History: A Novel Paperback – October 1, 2000

The word "history" contains another word within it: "story." In Italian, the two words are the same, "La Storia." This is the title of Elsa Morante's huge novel of 1974, which contrasts the history of the Second World War and its aftermath with the story of a poor family in Rome, so marginal as to have no chance of appearing in any history books at all. Her initial protagonist is Ida Mancuso, a widowed schoolteacher who is bombed out of her apartment and has to share a single room in the suburbs with several other displaced families. The attention soon shifts, however, to her two sons, Nino and Useppe. Useppe (the child's own mispronunciation of his given name) is the offspring of Ida's rape by a drunken German soldier, born premature and undersized, but she loves him with a passion. The idea of viewing the events of the Fascist era though the eyes of an unusually small child may owe something to the 1959 novel by Günter Grass,  THE TIN DRUM , but Useppe is altogether sweeter, more innocent, and endowed with a boundless capacity for love and wonder. Time spent in his company is a delight, and his sweetness -- especially when accompanied by his dog Bella -- is the main thing that makes some of the darker passages of the book bearable. With her sympathy for ordinary people trapped by great events, Morante shares the deep humanity shown by Steinbeck in  THE GRAPES OF WRATH , though she is softer and less intense.If I were to compare HISTORY to Italian movies, I would think of Roberto Rossellini's  ROME, OPEN CITY  (1945) and Vittorio de Sica's  BICYCLE THIEVES  (1948) for their gritty but human portrayal of Rome under German occupation and immediately after the war. But I would also add Roberto Benigni's  LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL  (1997), whose whimsical charm won through even against the background of the Holocaust. Morante combines realism with a very similar charm, and the historical summaries with which she begins each part are selected (even slanted) to emphasize the same forces: antisemitism and communism. Although Ida's father was Jewish, she was baptized a Christian and thus does not count as Jewish under the Italian race laws, though she is at risk when the Germans take over an impose their own classifications. In the social chaos of the second half of the book, all political solutions seem equally ineffective, whether it be a faltering fascism, doctrinaire communism, or an idealized anarchist equality. Throughout his teens, Nino's desire to be in the thick of things makes him first a Young Fascist, then a leader of the communist resistance, and then an entrepreneur in the black market. Useppe watches all these changes with wonder and unfailing hero-worship.The first half of this 734-page book is a marvel, five stars plus. But then it becomes difficult. Up to the Allied liberation of Rome, events in Italy were still being played out on the world stage, and Morante makes the irony of perspective between her hidden story and the march of history work perfectly. But the ending of the War marked the start of a political instability in Italy that lasted for decades, and is well-nigh incomprehensible to outsiders, who therefore lack the background against which to follow the personal story. Nevertheless, I suspect that it was this aftermath rather than its wartime prelude that was the primary target for Morante's writing, as she struggled to explore the confusion of the postwar years in human terms. Unfortunately, this is reflected in the novel by the break-up of old friendships, the sudden introduction of minor characters, long discursions on political topics, and an emphasis on crime, disorder, drug-addiction, illness, and death. It can be challenging to read, posing questions with no satisfactory answers, symbolized by Useppe's repeated and mispronounced "why": "Wy wy wy wy? [...] This little question had a stubborn and heartrending sound. [...] It recalled the voices of abandoned kittens, of donkeys blindfolded at the mill, of lambs loaded on a wagon for the Easter festivities. It was never known if all these anonymous and unanswered wys reached some destination, perhaps an invulnerable ear beyond all earthly places."

Elsa Morante, the author, lived though WWII in Italy. She has a real understanding of what that was like and she shares this with her readers in quite a profound way. I was moved and saddened. But I just kept reading, and by the end of the book I had developed a deep understanding of the horror of war as it affected the ordinary people.Ida, a widowed schoolteacher in her thirties, is raped by a young German soldier and as a result gives birth to her second son, Useppe. This is a secret at first but when her 15-year old older son, Nino, discovers this he is delighted with his little brother. Later, Ida's home is destroyed by bombs and she flees to the countryside with her baby and Nino goes off on his own and later appears sporadically. Ida does the best she can to feed and shelter her young son but lives with a special kind of fear because she is one-fourth Jewish and Jews are being deported. Life is difficult; she shares a single room with a dozen other people, food is almost nonexistent and feeding her young son is her only priority. It was hard for me to realize that people actually lived like this.Throughout the book Nino comes and goes, always adoring his younger brother and disrespecting his mother. He is a passionate young man with a strong appetite for adventure and there is always an atmosphere of danger around his activities. The writer details all of this starkly, and I was drawn into the story and the despair. Sometime she inserts a page or two of basic historical facts about what was going on in the world which brings the whole story into context.The book spans a few years after the war with returning veterans telling horror stories, little Useppe being ill, and the insane ravings of a companion of Nino who has been mentally damaged by the war. She also introduces a new character, a dog named Bella who becomes Useppe's companion and who she endows with a human's ability to think and describe what is going on around her.I read every word of this long 738-page book. The ending was sad. I expected that. I was deeply moved. It was a good book.

This book starts off slowly and then inexorably extends its grip on you. You will feel the reality of life for ordinary people in WWII, but it also goes beyond. Morante's tender portrayals of children and animals not only reveal her acute observation, but a deeper humanity. Useppe surely stands out as a feat of characterization, almost an archetype. Her illustrations of the minor things of daily life are dealt with such sympathy yet tinted with an element of dry humour underlying the whole. The author evokes well the inner process of grief, the paths of the mind after loss.The book embraces the life of the common person, the woman in the street, the uneducated, the underprivileged. It celebrates the wonder to be found in everyday moments, yet underlying all, a doom-laden strength, the motif of death. It is painstakingly researched, based on actual events, lending an engaging authenticity... as the author is to a large extent, describing herself, and the real people of Rome. I found the translation very natural. Its a fairly easy read and I got through most of it before I even noticed what a thick volume it is.Structurally it is flawed, however. The final 80 pages or so drag and could have been cut without any harm to the whole. It is as though the author tacked on a long, unnecessary postscript in order to elaborate on her underlying philosophical themes.

A great read

questo libro è veramente .. molto "usato", forse andrebbe specificato meglio

This story tells of Italy 1940 to 1948 during the war. Ida is a half Jewish widow with a son 14 year old Nino. She lives near Rome and ends up being raped by a drunken German soldier and gets pregnant with Useppe. How she survives and her sons develop, with side characters including a couple of slightly anthropomorphised dogs is the tale. Each chapter begins with the background of the events of the war that year. I gather that it's a worthy read being part of extensive scholarly analysis (Jewishness and nationality; degeneration of youth, family history etc)This is quoted as being "One of the few novels...renders the full horror of Hitler's war" - I couldn't disagree more. This really is almost anything but; it's more a tight-knit long family saga which happens during the general hardships of war. It's told probably realistically and truthfully, but in an understated, passionless third person style (though quite irritatingly, seemingly at random but infrequently `I' tells us stuff). The great turmoil of war is largely in the background - Jews are deported but it's their absence (empty ghetto etc) more than the brutality of their fate. Bombings displace people, maim, create destitution and loss but Morante doesn't paint the picture well; the main character Ida keeps her teaching job, is supported in new housing and manages to feed her kid (just perhaps). The war rages on Italian soil but are the sectarian violence, partisan bloodthirstiness, reprisals on all sides, sinister fascists, street murders, rape present? - not really, even Ida being raped is somewhat sedate. Even the effects of the liberation of southern Italy and Rome are brushed over, missing completely the opportunity to have at least one fighting scene witnessed by Useppe.I'm probably being a bit unfair to the narrative (and forgotten key bits of the book) but it's not my fault as the story after about half way actually starts to `drag on' quite a lot.In 734 pages I disappointingly failed to do my usual and find even one interesting quote for you.I do have to give the book the benefit of the doubt of 3 stars as being good literature and a good portrayal of female thankless stoicism (I like dogs and Morante did write them pretty well) but I was expecting perhaps another `Life and Fate' but got another Doctor Zhivago. So I guess, then, if you want another Dr Z this book's for you!