Ito Naga
Ito Naga is the nom de plume of a prominent French astrophysicist living in Paris. He is the author of three books, all published in France by Cheyne éditeur: NGC 224 (2013); Iro mo ka mo, la couleur et le parfum (2010), now in its third printing; and Je sais (2006), now in its seventh printing. He also contributes regularly to the Italian journal Sud.
I Know (Je sais)
“No need for an expert to tell us that we don’t know much about the world, ourselves, or others. All the same, there are those—biologists, astrophysicists, writers—who don’t give up hope of knowing more. That’s the case with the author of I Know (Je sais). His method? That of the scientist, and similar to that of the poet and philosopher: an intense lying-in-wait that puts whatever comes into view under scrutiny, with a preference for the ordinary, the minuscule, the incidental. A method that confirms this happy truth: under each close observation lie a thousand new enigmas. Following in the footsteps of Joe Brainard and Georges Perec, but focusing more on the reality at hand, Ito Naga offers an inventory of the given that is at once diverting, unexpected, and, inevitably, provisional—an inventory that presents reality for what it is: a universe infinitely expanding.” —Jean-Pierre Siméon, editor, Cheyne éditeur and author of Traité des sentiments contraries