Wu Ming, Chinese for "anonymous", is a pseudonym for a group of Italian authors formed in 2000 from a subset of the Luther Blissett community in Bologna. Four of the group earlier wrote the novel Q (first edition 1999). Unlike the open name "Luther Blissett", "Wu Ming" stands for a defined group of writers active in literature and popular culture. The band authored several novels, some of which have been translated in many countries.
Their books are seen as part of a body of literary works (the "nebula", as it is frequently called in Italy) described as the New Italian Epic, a phrase that was proposed by Wu Ming.
Meaning of the name
In Chinese, "wu ming" can mean "anonymous" () or, with a different tone on the first syllable, "five people" (; 名 is a measure word), the pun being part of the reason the collective adopted the name. The name is meant both as a tribute to dissidents ("Wu Ming" is a common byline among Chinese citizens demanding democracy and freedom of speech) and as a rejection of the celebrity-making machine which turns the author into a star. "Wu Ming" is also a reference to the third sentence in the Daodejing: "Heaven and Earth's nameless origin" ().
The group has since grown to include more than five members. As a result, "anonymous" became the preferred interpretation of the name.
Members and public personae
The members of Wu Ming are typically known as "Wu Ming 1", "Wu Ming 2", "Wu Ming 3", "Wu Ming 4", and "Wu Ming 5". Their real names are not secret, though:
Roberto Bui (Wu Ming 1) Giovanni Cattabriga (Wu Ming 2) Luca Di Meo (Wu Ming 3 – He left the group in the spring of 2008) Federico Guglielmi (Wu Ming 4) [Not to be confused with the Italian music journalist of the same name] Riccardo Pedrini (Wu Ming 5 – He left the group in the summer of 2015)
The five authors do extensive book tours (which they describe as "almost gratefuldeadesque") and frequently appear in public. However, they refuse to be photographed or filmed by the media. Even on their official website, they do not provide any pictures of themselves. Here is how Wu Ming 1 explained the group's stance in a 2007 interview:
In Wu Ming's official biographical page (Italian version), the collective denies rumors they once beat up a press photographer:
54
54 is a complex novel about popular culture, the shattered dreams of the Italian Resistance, and the relationship between Europe and America.
Background research began in 1999, after the publication of the group's previous novel Q. Plots were outlined in the aftermath of the Kosovo war. Actual writing work ended ten days after 11 September, on the eve of the war in Afghanistan. These two wars are explicitly referred to in the novel's End Titles: "Begun in May 1999, during the Nato bombings of Belgrade. Delivered to the Italian publishers on September 21, 2001, awaiting the escalation". The events leading to (and following) 11 September are also allegorically described in the book's forenote.
54 was published in Italy in the springtime of 2002. In the following months, Wu Ming collaborated with Italian folk-rock band Yo Yo Mundi, whose ensuing concept album 54 (2004) was directly inspired from the novel.
Radio Alice / Working Slowly
Wu Ming is also credited as co-writers for the screenplay of the Italian film Lavorare con lentezza (aka Radio Alice), directed by Guido Chiesa, released in Italy in 2004.
The original title means "Working slowly" and cites a protest song, a popular leftist anthem in the 1970s: "Work slowly / And effortlessly / Work may hurt you / And send you to the hospital / Where there's no bed left / And you may even die. / Work slowly / And effortlessly / Health is priceless." (Translated by Wu Ming)
The film is set during a student uprising that paralysed Bologna for several days in March 1977. Several narrative threads are woven around Radio Alice, the station run by the "creative wing" (the so-called "Mao-Dadaists") of the radical Autonomia movement. In the morning of 11 March a brawl involving radical and catholic students escalated to a full-scale riot in the university district. The Carabinieri riot squad attacked and shot down a 25-year-old student called Francesco Lorusso. As a result, thousands of students and activists stormed the centre of the town, clashing with the police and throwing molotov cocktails. On 13 March the premises of Radio Alice were invaded and vandalised by the police, the station was shut down and every member of the staff was arrested. The film tells the story mixing real anecdotes with semi-fictional characters.