Maria Fusco

Ideal Syllabus is my response to frieze's invitation to tell them which books have influenced me most. I selected sixteen books, here are two of them:

'Elias Canetti - Auto-da-Fé (Picador, London, 1978)
Despite Canetti’s legendary misanthropy (or perhaps because of it) this book, his only work of fiction, captures the leaky totality of human experience. Civilized, flayed yet above all accurate, there is not one single redeemable character. Featuring the best line of self-analysis that ever wasn’t, a forged telegram penned by a chess-playing-hunchback-arsonist dwarf reads: "am completely crackers – your brother".'

'Jeff Nuttall - Bomb Culture (Paladin, London, 1970) 
Almost but not quite unreadable.'

Published in frieze magazine, London

My Ideal Syllabus below