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''54'' is a novel by Wu Ming first published in Italian in 2002. Wu Ming is a collective of five authors founded in 2000. The members were formerly associated with the Luther Blissett Project, and four of them wrote the international best-selling novel ''Q''. The novel is set in Italy, former Yugoslavia, Britain and the US during the year 1954. It has been translated into several languages. All of the editions keep the original copyright statement, which allows for non-commercial reproduction of the book. == Historical context and plots == The novel presents a vast multitude of characters and sub-plots. It's 1954, Joseph Stalin is dead, Yugoslavia is the only socialist country to have broken relationships with the Soviet Union, and the Free Territory of Trieste is contended between Italy and her bordering neighbor country. In Italy, dissatisfaction is widespread among former members of the Resistance, as the Christian Democrat government has allowed many top figures of the Fascist regime to re-enter public and institutional life, and several former partisans are being persecuted as their guerrilla activities are taken out of their context and regarded as criminal actions. In Naples, mob boss Lucky Luciano is supervising the creation of the global heroin trade. In Italian Communist Party-controlled Bologna, a group of grumpy communists hang out at the Bar Aurora. The place is run by the young Capponi Brothers, whose father fought in Yugoslavia and decided to stay there after the war. In the US, Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunt has reached its peak. In Hollywood, Cary Grant is utterly bored with his new life after retiring from his career as a movie star. Both Alfred Hitchcock and MI6 are trying to convince him to return to acting. While Hitchcock's proposal is precise and sharply focused — the master of suspense is preparing the filming of ''To Catch a Thief'' — MI6's is vague and implausible: Grant is supposed to travel to Yugoslavia and meet up with President Josip Broz Tito, to discuss the Marshall's willingness to co-operate with the western movie industry. MI6 reckon that a biopic on Tito's leading role in the Balkan Resistance would be a good weapon of psychological warfare on the USSR. A key role in the parallel unfolding of these sub-plots is played by an American television set, a McGuffin Electric DeLuxe which is stolen from an Allied military base in Southern Italy, sold on the black market and then passed from one buyer to the next as no-one is able to make it work. “McGuffin” is a real, sentient character, the authors address him as a “he” and follow “his” stream of consciousness throughout the book, as he reasons about the rough way the Italians are treating him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「54 (novel)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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