In 16 Books, het boekje dat verscheen ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van Henk Pröpper als directeur van het Nederlandse Letterenfonds, verkoos de Italiaanse uitgeefster Emilia Lodigiani In het huis van de dichter van Jan Brokken tot het Nederlandse boek dat de meeste indruk op haar heeft gemaakt. Haar uitgeverij Iperborea in Milaanpubliceert literatuur uit de noordelijke landen. In het huis van de dichter, door Claudia Di Palermo vertaald onder de titel Nella casa del pianista, is een van de veertig Nederlandse boeken die Iperborea de afgelopen twintig jaar uitgaf. Emilia Lodigiani: “All the themes of the book are exactly what we always look for: The story of a person exposed to intolerance and persecution, of an exile who foreshadows in a way so many more to come, of an artist who can never come to terms with the conflict between his need of perfection and discipline and his thirst for life and experience, a homeless soul in search of happiness and roots, with all the longings and unrest of our modern human condition. And the historical recreation of a period when Amsterdam was the icon of the spirit of time, the very experimental laboratory of freedom, that in a way Holland has always been, and partly still is for us in our collective imagination. And a book on music, music known and told from the inside, by a connoisseur of its world, places and protagonists, and music recreated through the rhythm of style and narration. And the story of a marvelous friendship which has survived for so many years beyond death and that has been the first reason and stimulus for writing. An emblematic book for Iperborea: not only because we like it, but it has also involved us in one of the small miracles writing can produce in its rescuing power from oblivion. In Italy the almost forgotten name of Youri Egorov is now remembered again: his recordings are reedited, he is mentioned in articles, radio broadcasts, in letters from friends and people who have met him when he was alive and played in our country.”
