“This customer is the only one with whom I could have been friends. But there is no place for two in his world.”
Freely inspired in the content, format and graphic part of the enchanting work Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “the little barman” succeeds in the difficult task of creating his own identity. A path certainly tortuous and full of pitfalls, which however the author manages to complete
Set in a timeless night, but in a well-defined place, with address and number along the Naviglio Grande in Milan, the story is halfway between dream and reality. The natural desert of the Saint-Exupéry pilot turns into a desert of the soul from the overcrowding of the roads, because to be / feeling alone you don’t have to go too far. In the chaos of the Milanese nightlife, the protagonist of the story runs into a very small bar (the smallest in the world as indicated by the sign at the entrance).
Thanks to a lucky coincidence he manages to enter in the bar. A small barman with golden hair welcomes him, with whom he will spend the most intense night of his existence. Inside, he finds that the advertising of the smallest bar in the world is not so far from reality. The size of the bar and the philosophy of the small bartender allow access for up to two people. A way to create that atmosphere of intimacy and friendship between barmen and patrons. After a brief chat between the two, the little barman satisfies the protagonist’s request to sit in a hidden corner, in order to observe the coming people.
It will be the coming and going of customers to mark the rhythm of the story. First a politician, then a narcissist, then the depressed drunk, then the businessman and so on. One after the other they take turns at the counter, and will leave traces of their passage in the thoughts of the little barman. People in flesh and blood that we could meet in our daily lives, and why not, that we could be seen from outside. Dressed with outfit of attitudes, impossible to change.
A book that can be read in one afternoon, but which can also be read again with pleasure the next day.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Claudio Gallone, The little barman, Giunti, Milano, 2020
