The very first book written and designed by Paolo Prossen, signed and numbered.

“One of his students, Giuseppe Venezian, claims that the Irishman began one of his courses by saying: The first thing I’m going to do is teach you the swear words, otherwise you will never learn them.” (Vittorio Foa, “Il cavallo e la torre: riflessioni su una vita”, Torino, Einaudi, 1991, p. 28)

This collection of Triestine epithets by James Joyce is not intended to be a dictionary of local expressions: it is the story of how an idea is born, of what it becomes and what there is in it for each of us. It is my story as a graphic designer called upon to do the Bloomsday communication of 2018, the international festival celebrating James Joyce, held on 16th June, every year, closing the circle that had began 30 years earlier. On 17th January, 1987, my family bought the house that had been lived in by Joyce, without knowing its history. Ten days later I moved to Milan to spend my next thirty years. Returning to Trieste in 2017, eager to rediscover family roots, I felt like an exile. In the end, there are many have been softly stranded in Trieste. Maximilian I of Mexico, James Joyce and Richard Francis Burton, who after discovering the Upper Nile settled here, and translated the ‘Thousand and One Nights’, Baron Revoltella, who chose Trieste but looked towards Suez. They all turned their exile into a rebirth here. Joyce ended up loving Trieste, coming as an English teacher and then became a writer, he found his ideas began to take shape and order here. He revolutionized the words of every language he spoke and wrote, laughing like a juggler who has found a new trick, like a singer who has experienced a new shade of colour. Some of these words are found in his letters, others have been changed, enriched with new meanings and taking on an English pronunciation, which perhaps only bilinguals can appreciate. Many words from Trieste have comical sounds and their roots stem from the languages of the many cultures that have lived here, and Joyce loves using them: “Pisdrùl.” “Bubez”. I am the type of graphic designer who invents logotypes, words that contain stories, signs that represent people, companies, ideas, objects and actions, created to provoke feelings. Parolazze (Swear words) written with two z’s, which is wrong, because a Triestine doesn’t take rules seriously. Words which have been born to be displayed at the Antico Caffè San Marco, the café where Joyce felt most at home.

“One of his students, Giuseppe Venezian, claims that the Irishman began one of his courses by saying: ‘Per prima cosa vi insegno le parolacce perché se no non le imparerete mai’.” (Vittorio Foa, “Il cavallo e la torre: riflessioni su una vita”, Torino, Einaudi, 1991, p. 28)

Questa raccolta di epiteti triestini parte da James Joyce e non vuole essere un dizionario di espressioni dialettali: è la storia di come nasce un’idea, di cosa diventa e cosa c’è in essa per ognuno di noi. È la mia storia di grafico che, chiamato a creare la comunicazione del Bloomsday del 2018, la festa internazionale in onore di James Joyce, celebrata ogni anno il 16 giugno, sente la chiusura di un cerchio aperto trent’anni prima.

Il 17 gennaio 1987, la mia famiglia acquista la casa che fu abitata da Joyce, senza conoscerne la storia. Dieci giorni dopo mi trasferisco a Milano per spendervi la maggior parte della mia vita. Ritorno nel 2017 a Trieste, desideroso di ritrovare orizzonti familiari e mi ritrovo pervaso da un senso di esilio. Mi consolo, e penso che, in fondo, in tanti si sono dolcemente arenati qui. Massimiliano I, Joyce, Burton (che dopo aver scoperto l’Alto Nilo traduce qui Le Mille e Una Notte), il barone Revoltella che sceglie Trieste e guarda verso Suez: personaggi che hanno fatto del loro esilio una nuova nascita.

Joyce finisce per amare Trieste, qui arriva insegnante d’inglese e rinasce scrittore, sempre qui le sue idee iniziano a prendere forma e ordine, facendo compiere una rivoluzione alle parole di ogni lingua che ha parlato e scritto. Ridendo, nel farlo, come un giocoliere che ha trovato un nuovo trucco, con la naturalezza di una cantante che sperimenta una nuova coloritura. Alcune di queste parole le si trovano nelle sue lettere, altre le si trovano cambiate, arricchite di nuovi significati e pronunce inglesizzate, che forse solo i bilingue possono apprezzare. Molte parole triestine hanno radici nelle lingue delle molte culture che hanno vissuto a Trieste, che spesso incrociandosi producono suoni comici, che Joyce riporta. Pisdrùl, bubez e, ovviamente, mona. Parole che definiscono persone, racchiudono racconti, un po’ come i logotipi che creo, che rappresentano persone, imprese, idee, oggetti e azioni.

Parolazze con due z, così senza ragione, perché un triestino non ammette regole serie.

Nascono per essere esposte all’Antico Caffè San Marco, il caffè dove Joyce era di casa.

The book is printed on high quality recycled paper and board, with 55% pure enviromentally friendly fibres, 40% recycled fibre, and 5% cotton fibres.

All illustrations are hand-made by Paolo Prossen.

Riccardo Cepach, of The Svevo & Joyce Museum of Trieste, wrote the preface.

The introduction and the captions were written by Paolo Prossen.

Most of these bad words were found in some of the letters that James Joyce wrote in Italian using the dialect of Trieste, and are transformed in what Prossen does best: logotype.

Some are also inspired to great graphic designer Prossen loves most, like Herb Lubalin.

Mona means Twat in Triestine and is the queen of the bad language and Trieste's dialect.

Strafanic is inspired by knots of the shipyards of Trieste.

The book contains 17 illustrations and comes in a bag.

The real Mona-Bag.