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The graphic novel "Cinquemila Chilometri Al Secondo" has just been released, it's his third graphic novel; the previous one, "La Signorina Else", was based on a story by Arthur Schnitzler.
He illustrates for Rolling Stone, Il Manifesto, and has done illustrations for Norwegian magazines.
He won the award for best comic of 2007 in Oslo.
He lives in Paris but is Italian. His comics float in rich colors.
You are reading an introduction by an unimaginative reviewer, and he is Manuele Fior; this is a brief interview.
-Introduce yourself, how old are you and what are you currently working on?
My name is Manuele Fior, I am thirty-five years old and I draw comic books.
-Tell us about "Cinquemila Chilometri Al Secondo" and how this comic was born.
"Cinquemila chilometri al secondo" is a comic book I worked on for about three years, retracing the places where I happened to live through fictional characters. The story spans twenty years, during which we see Piero, Lucia, and Nicola age, search for each other, love each other, and hurt each other. It is a book driven by love for a woman and the incapacity to accept her departure.
-How did the idea to transform "La Signorina Else" into a comic come about? Why Arthur Schnitzler in particular? Do you find analogies between the decadent Vienna of the early century and today?
The French publisher Delcourt asked me for a comic adaptation of a novel of my choice. I immediately thought of this little book by Schnitzler because it seemed perfect to me. I wanted to experiment with the adaptability of the interior monologue into comics and also because the theme of the novel is, so to speak, close to my heart. More than an analogy between the society of the early century and our own, I feel an analogy between Else and myself, in the same difficulty integrating fully into society, paying the price of necessary compromises. That constant desire to remain on the edge, with one foot in the purity of one's inner world and the other in the civil world.
-On which other author would you do the same work?
I would gladly adapt more novellas by Schnitzler.
-You are an architect, what do you think of sustainable architecture? In Italy, are we doing enough compared to the rest of Europe?
According to you, what works represent a step forward?
I'm not really up-to-date on the issue, I have to admit; in Italy, it seems to me that we are doing nothing, neither in sustainable architecture nor in architecture in general. We are behind everyone else, clearly, as in all other disciplines.
I don't know if they represent a step forward, but some works by Renzo Piano, among which the highly contested Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, condense, in my opinion, some of the crucial issues of the city, not only the ecological impact but also building in a historical fabric that has been written and rewritten by epochs and their respective ideologies.
-Who are your favorite authors? Last book read?
I really love Alberto Moravia. The last book I read was a comic, Château de sable by F. Peeters.
-Comic book artists you'd recommend?
Everyone has their own tastes, and by now there are comics for all tastes. Just go to a bookstore and pick them out.
-Plans for the future?
I've started a new anticipation comic, it's about Italy in 2050. I would like to be able to imagine a brighter future than what our country now seems to suggest. Let's see if I can do it.
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