Set during World War Two, Tristano Dies tells the previously undocumented story of soldiers in the Italian Resistance. In typical Tabucchi style, the quotidian details of the story are ultimately transgressed by philosophical considerations about what it is to tell a story. Is the past a stable entity, or does narrative weaving ultimately create what it intends to depict? Is the concept of 'history' a viable one? Though he may never answer these questions, those who read Tabucchi are invariably enriched by him having asked them.