. I believe he was closer to Lutheranism than Catholicism in spite the fact that he was one of the closest friends with Pope Leo X and lived with him in Vatican. The story of selling (pardon, “preaching”) indulgencies was hilarious and indeed he shares the same emotion as we (or should I say myself) about it. It’s so obviously corrupted and greedy and absurd (people purchased indulgencies for sins they were about to commit and Church didn’t objected whatsoever!). Then they started to sell indulgencies that can be applied to the dead! There’s even a verse about it:

“As soon as money in the coffer rings,
the soul from purgatory’s fire springs”
No wonder Martin Luther rebelled! Who wouldn’t? You know, sometimes I wonder if those high Church officials are believers at all?

And in the end I must mention the language. The novel is pure linguistic embroidery which is beautiful … if you’re native English speaker. However if you’re not [like myself:] the novel will require an additional work: browsing thru your dictionary. But this story is more than worth of all “troubles”, you’ll be richly rewarded. This is one of those novels that certainly shouldn’t be missed. Highly recommending but as I said at the beginning this is not novel for everyone. (less)

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Sep 07, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: british-literature

This was an excellent book. Part history, part comedy, part tragedy, part Rabelaisian Romp, part religious treatise.

It's the story of a dwarf born to a slatternly fish-monger. He's saved, psychologically, by a pretty but deformed (beneath her clothing) gnostic (christian gnostic) woman ~ OMG so many parentheses!! He is trained by her in culture and gnosticism. Eventually they are raided by the inquisition and he is sold to a freak show (yes, he becomes a slave...can it get any better!) :-) where...more

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Sep 30, 2010 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: published-1998, autumn-2010, amusing, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, ouch, italy, historical-fiction, historical-masturbation, gorefest, glbt, philosophy, noir

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 03, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: italy, history, religion, 2013

Gosh, I don't know what to say about this one. On the one hand, it's just as rapey - no, more so - as Outlander, which I just panned. And you can throw in a lot more sadistic violence, gore, graphic suffering, really disturbing sex, and nasty STDs. But it's so much better than Outlander. Worlds apart. All the nasty, horrifying parts are fully in service to the message of the book, not thrown in to be titillating sexy-rape.

Peppe is a dwarf who is also painfully deformed; he lives in pain and squ...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Ben Dummitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had very mixed feelings about this book. The story is narrated by a dwarf (Peppe) in the late 1400's who begins life as the son of a poor, somewhat evil single mom, and eventually becomes a chamberlain of Pope Leo X. It has a bit of a tongue in cheek feel throughout, but it is a black sort of humor. If you are easily offended, you probably want to stay away.

I found Peppe's story to be interesting and generally enjoyable, but I found myself yawning through the (I felt) excessive political histo...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Johnny Zombie-writer rated it 3 of 5 stars

An oddity of a book, I wouldn't recommend to everyone, very religious yet at the same time not, I mean a religious setting maybe, like Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Ok so it's written as a memoir from a practically malformed yet highly intelligent and witty (fans of shows like blackadder will love it) dwarf named Peppe from his horrible upbringing to being taught the ways of the Gnostic, hell on earth, this flesh and vileness that we survive in is the work of Satan rather then God etc. However...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Loyce Rogers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, the book didn't shock me or surprise me or excite me. I enjoyed it, though, I was ready for it to end.

If you are offended by language, don't read it. Concerning the language, it is a part of who Pepe is. Take away the language, you strip Pepe of his being. The times were not uplifting and even the powerful and wealthy lived disgusting lives. This is not an uplifting book, but it is a thought provoking one.

There are parts that run on and on and on and to be honest, by the end, I really di...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Silletta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-inglese

Recensione intitolabile: Di come la media tra tre, tre e tre fa un numero tendente al quattro.
Eh sì, perché questo libro mi sconvolge le basilari leggi matematiche.
Potremmo definirlo un intreccio tra tre filoni, quello storico, quello finto-biografico, e quello umoristico, quindi vado con ordine.

Le memorie (voto 3)

Peppe, lo storpio proveniente dai bassifondi di Trastevere, racconta la sua vita, una storia forte e vividamente sentita quando parla delle sue origini, misere e spietate. Senza tanti...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Tucker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished, not-actually-about-eunuchs

An uncommon voice for a narrator. Stares right into ugly scenes: doesn't just say that the pyre was lit and then the camera cuts away, but more descriptively shows victims being burnt at the stake. The depiction of the Pope as an ordinary person with an active sex life and various rectal ailments would be considered somewhere between irreverent and offensive depending on who is reading. The story has some lasting value in giving a voice to the Gnostic heretics in Italy.

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Mar 24, 2011 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comedy, fiction, history

The author has an amazing vocabulary, an interest in church history, and a spectacularly filthy mind. All these elements are brought together in one of the more unique books I have read in a very long time. The story is about a dwarf in Rome whose life intersects with some of the most famous characters in renaissance Italy. The book is funny, interesting, taught me a tonne about this period. Oh and totally filthy.

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Aug 14, 2011 Mazel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: roman-historique

« Léon est un homme de grande taille, au teint bistré, un peu gras (bouffi, disent les mauvaises langues). Il marche en se dandinant et monte à cheval en amazone à cause des ulcères de son cul ».

C’est ainsi que dans ses mémoires, Peppe, le nain bossu, chambellan de Sa Majesté, présente son maître bien aimé, le pape Léon X. Le portrait qu’il fait de ce prince, qui protégea Raphaël et Michel-Ange (mais condamna Luther), est assez loin d’obéir aux conventions retenues par l’histoire.

Léon est cert...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Scholarly & obscene, the book reminded me of Edward St. Aubyn's Patrick Melrose novels, but Memoirs adds sadistic violence to the equation, mostly carried out by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition. All in the name of faith, of course. Brilliantly written historical fiction. 4 1/2 stars.

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Mar 13, 2013 Robert rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Well, I was kind of bored with this book. Not offended, but just not drawn in. I wanted to like it but when you just dread picking a book up u know something is wrong.
I had to put this down, and I hate to put a book down. Maybe I'll try again at a future date.

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Jan 30, 2013 Jacob added it

Shelves: i-own, fiction-and-literature, read-before-goodreads

Clementissime Domine, cuius inenarrabilis es virtus
This morning His Holiness summoned me to read to him from Saint Augustine, while the physician applied unguents and salves to his suppurating arse; one in particular, which was apparently concocted from virgin's piss (where did they find a virgin in Rome?) and a rare herb from the private hortus siccus of Bonet de Lattes, the pope's Jewish physician-in-chief, stank abominably.
(Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf, p. 11)

Great opening line, or greatest ope...more

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Mar 08, 2013 jobiwan6 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, historical, religion-philosophy

3 and 1/2 stars

Gnosticism and a dwarf - do you really need more? If so, there is, literally, a whole freak show. And frequent references to Pope Leo's suppurating arse. And the always unexpected Inquisition. p.s. if reading this on Kindle, you will appreciate the easy accessibility of the dictionary feature.
Will read more by this author

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Jan 28, 2013 Erinhill Hill-Dowdle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nice picture of the Gnostic ideals and Raphealite Italy. Also, seeing the pope as a fallible human. Very interesting read.

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Apr 08, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Neither educational, nor "literature", but an easy amusing campy read.

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Apr 23, 2013 Williams91 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Don't read if you are easily offended or squeamish.

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Feb 11, 2013 Dan G rated it 4 of 5 stars

A quirky view of the Renaissance Papacy.

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Dec 16, 2011 Adam rated it 4 of 5 stars

A funny, occasionally savage gnostic dwarfen romp through the papacy of Leo X.

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Jun 22, 2008 Albert F. Jester rated it 5 of 5 stars

great scatalogical perverse gothic meditation on gnosticism, sodomy, pederasty, and the general decadence of renaissance rome under pope leo x narrated by, well, a gnostic dwarf

really really enjoyed it /read it in a day around easter right outside of rome--ha he ho/

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Jan 15, 2010 Bryce rated it 3 of 5 stars

Touches on some serious moral and philosophical issues, but wallows in shock-for-shock-value's-sake. A book I found interesting, but not necessary enjoyable.

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May 04, 2010 !Tæmbuŝu marked it as to-read

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, italy, ebook-available

KOBOBOOKS

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May 17, 2013 Lucy VanPelt added it · review of another edition

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