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Hebdomeros
Hebdomeros, originally written in French by Giorgio de Chirico and published in Paris in 1929, was immediately accepted by critics as one of the capital novels of surrealist literature. It should also be said that Hebdomeros is a fundamental document for better understanding the artistic revolution that De Chirico operated in those years with his metaphysical painting. The story does not proceed from event to event, but passes from one image, from one word, from one analogy to another. The singularity of this process lies in its distance from both the dream and the interior monologue, it does not involve the reader, but seduces him with a spectacle of images that smell of hallucination and dreams, of vanishing anguish and frigid rhetorical invention.
133 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Giorgio de Chirico
80 books34 followersGiorgio de Chirico was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His most well-known works often feature Roman arcades, long shadows, mannequins, trains, and illogical perspective. His imagery reflects his affinity for the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and of Friedrich Nietzsche, and for the mythology of his birthplace.
After 1919, he became a critic of modern art, studied traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.
After 1919, he became a critic of modern art, studied traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 16, 2022
До чего же талантлив бывает один человек во всем! Перед нами роман, написанный в жанре метафизического сюрреализма. Это словесное описание его картин, созданных или, возможно, только зарождавшихся в его мыслях, но ждавших своего часа, чтобы воплотиться на холсте. Несмотря на вербальные аллюзии на «Так говорил Зарастустра» Ницше, философия Гебдомероса совершенно другая: более гуманистичная, человеколюбивая. У Ницше четкие заявления о Сверхчеловеке и превосходстве одних над другими, у де Кирико теплые слова в отношении Африки, напоминающей своими очертаниями сердце, и его жителей. Вместе с тем, роман наполнен ощущением смутной тревоги, застывшей в мареве покоя, - совсем как на его картинах! Написанный в 1929 году, он и не мог быть другим – в промежутке мира и затишья между двумя войнами. Образность сравнений, такие как полицейский схватил журналиста и уволок его, как лев антилопу в заросли, создает сюрреалистическую картину перед глазами. Невероятная поэтика, как белые стихи, завораживают. Роман непонятен, так же как его картины, и каждый видит в нем что-то свое, но от этой непонятности, его творчество не становится менее притягательным и прекрасным.
August 14, 2021
La letteratura come pittura con altri mezzi
Ebdòmero è un originalissimo libro fatto di immagini, nel quale il grande artista depone per un attimo il pennello per continuare a dipingere con le parole. Un monologo in bilico tra il ballo in maschera e la fuga, una passeggiata tra i quadri di una pinacoteca che è anche un'autobiografia sotto mentite spoglie dell'autore.
Sogni, ricordi, fantasie… immagini che mettendolo sulla carta danno realtà al mondo interiore di de Chirico e ci offrono il privilegio di entrare in contato più stretto con l'Arte del Maestro. Ebdòmero è uno spazio sospeso fuori dal tempo, un romanzo nel quale la trama non si sviluppa per collegamenti logici ma attraverso associazioni di idee, contrasti e analogie. Ad ogni passo dell'autore corrisponda un salto nel vuoto per il lettore, che deve stare attento ad afferrare al volo la liana che gli permetta di volare sopra l'apparenza.
Il protagonista è una via di mezzo tra Ulisse e Gesù, una specie di misantropo, in bilico tra ricordo del passato e voglia di scoperta, che lungo il cammino non manca di dispensare consigli ai suoi discepoli:
Un cammino accompagnato dalla nostalgia del passato e dal senso di solitudine, circondato da intellettuali «impotenti e stizziti che ignoravano l'ironia e il vero talento», individui nei quali «sentiva qualcosa di legati; sentiva che un nodo impediva loro di muovere liberamente le braccia e le gambe, di correre, di arrampicarsi, di saltare, di nuotare e di tuffarsi, di raccontare qualcosa con spirito, di scrivere e di dipingere, per dirla in poche parole di capire e di creare», attorniato da ostinati «cercatori metafisicizzanti», scettici che non riescono a vedere quello che vede lui «e pretendevano che i centauri non fossero mai esistiti».
Ebdòmero è un originalissimo libro fatto di immagini, nel quale il grande artista depone per un attimo il pennello per continuare a dipingere con le parole. Un monologo in bilico tra il ballo in maschera e la fuga, una passeggiata tra i quadri di una pinacoteca che è anche un'autobiografia sotto mentite spoglie dell'autore.
Sogni, ricordi, fantasie… immagini che mettendolo sulla carta danno realtà al mondo interiore di de Chirico e ci offrono il privilegio di entrare in contato più stretto con l'Arte del Maestro. Ebdòmero è uno spazio sospeso fuori dal tempo, un romanzo nel quale la trama non si sviluppa per collegamenti logici ma attraverso associazioni di idee, contrasti e analogie. Ad ogni passo dell'autore corrisponda un salto nel vuoto per il lettore, che deve stare attento ad afferrare al volo la liana che gli permetta di volare sopra l'apparenza.
Il protagonista è una via di mezzo tra Ulisse e Gesù, una specie di misantropo, in bilico tra ricordo del passato e voglia di scoperta, che lungo il cammino non manca di dispensare consigli ai suoi discepoli:
«perciò io vi dico, amici miei: metodizzatevi, non sprecate le vostre forze, quando avete trovato un segno, voltatelo e rivoltatelo da tutti i lati; guardatelo di faccia e di profilo, di tre quarti e di scorcio; fatelo sparire ed osservate quale forma piglia al suo posto i ricordo del suo aspetto.»
Un cammino accompagnato dalla nostalgia del passato e dal senso di solitudine, circondato da intellettuali «impotenti e stizziti che ignoravano l'ironia e il vero talento», individui nei quali «sentiva qualcosa di legati; sentiva che un nodo impediva loro di muovere liberamente le braccia e le gambe, di correre, di arrampicarsi, di saltare, di nuotare e di tuffarsi, di raccontare qualcosa con spirito, di scrivere e di dipingere, per dirla in poche parole di capire e di creare», attorniato da ostinati «cercatori metafisicizzanti», scettici che non riescono a vedere quello che vede lui «e pretendevano che i centauri non fossero mai esistiti».
October 16, 2021
Do you believe in metempsychosis, in the immortality of the soul, in the inviolability of the laws of nature, in ghosts foretelling disasters to come, in the subconscious of dogs, in the dreams of owls, in what is enigmatic about cicadas, quail's heads and the spotted skin of the leopard?
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July 16, 2023De Chirico's only novel is a strange metaphysical phantasmagoria, a tableau of the mental images and wild thoughts in the roaming life of Hebdomeros, a misanthropic sophist. As he passes from city to city, hotel-hopping, touring through gallery displays, his mind wanders, lost in the "chiaroscuro of his memory", admiring the architecture and despising the close-minded crowds of bourgeois puritans. The amorphous people around him are variously described as phantoms, hoplites, gladiators, and lictors, always hostile philistine figures, "muscular ascetics", who can only perceive rectilinear forms, a "legitimized society which avoids any talk of medical instruments or microbes and goes pale when people use a clumsy expression like "son by a first marriage," or discuss the methods used by doctors for delivering babies". In contrast, his imagined world is a cosmopolitan wonder-land. On the first page, the building before him resembles "a German consulate in Melbourne". The inside is full of Doric columns. It is an incomprehensible novel, a roiling stream-of-consciousness, full of odd musings about bed springs and rambling diatribes against artistic convention. Like his own unique metaphysical, surreal paintings, the novel imagines alien neoclassical landscapes, full of Parthenons and architectural follies, and masked strangers, abstract and geometrical hominids.
The 1988 edition with foreword by John Ashbery has a type-setting issue. Page 44 and 45 are duplicates and a page of text has been lost.
The 1988 edition with foreword by John Ashbery has a type-setting issue. Page 44 and 45 are duplicates and a page of text has been lost.
April 22, 2023
I read this novel by Surrealist painter De Chirico in Italian - he actually wrote it in French but the Italian version was the most affordable and accessible for me. It is a rambling kind of novel with very little plot - the eponymous character is on a kind of journey, often by boat, accompanied by his riotous friends, through a number of unconnected dream like scenes.
The imagery is often stunning and there are recurring images, many from mythology such as centaurs and tritons, plus animals like polar bears and elephants, wooden staircases, dogs barking, shepherds and pirates, and even Biblical references with Hebdomeros in a small boat calming his followers.
I did like the surreal images but they are quite overwhelming, so I found it worked best to read this in small chunks. The dialogue is less interesting, mainly Hebdomeros stating his views to his unheeding friends. Occasionally it’s very funny, such as Hebdomeros’ views that eating figs should be punished with imprisonment and eating strawberries with cream is even worse!
Interesting as the work of the great Surrealist artist, but for me it’s not great literature.
The imagery is often stunning and there are recurring images, many from mythology such as centaurs and tritons, plus animals like polar bears and elephants, wooden staircases, dogs barking, shepherds and pirates, and even Biblical references with Hebdomeros in a small boat calming his followers.
I did like the surreal images but they are quite overwhelming, so I found it worked best to read this in small chunks. The dialogue is less interesting, mainly Hebdomeros stating his views to his unheeding friends. Occasionally it’s very funny, such as Hebdomeros’ views that eating figs should be punished with imprisonment and eating strawberries with cream is even worse!
Interesting as the work of the great Surrealist artist, but for me it’s not great literature.
April 22, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyed this surrealist novel - one of the most immediately engaging surrealist books that I've read. Disregarding any adherence to place or time our main character (Hebdomeros) glides through a variety of different scenarios effortlessly, with some intriguing half-glimpses of the marriage of reality and fantasy. It amuses me to see a few reviewers on here annoyed that there is no plot. One wonders how they dream.
I particularly liked: "I am a painter myself, sir, and more than once I have remained in my studio in the evening when night falls, without lighting the lamps. I then lose myself in strange reveries at the sight of my own paintings fading into an ever-darkening and thickening mist as though they are going into another world, into another atmosphere, where I could no longer follow them."
And then I laughed at Hebdomeros' inner retort to that painter, undermining my own empathy with the above. To see that you will need to read it.
A novel of intriguing contradictions.
I particularly liked: "I am a painter myself, sir, and more than once I have remained in my studio in the evening when night falls, without lighting the lamps. I then lose myself in strange reveries at the sight of my own paintings fading into an ever-darkening and thickening mist as though they are going into another world, into another atmosphere, where I could no longer follow them."
And then I laughed at Hebdomeros' inner retort to that painter, undermining my own empathy with the above. To see that you will need to read it.
A novel of intriguing contradictions.
March 25, 2020
This book is beautiful. Mine's missing a couple pages. The intro by Ashbery is grand. Forget "surrealism." De Chirico's art is categoraphobic. I ordered the original English translation from 1966, going to read that too. All these books trying to mean something. This book means nothing. There's a fishing net of human complexity--I mean, it's not sarcastic, for one. The intelligence is not demeaning. It's vulnerable.
See how a visionary painter sees. Many paragraphs are uneasy, startling paintings. This book takes you into the sublime state of a dream.
How did he do it? No one knows. Automatic writing? No way--this book is thoroughly composed. Yet it's...next time you awake, on a free morning, no work, no kids bothering you, no partner telling you the tasks for the day, no alarm, no phone--if you can allow the mind to continue moving, if you can investigate that state of coming awake before waking, without controlling where thought goes.
See how a visionary painter sees. Many paragraphs are uneasy, startling paintings. This book takes you into the sublime state of a dream.
How did he do it? No one knows. Automatic writing? No way--this book is thoroughly composed. Yet it's...next time you awake, on a free morning, no work, no kids bothering you, no partner telling you the tasks for the day, no alarm, no phone--if you can allow the mind to continue moving, if you can investigate that state of coming awake before waking, without controlling where thought goes.
December 7, 2019
This is one of my favorite books!
This is a cornerstone of my surrealist books, and I try to read this every year. It is magical and is a wonderful reading experience. Cheers to De Chirico for creating this masterpiece!
Gene Carroccia, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist and author of the books Treating ADHD/ADD in Children and Adolescents and Evaluating ADHD in Children and Adolescents
This is a cornerstone of my surrealist books, and I try to read this every year. It is magical and is a wonderful reading experience. Cheers to De Chirico for creating this masterpiece!
Gene Carroccia, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist and author of the books Treating ADHD/ADD in Children and Adolescents and Evaluating ADHD in Children and Adolescents
February 15, 2022
Partiamo dall'edizione di Abscondita (Electa): l'opera di de Chirico viene subito proposta al lettore, senza introduzioni, benché il testo risulti criptico. Dopo un centinaio di pagine, troviamo una postfazione di Jole de Sanna, che è davvero una postfazione - non come spesso accade - dunque rende necessaria la lettura del testo in esame. Segue una nota biografica di Paolo Picozza: dettagliatissima e precisa, presenta novità nate dalla collaborazione con la Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico. Infine, partecipa all'edizione un'appendice iconografica, non priva di un certo pregio.
In origine, 'Ebdòmero' fu scritto in francese e pubblicato a Parigi nel 1929. Presto si distinse come caposaldo della letteratura surrealista e metafisica.
Non esiste una trama vera e propria: seguiamo il personaggio di Ebdòmero, alter ego dell'Autore, in un cammino fatto di immagini, che siano opere d'arte, paesaggi o suggestioni psichiche. L'analogia è il principale strumento per il passaggio da una scena all'altra, così come per introdurre un ricordo. I monologhi espressi da Ebdòmero sembrano correre su una linea psichica o spirituale quasi imperscrutabile al pubblico che lo ascolta, agli amici e al lettore. Il suo incedere condivide molto di una figura messianica, ma il personaggio non tradisce la sua umanità, costituita da pensieri fissi, sconforto e fastidio per la società boriosa e noiosa. Vi è anche una certa affinità con il metodo dell'immaginazione attiva di Jung.
Ciò che interessa a Ebdòmero - e che desidera comunicare - è la suggestione del simbolo, che si configura come un enigma da decifrare dopo un'attenta analisi, alla ricerca della Luce in forma di illuminazione, come può accadere in un istante, al tramonto. Il suo stesso nome, che significa 'fatto di sette parti', indica una natura eccezionale, oltre il tetramorfo alchemico e rivolta all'onnimorfo.
Non c'è un modo specifico per spiegare questa opera: ci si può solo avvicinare senza pregiudizi; senza aspettative. Prestando attenzione al termine che conduce a una svolta nella narrazione, a un'intuizione; cercando di esplorare ciò che è oltre il simbolo e il suo significato.
In origine, 'Ebdòmero' fu scritto in francese e pubblicato a Parigi nel 1929. Presto si distinse come caposaldo della letteratura surrealista e metafisica.
Non esiste una trama vera e propria: seguiamo il personaggio di Ebdòmero, alter ego dell'Autore, in un cammino fatto di immagini, che siano opere d'arte, paesaggi o suggestioni psichiche. L'analogia è il principale strumento per il passaggio da una scena all'altra, così come per introdurre un ricordo. I monologhi espressi da Ebdòmero sembrano correre su una linea psichica o spirituale quasi imperscrutabile al pubblico che lo ascolta, agli amici e al lettore. Il suo incedere condivide molto di una figura messianica, ma il personaggio non tradisce la sua umanità, costituita da pensieri fissi, sconforto e fastidio per la società boriosa e noiosa. Vi è anche una certa affinità con il metodo dell'immaginazione attiva di Jung.
Ciò che interessa a Ebdòmero - e che desidera comunicare - è la suggestione del simbolo, che si configura come un enigma da decifrare dopo un'attenta analisi, alla ricerca della Luce in forma di illuminazione, come può accadere in un istante, al tramonto. Il suo stesso nome, che significa 'fatto di sette parti', indica una natura eccezionale, oltre il tetramorfo alchemico e rivolta all'onnimorfo.
Non c'è un modo specifico per spiegare questa opera: ci si può solo avvicinare senza pregiudizi; senza aspettative. Prestando attenzione al termine che conduce a una svolta nella narrazione, a un'intuizione; cercando di esplorare ciò che è oltre il simbolo e il suo significato.
March 11, 2024
An original short novel, the author’s only novel. A book about Hebdomeros, who travels with his companions from place to place. There are many vividly descriptive paragraphs. A book that comments on ideals. There is no plot or character development. Hebdomeros, a painter, athlete and intellectual, is restless and bored.
A thought provoking read. The book jumps from a dreamlike scene to descriptions of the places he is located, to philosophical musings.
This book first published in French in 1929 and into Italian, the author’s native language, in 1942.
A thought provoking read. The book jumps from a dreamlike scene to descriptions of the places he is located, to philosophical musings.
This book first published in French in 1929 and into Italian, the author’s native language, in 1942.
December 31, 2025
The best passage about seafood and seafood eaters I’ve ever read.
December 19, 2025
Ευδόμερος. Τζώρτζιο Ντε Κίρικο
Τι να πει κανείς γι' αυτόν το δημιουργό και γι'αυτό το βιβλίο.
Ο Ντε Κίρικο στον Ευδόμερο κάνει προβολή του πολύπλευρου ταλέντου του, του πολυπράγμονος χαρακτήρα του και της αεικίνητης φύσης του. Διαβάζοντάς το μου ερχόταν στο μυαλό το "πετιέμαι εδώ πετιέμαι εκεί και τη φοβίζω την Κική".
Μοναδικός γνωστής της γλώσσας έρχεται η ώρα που χάνεσαι στις λέξεις του, τους συνδυασμούς τους και τα νοήματα τους! Κοινώς χάνεις τον μπούσουλα και δεν ξέρεις ούτε τι σε βρήκε ούτε από πού!
Με τον Ντε Κίρικο δεν πας περίπατο παρά το γεγονός πως είναι ιδιαίτερα ανάλαφρος στην έκφρασή του, αλλά οικειοθελώς βλέπεις τον ανεμοστρόβιλο να έρχεται κατά πάνω σου και βουτάς στην ανεμοδούρα του με το κεφάλι ψηλά και μια εξασφαλισμένη διάσπαση προσοχής που θα λατρέψεις, γιατί δε σε αφήνει ο αθεόφοβος να ξεκουράσεις το πνεύμα σου ούτε δευτερόλεπτο.
What, really, can one say about this creator and about this book, the only novel he ever wrote?
In "Eudemerus" de Chirico projects the full spectrum of his gifts: the polymathic reach of his talent, the restless versatility of his temperament, and the perpetual motion of his mind. A virtuoso of language, he leads the reader to the point where one is happily lost among his words, their juxtapositions, their semantic slippages, their mischievous implications. One quite simply loses one’s bearings, unsure of what has just struck or from which direction.
With de Chirico, there is no leisurely stroll. Despite the apparent lightness of his prose, you willingly watch the whirlwind approach, then plunge headlong into its vortex,chin up, attention delightfully fractured. And you love it, because the impious fellow will not, for a single second, allow your intellect the comfort of rest.
Τι να πει κανείς γι' αυτόν το δημιουργό και γι'αυτό το βιβλίο.
Ο Ντε Κίρικο στον Ευδόμερο κάνει προβολή του πολύπλευρου ταλέντου του, του πολυπράγμονος χαρακτήρα του και της αεικίνητης φύσης του. Διαβάζοντάς το μου ερχόταν στο μυαλό το "πετιέμαι εδώ πετιέμαι εκεί και τη φοβίζω την Κική".
Μοναδικός γνωστής της γλώσσας έρχεται η ώρα που χάνεσαι στις λέξεις του, τους συνδυασμούς τους και τα νοήματα τους! Κοινώς χάνεις τον μπούσουλα και δεν ξέρεις ούτε τι σε βρήκε ούτε από πού!
Με τον Ντε Κίρικο δεν πας περίπατο παρά το γεγονός πως είναι ιδιαίτερα ανάλαφρος στην έκφρασή του, αλλά οικειοθελώς βλέπεις τον ανεμοστρόβιλο να έρχεται κατά πάνω σου και βουτάς στην ανεμοδούρα του με το κεφάλι ψηλά και μια εξασφαλισμένη διάσπαση προσοχής που θα λατρέψεις, γιατί δε σε αφήνει ο αθεόφοβος να ξεκουράσεις το πνεύμα σου ούτε δευτερόλεπτο.
What, really, can one say about this creator and about this book, the only novel he ever wrote?
In "Eudemerus" de Chirico projects the full spectrum of his gifts: the polymathic reach of his talent, the restless versatility of his temperament, and the perpetual motion of his mind. A virtuoso of language, he leads the reader to the point where one is happily lost among his words, their juxtapositions, their semantic slippages, their mischievous implications. One quite simply loses one’s bearings, unsure of what has just struck or from which direction.
With de Chirico, there is no leisurely stroll. Despite the apparent lightness of his prose, you willingly watch the whirlwind approach, then plunge headlong into its vortex,chin up, attention delightfully fractured. And you love it, because the impious fellow will not, for a single second, allow your intellect the comfort of rest.
November 27, 2025
"'You must never gallop too hard on the back of fantasy,' he said, 'what is needed is to discover, for in discovering one renders life possible in the sense that one reconciles it with its mother, Eternity; in discovering one pays tribute to that minotaur that men call Time, and which they portray in the form of a great, withered old man, seated with a thoughtful air between a scythe and a clepsydra.'"
What to say about this gem of a novel? It hypnotizes with its long, descriptive sentences setting aside any structural and logical breaks. Does it make any sense? Probably not. Does it matter? Definitely not.
A strong introduction text by Fabio Benzi who places the novel and its author within a historical and cultural context.
What to say about this gem of a novel? It hypnotizes with its long, descriptive sentences setting aside any structural and logical breaks. Does it make any sense? Probably not. Does it matter? Definitely not.
A strong introduction text by Fabio Benzi who places the novel and its author within a historical and cultural context.
March 21, 2020
Un non-romanzo: piuttosto un dialogo con l’arte e la filosofia visiva di De Chirico. Difficile trovare un modo di spiegare quest’opera. Molte sono le pagine di difficile lettura. Alcune sembrano quadri piuttosto. Interessante soprattutto grazie al “codice” di lettura dato dalla recente mostra visitata a Milano.
August 25, 2017
Se non mi fossi trovata a doverlo leggere per un esame, non l'avrei mai aperto. So che non avere una trama o dei personaggi delineati è una delle particolarità dell'opera, ma non lo rileggerei neanche sotto tortura.
Currently reading
February 4, 2017I look forward to continuing to read this.
October 10, 2018
Με κούρασε ένα δύστροπο ανάγνωσμα που μάλλον σε κουράζει παρά σου δημιουργεί αισθήματα αναγνωστικής απόλαυσης...
June 5, 2025
Wow, wat een boek. Wat een ervaring!
Zonder er al te veel bij na te denken heb ik dit boek opgepikt in de museumshop van het Stedelijk. Het boek sprong ondanks zijn nogal nietszeggende kaft in het oog naast al die andere boeken die veeleer handboeken leken voor mijn medeleken in de kunst. Maar zelden heeft er een dergelijke dissonantie bestaan tussen de kaft en de innerlijke wereld van een boek, dat zichzelf enigszins lijkt te adverteren als een surrealistische roman. Het is overigens geschreven door een zeer uitnemende Grieks-Italiaanse schilder die ik erg bewonder, maar zijn artistieke uitdrukkingsvermogen beperkt zich niet tot het penseel. Een rode draad en verhaallijn zijn ver te zoeken, doch wat een ontegenzeggelijke schoonheid en aanschakeling van de meest lucide en geestverrijkende beelden. De elementaire kracht en harmonie van het (Italiaanse) provinciaalse landschap worden moeiteloos verweven met mythologie, dromen en de nodige maatschappijkritiek. Ik heb in lange tijd niet een boek gelezen dat zo een indruk op mij heeft gemaakt en dat ik niet snel zal vergeten. Het is een van de weinige boeken waarvan ik na de eerste lezing denk dat ik het zo opnieuw kan lezen.
Simpel gezegd is het een onnaspeurlijke krachttoer van de meest welbespraakte fantasie, verbeeldingskracht en grenzeloosheid. Dit is wat het betekent om mens te zijn en met beide benen in de existentie te staan. Een boek om heerlijk bij weg te dromen.
Zonder er al te veel bij na te denken heb ik dit boek opgepikt in de museumshop van het Stedelijk. Het boek sprong ondanks zijn nogal nietszeggende kaft in het oog naast al die andere boeken die veeleer handboeken leken voor mijn medeleken in de kunst. Maar zelden heeft er een dergelijke dissonantie bestaan tussen de kaft en de innerlijke wereld van een boek, dat zichzelf enigszins lijkt te adverteren als een surrealistische roman. Het is overigens geschreven door een zeer uitnemende Grieks-Italiaanse schilder die ik erg bewonder, maar zijn artistieke uitdrukkingsvermogen beperkt zich niet tot het penseel. Een rode draad en verhaallijn zijn ver te zoeken, doch wat een ontegenzeggelijke schoonheid en aanschakeling van de meest lucide en geestverrijkende beelden. De elementaire kracht en harmonie van het (Italiaanse) provinciaalse landschap worden moeiteloos verweven met mythologie, dromen en de nodige maatschappijkritiek. Ik heb in lange tijd niet een boek gelezen dat zo een indruk op mij heeft gemaakt en dat ik niet snel zal vergeten. Het is een van de weinige boeken waarvan ik na de eerste lezing denk dat ik het zo opnieuw kan lezen.
Simpel gezegd is het een onnaspeurlijke krachttoer van de meest welbespraakte fantasie, verbeeldingskracht en grenzeloosheid. Dit is wat het betekent om mens te zijn en met beide benen in de existentie te staan. Een boek om heerlijk bij weg te dromen.
November 29, 2024
At the MOMA in NYC, there is a room on the Fifth Floor near "Les Damoiselles d'Avignon" by Pablo Picasso filled with Giorgio de Chirico paintings; many of which are considered his masterpieces. This area is an existentialist's "happy place." Giorgio de Chirico is called the "Father" or "Grandfather" of Surrealist Art having influenced great painters like Salvador Dali. The title of "Father" or "Grandfather" of Surrealist Art was one, which, later in life, he thoroughly and completely eschewed. His work ventures into the area of the subconscious and sublime falling generally at the end of day or dusk.
This book helps put into perspective what Giorgio de Chirico was thinking during that period of time after World War I to approximately 1926. The right is bizarre and features the main character, "Hebdomeros" who(m) comes across as a bit of an honest and somewhat upright pirate who returns to his hometown as an anti-hero witnessing the return of the "prodigal son" as from the Bible. This book does lift back the curtain, somewhat, on Giorgio de Chirico's muse. Abandoned late in life and returning to more structured architecture and design rather than continue with surrealist art, Giorgio de Chirico eventually died penniless. His work is among the finest by the surrealist artist anywhere, which includes the prolific work of Salvador Dali.
While listed as one of the 1001 Books You MUST Read Before Dying, I would not go so far as to give it that distinction. In fact, I think you can pretty much skip this work and move on to bigger and better books. Life's far too short for meandering senseless garbage which this book kinda, sorta is.
This book helps put into perspective what Giorgio de Chirico was thinking during that period of time after World War I to approximately 1926. The right is bizarre and features the main character, "Hebdomeros" who(m) comes across as a bit of an honest and somewhat upright pirate who returns to his hometown as an anti-hero witnessing the return of the "prodigal son" as from the Bible. This book does lift back the curtain, somewhat, on Giorgio de Chirico's muse. Abandoned late in life and returning to more structured architecture and design rather than continue with surrealist art, Giorgio de Chirico eventually died penniless. His work is among the finest by the surrealist artist anywhere, which includes the prolific work of Salvador Dali.
While listed as one of the 1001 Books You MUST Read Before Dying, I would not go so far as to give it that distinction. In fact, I think you can pretty much skip this work and move on to bigger and better books. Life's far too short for meandering senseless garbage which this book kinda, sorta is.
August 18, 2025
Was very excited to find this printed by david zwirner books in nyc, a novel by one of my favorite painters! I was hoping for unsettling imagery and grandiose feelings, which this book definitely provides. You can definitely feel the same aesthetic sensibilities that inform De Chirico’s visual art. This is the third surrealist ‘novel’ I have read, after The Hearing Trumpet (Carrington) and Nadja (Breton), and it follows similar structural dynamics. Throws away linear time and story telling ✅ , obsession with a real power of dreams ✅ , a semi-autobiographical focus . I liked this novel for what it was, though it felt a bit abrasive and half-baked at times I guess that is kinda the point. Hard to interpret, but maybe thats a good thing, maybe that means its something unique.
November 11, 2025
The "founder" of Surrealism, Andre Breton, intensely disliked Giorgio de Chirico. But de Chirico, whose first occupation was as a painter, produced what in my mind is indisputably the best surrealist novel, Hebdomeros. The book is almost impossible to summarize or describe (at least by me). The long, sonorous sentences, compelling and mesmerizing, flow into one another from paragraph to paragraph, shifting scene and narration almost unnoticeably, often without transition, but never jarring or disturbing. De Chirico's profession as a painter influenced his prose, for sure; and there are a number of passages dealing in one way or another with pictures. The hallucinatory sense of the text too reflects his own paintings, which are deeply surreal, like Il ritorno di Ulisse, which puts Ulysses in a canoe on a little pool inside a house. Breton's novels, Mad Love and Nadja are nice surrealist texts, but they don't measure up to Hebdomeros. If you're only going to read one surrealist book, this is it.
December 5, 2025
És un escrit delirant. Si el de Chirico pintor m'interessa ben poc, què dir d'aquest text reputat, atacat per Breton? És la mostra més clara d'un text escrit per algú que no és escriptor, per la senzilla raó que no és narratiu, que és la concatenació infernal d'imatges, de quadres que s'apropen al surrealisme, un exercici oníric extremament dur de digerir, de sostenir l'atenció. Són 150 pàgines, comprenem, sense capítols ni punts a part. Així que acabo en una posició ambigua: en puc reconèixer tant la qualitat com el caràcter diabòlic, pràcticament insuportable, d'una intensitat visual insostenible durant més de cinc minuts.
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May 9, 2023More a fault of my plot-obsessed brain than anything else that I couldn't focus on this. It's certainly beautiful, but surrealist literature is not my bag. However, if you like luxuriating in scenes and don't require any connective tissue between those scenes, there's some stunning (and occasionally amusing) pieces in here.
April 27, 2023
Se trata de un verdadero festín onírico. La lectura de Hebdomeros tiene toda la atmósfera de un sueño: personajes que aparecen y desaparecen, grandes verdades que llegan y luego se diluyen, paisajes bucólicos, yuxtaposiciones extrañas. Obligado para amantes del surrealismo.
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January 10, 2026Not rating this. It isn't really a novel; it's an insider document intended to speak to a particular moment within the surrealist movement in Paris. Any contemporary reader is so far from the intended audience that it's pointless to review. Cool read though, historically. I love de Chirico.
January 23, 2021
I have read dozens and dozens of surrealist literature, from dozens and dozens of surrealist authors, and this is one of the very best!
June 20, 2025
4.5 swift movement between spiritual/ moral speculation (at times bordering narcissism) and elegant surrealist chaos. will likely require a second read.
September 28, 2025
I think I will need to reread it a million times to make sure I understood it but regardless I loved it
January 18, 2026
The most dreamlike novel in that I couldn’t tell you anything that happened in it save for a few images. I had no idea what was going on at any given moment but it was just there, and so was I.
February 4, 2017
"La vita non sarebbe forse che un'immensa menzogna? Non sarebbe forse che l'ombra di un sogno fuggente?"
Criptico, onirico, allegorico: Ebdomero si configura subito come particolarissimo esempio di letteratura metafisica, di trascrizione in parole delle immagini sovrapposte e concatenate così come partorite dalla mente di De Chirico.
Non è un testo di facile lettura, ci si perde completamente, è quasi impossibile affrontarlo conoscendo poco o nulla dell'arte di De Chirico e sicuramente si perde molto dei riferimenti occulti, delle anologie e dei rimandi alle sue stesse opere e alla sua stessa vita. Eppure, anche letto così, è un testo che restituisce qualcosa, fosse solo per la consistenza del suo non-detto, di quel senso che sfugge, non si fa afferrare, ma sai che c'è. Singolare la configurazione spaziotemporale che trasfigura il racconto, che altrimenti non sarebbe che un monologo: il protagonista narrante, Ebdomero (pseudonimo di De Chirico), invita il lettore ad accompagnarlo in un viaggio metafisico, onirico, un giro tra ambienti mondani e feste e gli ambienti improvvisamente più ampi e selvatici della natura; un viaggio non solo spaziale ma anche temporale, tra ricordi ed eventi che si ripetono. Più che sovrapposizione di immagini, ciò che compie De Chirico è un assemblaggio di spazi fisicamente impossibile, esattamente come in un sogno, per il quale è possibile navigare, al riparo in una piccola barchetta, in un mare che è allo stesso tempo contenuto in una stanza.
Se questo è quel poco che io sono riuscito a decifrare, vi lascio immaginare il resto.
Criptico, onirico, allegorico: Ebdomero si configura subito come particolarissimo esempio di letteratura metafisica, di trascrizione in parole delle immagini sovrapposte e concatenate così come partorite dalla mente di De Chirico.
Non è un testo di facile lettura, ci si perde completamente, è quasi impossibile affrontarlo conoscendo poco o nulla dell'arte di De Chirico e sicuramente si perde molto dei riferimenti occulti, delle anologie e dei rimandi alle sue stesse opere e alla sua stessa vita. Eppure, anche letto così, è un testo che restituisce qualcosa, fosse solo per la consistenza del suo non-detto, di quel senso che sfugge, non si fa afferrare, ma sai che c'è. Singolare la configurazione spaziotemporale che trasfigura il racconto, che altrimenti non sarebbe che un monologo: il protagonista narrante, Ebdomero (pseudonimo di De Chirico), invita il lettore ad accompagnarlo in un viaggio metafisico, onirico, un giro tra ambienti mondani e feste e gli ambienti improvvisamente più ampi e selvatici della natura; un viaggio non solo spaziale ma anche temporale, tra ricordi ed eventi che si ripetono. Più che sovrapposizione di immagini, ciò che compie De Chirico è un assemblaggio di spazi fisicamente impossibile, esattamente come in un sogno, per il quale è possibile navigare, al riparo in una piccola barchetta, in un mare che è allo stesso tempo contenuto in una stanza.
Se questo è quel poco che io sono riuscito a decifrare, vi lascio immaginare il resto.
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