THEContessa Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna has returned, and with her the looming Revenue Agency and the nightmare of no longer being able to afford her beloved Baratti & Milano shortbread for breakfast. And then there are her son Emanuele, as beautiful and decorative as a designer lamp, and the beloved Anna, the Countess’s trusted person who was about to become her daughter-in-law. It is she who suggests to the Savoy noblewoman to go on a cruise as a paid VIP.
The Countess is worried about all those sweaty hands to shakethose unknown cheeks to kiss and hugs to strangers to be forcibly given, but the risk of a financial collapse worries her much more, so she decides to leave for this new adventure. With The Countess goes on a cruise (Solferino), Francesco Muzzopappa expresses a surprising sense of humor thanks to one of its surreal characters, a brazenly snobbish and aristocratic woman, entangled in adventures, shipwrecks and hilarious meteorological downturns.
His latest book sees the character of the Countess at work, already the protagonist in Family business. What is the most significant evolution the character has made?
It may be the historical moment, but I believe that the Countess has hardened further, allowing a further load of sarcasm to emerge. Not that it was missing in the first book, but here a lot is added.
Francesco Muzzopappa is a former copywriter and author of humorous novels. With Solferino he also published “Santa Maria” (2024)
In this new adventure, the Countess finds herself lost on a desert island with other castaways: how much did she want to test her with this type of extreme situation?
It is said that our true character emerges in the most difficult moments. In the case of the Countess, the extreme situation ends up exasperating her distinctive traits and accelerating the devil-may-care pace of the comedy. His rigid aplomb, obviously, is not affected, but his manner becomes brisk. In order to save herself, the good name of the dynasty and the family honor, she is ready for anything. But with elegance.
The relationship with her son Emanuele is particularly interesting: she considers him decorative but not very brilliant, yet it is he who plays a key role in saving her from the shipwreck.
A clear victim-executioner relationship binds them, where Emanuele plays the most inglorious role. He is an eternal big child, a Peter Pan who has never met his adult side. And the countess does nothing but remind him, using rather brutal ways. Emanuele is the embodiment of those second family generations who end up, sometimes without realizing it, destroying the prosperity and good name of the first.
Is there a scene in the novel in which, rereading it, you thought: it works exactly as I wanted” or “I would have liked to change it”?
I rewrite every single sentence many times. Coming from the advertising world, I’m used to using words as spare parts. Let’s also say that I don’t let myself shine in the public square if there is something that doesn’t work in the final editing work: I start working again with my head down until the novel turns out as it should, until I for one feel satisfied. Making people laugh is complicated, and mastering the comic moments is a delight but above all a curse.
The Countess Goes on a Cruise by Francesco Muzzopappa, Solferino288 pages, €18.50
Already in the previous novel the Countess was in economic crisis and ate drops and ice cream at the discount store. How do humor and serious themes fit together?
Angela Carter said that a comedy is nothing more than a tragedy that happens to someone else. Nothing could be more true: if you take a humorous novel and strip it of its jokes, more or less it remains, in effect, a tragedy. We start from that and turn it upside down until it becomes a sort of reversed cry, inserting into it all the human capacity to be able to escape from the drama also through the desire not to give up, not to give in, to continue putting our foot down until destiny begins to smile.
In his books he mixes irony and everyday life, to bring out the grotesque or the absurd. What is your personal recipe for humor?
In the grotesque there is a lot of misery, and in misery there is a lot of humanity. I like to observe everyday life and transform it into scenes that can create empathy. And laugh at our limitations. At a time when the sense of the ridiculous has been lost, it seems to me to be an excellent mental as well as moral exercise. On the other hand, Flaiano also said it: the comedian is always a moralist.
In an interview he said that he continually takes notes on the people he meets on trains, in line at the supermarket, because “the world is immersed in comedy”. Is there a recent episode, a joke, a dialogue you overheard, that inspired you in this novel?
Not in this one, particularly, but I am increasingly intrigued by the continuous scam attempts coming from call centers that harass us at every hour and without any consent. These are full-blown lies that no one is trying to definitively block. Lately they announced to me that my landline (which I don’t have) will be increased, that the CV I sent (never sent) was received positively and that my investment fund (I don’t invest) needs to be corrected by pressing a few buttons. If there were no reason to be indignant, one would quote Totò and ask “Who knows where these stupid people want to go”. Even if it was understood a little.
Which authors, Italian or foreign, inspired your ironic tone? And which comedies or cinematographic works do you feel are closest to your style?
For the Countess goes on a cruise, certainly the many texts by Wodehouse, Aunt Mame by Patrick Dennis, the Sovereign Reader by Alan Bennett, obviously the snobbish young lady by Franca Valeri and all things by Julian Fellowes and Nancy Mitford. In general, beyond this text of mine which tenaciously supports a type of almost theatrical construction, I really love British irony, Jewish-style humor and that sarcastic prose that made the memoirs of that great American writer David Sedaris so irresistible. All humorists in a state of grace.
Finally, if the Countess could tell you something, what do you think she would say? And what would you answer?
She would hurl at me one of those obscene, atrocious invectives that she usually puts into the mouth of her deceased husband, dear Amedeo. At that point I would cash in with a lot of class. Better not get involved!