Fontamara

Fontamara by Ignazio Salone is a create work of historic fiction. What makes it so amazing is that it presents the struggle of an entire population that probably never existed but can be seen in parallel to similar actions found throughout Mussolini’s reign. Not only can be applied to the specific era and location of its setting, but can be used as a voice against oppression of the lower class in any society.

            The cafonis found in Fontamara can be seen as a representation of all oppressed lower class. They not only lack the physical resources of the upper class, but are incapable of changing this imbalance due to their inability to gain an education. This is where the heart of oppression lies, not in control of materials or wealth but in control of the spirits of the oppressed. The cafonis are constantly incapable of getting fair wages because they do not have the mental wit that would be required to do so. Institutionally they are taken advantage of as well, mainly due to their lack of knowing the dominant languages in their country.

Zeno's Conscience

Zeno’s Conscience by Italo Svevo is quite the genius piece of literature. It examines the nature of self-reflection and psychoanalysis by guising itself as the journals of the titular character, Zeno, going through psychoanalysis in an attempt to quit smoking. By pretending to be a journal, we are given a somewhat limited and un-trustworthy narrator who lies quite a bit to his own journal. This is the narrative equivalent of one lying to oneself. This lies are what makes this novel stand out as they examine the nature of how we tend to view ourselves.

            The lies are not necessarily lies, but rather contradictions. But contradictions require at least one of the statements to be false in order for it to be logically sound. Therefore every contradiction implies a lie. Zeno’s recollections are filled to the brim with contradictions so it cannot be a mistake by the author. Svevo’s intentional insertion of the lies means that they have some value to them. Each of the lies is typically done out of shame on the part of Zeno. He regularly lies almost in an attempt to overcome his regret. This encompasses the important concept found within in Freudian psychoanalysis called psychological repression. This is when and individual attempts to un-consciously hide and forget painful memories, and Zeno must be doing this un-consciously as he has no real reason to lie to a journal. The entire book is critical of psychoanalysis but isn’t necessarily in disagreement with it. Zeno clearly voices his distaste for it early on the book when he reads about it calling it boring yet simple (Svevo, 5). Though Zeno’s skepticism isn’t necessarily shared by Svevo and could in fact be Svevo critiquing the distrust of psychoanalysis. 

If On a Winter's NIghts a Traveler

The novel If on a Winter’s Nights a Traveler is quite unique in the sense that it takes how we as readers view literature. There is little cohesive story but that’s where the brilliance of the book is shown. The most important part of this story is the form of the narrative. The narrator isn’t really explained but what Calvino does is talk to the reader using the word you quite a lot. In the first chapter, the narration tells the reader to get comfortable and describes how the reader should read the book. It almost makes the narrative seem like a living breathing person. I was tempted to describe the narration as a he or she but that wouldn’t be factual. The narration attempts to personify itself and almost leads us to believe it is a person or that it is possibly Calvino himself. It cannot be Calvino however because of the first sentence of the book. “You are about to read Italo Calvino’s new novel” (Calvino,3). This implies that this narrator isn’t Calvino otherwise he would be speaking in third person about himself, which would be grammatically incorrect.

This unusual narration is a fresh take on how we read. In experimenting with a second person narrative Calvino provides insight not only on the effect of doing so, but also forces us to examine how we read books with more traditional narration.

Pereira Declares

Pereira Declares deals with the concept of mentoring and teaching by using a non-traditional form of it. In the novel Pereira seems to be mentor the much younger Rossi by financing him and giving him a chance to become a part of the literary community. Under close examination however, Rossi is seemingly educating Pereira more so than the reverse. Rossi could then be seen as the mentor of Pereira which is quite unusual. Typically the mentor is the older one of the two, the one with the more experience and knowledge but in this case that role belongs to the younger. It could be easier to believe that neither is truly a mentor in the usual understanding of the word. Rather the two mentor each other. In most cases within the teacher student relationship, both gain insight from the others comments. This is clearly what is occurring throughout the novel. Pereira funds the youngster and allows him a chance to write, while Rossi galvanizes Pereira’s political belief and imparts an understanding of the connection between literature and politics. 

Invisible Cities

Invisible Cities is a very difficult read. It is a fictional discussion between Marco Polo and Kublai Kahn on the cities that comprise his empire. The descriptions are almost read like poems, with each city being a part of a larger group of cities. The title of the book is explained while they are engaged in dialogue, Kublai Kahn states “Your cities do not exist. Perhaps they have never existed. It is sure they will never exist again. Why do you amuse yourself with consolatory fables” (Calvino, 59). The whole concept of the book is just Marco Polo describing idealized cities, they are invisible because they do not exist. That doesn’t mean they aren’t important rather it implies that they are something we cannot perceive with our senses, that they have an intrinsic quality deeper than that.

But it draws questions of how he is coming up with these fantastic images of these cities. Kublai asks for him to describe the city of Venice, Marco Polo hometown. He replies “Every time I describe a city, I am saying smoothing about Venice”(Calvino, 86). This means that Marco Polo descriptions are merely based on his unique perspective rather than the accounts of others. The importance of perspective is an idea that Calvino is known to display in his novels so it makes quite a bit of sense he does it here.

The play Six Characters in Search of an Author uses deception and limiting the narrative to question the idea of reality. The novel plays between two contingents, the actors and the characters. The former questions the sanity and validity of the latter constantly throughout the play. The third actor actually states the “They are either insane or charlatans”(Pirandello, 30). This implies a strong lack of faith to their story which hinges on the idea that they are characters inside a novel. This disconnect between the literal characters of the story (which encompasses the actors as well) as to what is really occurring. With the characters unable to understand their reality, the reader is left incapable of having a full understanding of what is truly happening. The end also highlights the deception Pirandello uses throughout the novel. By intentionally leaving the end vague and confusing, the audience cannot feel the comforting closure that comes with the finishing of a novel, something we clearly depend on to make sense of any story. This clearly had an effect on the performance of the play in its first run in theatres. The play wasn’t a success mainly because of its confusing nature. 

Pereira Declares

     In the United States we are fortunate to have a government that is based on democracy and allows for personal liberties and freedom.  The first amendment in the U. S. Constitution provides for the freedom of speech, allowing citizens to express their beliefs and ideas with government restrictions.  The story, Pereira Declares, by Antonio Tabucchi, addresses the freedom of expression or lack thereof as well as its consequences.  This book takes place in Portugal, at a time, when the country is under the control of an authoritarian regime.   Their main objective is to keep people from questioning their motives and limiting the literature available to its people.   The main character, a man named Pereira, writes for a newspaper called the Libosa.  As a writer, under such restrictions he is limited to what he can write.

“Then do something about it. Such as what?, asked Pereira. Well, said Senhora Delgado, you’re intellectual, tell people what’s going on in Europe, tell them your honest opinion, just get on and do something” (Tabucchi 45).

     In this particular quote Senhora Delgado is trying to convince Pereira to share his opinions in his writing.  He responds to her by saying, “I’ll do my best Senhora Delgado, but it isn’t easy to do one’s best in a country like this for a person like me” (45).  Pereira is afraid of the consequences that come with sharing his views in the paper.    This notion of limiting expression has been apparent throughout history.  A notorious example of this occurred in Germany during World War II when the Nazis burned a plethora of books in an attempt to control others.  The Nazis were aware of the power of written word and went to drastic measures to eliminate it.  Pereira understands that if he were to write his own opinions, he would become an enemy of the government.  No matter how much he wants to tell the truth, he is unable to because he would run the risk of putting himself in harm’s way.  Pereira Declares has further opened my eyes to the importance of writing and the significance of my first amendment right.