The Life of God (as Told by Himself)

This wonderfully inventive book, published in Italian in 1986, is the memoir of an endearingly forgetful God who is uneasy in crowds but creates his way out of solitude and maintains a special relationship with earth and with humankind, "the animal of his hopes." This deity falls in love repeatedly-with the whole world, with particular objects, with particular persons-and is constantly surprised by the images people (from Moses through Einstein) make of him. Like the rest of us, this God tells stories in order to live-and depends on humankind to help him make sense of the stories and of a creation that is always out of hand. Ferrucci uses God's struggle to remember as a vehicle for an insightful exploration of history, philosophy, and show more literature. In that enterprise, he has solid precedent in "Western" scriptural traditions identified with "people of the book." Appropriately, Ferrucci's God almost gets lost in a book-Moby Dick-and warns readers that "only God and silverfish can safely get inside books." But safety is not the point: getting inside this one is a richly rewarding experience full of surprises and certainly worth the risk. show less

Depuis des siècles, l'homme propage J curieux récits sur la création. D'absurdes histoires d'incestes, de pères qui dévorent leur fils, de dieux qui luttent contre des titans. Dieu a été patient: il a laissé Moïse le dépeindre comme un être jaloux et vindicatif, il a laissé les hommes d'Eglise annoncer l'instauration d'un royaume aux couleurs de l'Apocalypse, il a laissé les chrétiens inventer une Vierge Marie, des anges et même un diable... Mais aujourd'hui, las de tant de balivernes, Dieu a décidé de se libérer de tous ces faux prophètes qui tuent en son nom et de maîtriser enfin ce qu'il a créé. Dans cette autobiographie, il rassemble ses souvenirs et évoque ses rencontres avec Jésus, Sénèque, Freud et show more Einstein - sans oublier le diable. show less

For long stretches at a time I forget that I am God. But then, memory isn't my strong suit. It comes and goes with a will of its own.

When new arrival emerges from the apes, God believes he has finally found the compagnion he needs to help him make sens of his unruly creation. Yet, as the centuries pass, God feels more and more out of place in the world he has created, by the close of his memoir, he is packing his bags.