Has this always been the case?

I would like to quote here something important that was said by that extraordinary and inimitable man who was Erich Linder: «Books need to be sold like toothpaste». This does not mean diminishing their identity, quite the opposite. It means enhancing them. Linder had a sort of test which he performed on anyone who wanted to come to work with him. If in the first three sentences with him, the individual in question mentioned the word "culture" he or she was immediately discounted. It wasn't right. Linder was the first to understand the importance of opening up a broader book market that the existing market in Italy while always ensuring that a literature book continued to be a literature book and an escapist book an escapist book.

Virginia Visani

17 September 1988 - Corriere della Sera

Our lady of the best-sellers

From the opposite wall, the old Linder frowns with that air of Central European sphinx. Alongside him, a young Elsa Morante smiles tentatively, sat at the foot of a staircase, wearing a foulard and carrying a parasol (at the edge of the photograph she dedicates it «to Linder with friendship, Elsa»). Moving along we find Sciascia, stern and silent, and Quarantotti Gambini walking on Riva degli Schiavoni, with the Palazzo Ducale in the background. Hanging over all of them is the disturbing symbol of a gigantic bulldog crouched in a metaphysical Piazza del Duomo. The signature in the bottom right hand corner, not hard to guess, is that of Dino Buzzati.

We are in the control room of Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale, on the third floor of the Palazzo Borromeo on Via Manzoni, in the centre of Milan. For the last two days the armchair that belonged to Erich Linder, for thirty years the most powerful and feared literary agent in Italy, has been occupied by a charming brunette in a suit. She is Donatella Barbieri, "Cocca" to her friends, aged just over 40 and until the day before yesterday the director [ ... ] of Sperling & Kupfer-Frassinelli, the publishing house of her brother Tiziano. Dennis Linder, who had taken over the reins of the agency following the death of his father in March 1983, sold her his majority shareholding (66 per cent), after brief negotiations conducted in great secrecy in the heat of August. He had been suffering with health problems and did not feel able to carry on although he will retain a consultancy role.

In the Milan publishing world, news of the handover prompted whispers and shouts [ … ], because Ali was a tempting delicacy for many. With thousands of authors on its books, including numerous Nobel prize winners [ ... ] and ten thousand titles published every year (two hundred per week), the Palazzo Borromeo office is the most important and busiest literary crossroads in Italy.

«Well done, Cocca - is the warm comment of Mrs Inge Feltrinelli - I am delighted that she has done it for us. I have always said that the best literary agents are women [ ... ]».

Shy and perhaps with a little trepidation about the task ahead, Donatella Barbieri defends herself. «It is not a question of gender but of professionalism. Dennis chose me because I have twenty years' experience in the publishing field and an extensive knowledge of commercial mechanisms. These are the skills that I am bringing to the agency. As for the rest, everything here remains as it was before. I will try to make the work more flexible, more responsive, in the interest of our clients. But the Linder tradition remains untouched».

An agent is an intermediary between author and publisher. A book needs to be sold under the best conditions and with the most appropriate publisher [ ... ] Could the fact that your name is Barbieri and that until yesterday you were working for Sperling & Kupfer prompt suspicion about your impartiality?

«I wouldn't even dream of it. It would be absurd to invest a substantial sum only to have a few more titles or authors - Donatella Barbieri interjects - it is not our job but that of publishers to choose one book over another. And moreover, if I showed favouritism, I would be going against the interests of the agency which would lose credibility and clients».