Cartas a Aldo Buzzi, 1945-1999 (Letters to Aldo Buzzi, 1945-1999)

Although different and independent in itself, this book is to a certain extent complementary to Saul Steinberg’s memoir Reflections and Shadows, also included in this same collection. The book contains the correspondence that Steinberg sent to Aldo Buzzi, friend and privileged spokesman of the artist since they were both architecture students in Milan. As Buzzi states in the prologue, Steinberg’s letters can be read as an authentic diary: a diary which covers a long period of time and is only interrupted by the death of the artist.

The book is not only interesting due to Steinberg’s remarks about daily events and personal matters, but also because it can be read as a diary of readings, a travelogue, and even as a gastronomic guide. Along with the letters, Buzzi was gifted by his friend with drawings published in The New Yorker, unpublished sketches, notes from the originals, old postcards, and all types of curious documents: from his birth certificate to his architect’s diploma, which in fascist Italy, essentially certified him as a jew.