Hello, Robin,

yes, Ignazio Silone has, somehow, lost a little of the high reputation as a
novelist he
enjoyed as a literary political figure in the Sixisties during the
Neo-realist thread of production
(It should be stressed, as a cross-posted subject) that Silone too, like
Italo Svevo, Alberto Moravia et Al, used a pseudonym. ) His real surname,
Tranquillli, was rather unimpressive for a novelist:

He was actually present (in 1921) at the foundation of the Italian Communist
Party and
had of course his "tessera del partito" and worked actively for it (carrying
books on his shoulders from
a shelf to another). No , joking! he carried out very important tasks,
acting as literary editor of one important left wing magazine:
"L'avanguardia", and two communist news papers, "L'Unita'  " (the official
news-paper of the PCI),  and "Il Lavoratore" (The Worker").
As I said, in the Seventies he was regarded as one of the most eminent
voices in the (IIndWW) post-was literary debate around Neo-realism and of
course he wrote Fontamara, Pane e Vino, telling the stories of men and women
which were regarded - in the same way as in the novels by another great
novelist Peppe Fenoglio, Pasolini, Alvaro, the Great Pavese - as the martyrs
of society and its political intrigues).
Silone did enjoyed a certain degree of fame. As a young girl, around the
happy age of fifteen , I remember my father putting on my table Fontamara as
a Bible for developing a "Coscienza di Classe".

But like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Silone started being very  polemic (in the
mode of any seriously committed intellectual) against the Communist Party
and came out in his novels and also in public speeches with lots of
reprisals against some political figures of the PCI, accusing them of
clandestine activities and of not taking enough care of the proletariat
(must be said that in Italy it is a matter of decency to be aware of the
needs of our proletariat more than your personal needs (the proletariat
being in Christian terms : Il Tuo Prossimo)- see the amount of Trade Unions
CGL CISL UIL, which main slogan during the 1968 strikes was "Studenti,
Operai Uniti Nella Lotta!)

Just like Pasolini, Silone was a Christian- communist (very ideologically
so, because it would compare the actual principle of Christianity to Marxist
theories of the "Lotta di classe"). Being Italian, being a
Cripto-Christain-Fervent Communist (accused often - as all communist  end to
be- to have a Fascist seed in my strict left-wing principles!), having lots
of Communist Priests in my family and lots of Reactioanry Nuns, as well, I
can tell you that there is no other place in Europe where Communism is
experienced in this way - having to deal with the presence of the Vatican,
its growing Potere Temporale, and with a society which is only superficially
Catholic (therefore only superficially Moderate by means of our Republican
conventions) but deeply deeply extremist since it is in the character of
Italians a kind of playful and entertaining individualistic oppositional
attitude (just choose one: left wing or right wing? What amtters is entering
the game. And if one has lievd in Italy know that people (from any social
class) to overcome the embarassement do not talk about the weather but about
the last political mass-media event or scandal to enter their morning
confrontation about politicians and parties) .

Silone it is still regarded as a great novelist by the literary
establishment, but being dead and not able to produce any new product for
the editorial market or the various "Premi Letterari", I don't think he is
being read much (real horrors such as "Va dove ti porta il Cuore" ("Go where
your heart takes you"), by Susanna Tamarro now represent the new available
narrative stuff, pure void,  sentimental rubbish - Among the by now dead
authors , Moravia keeps intact the success he had during his life as well as
his high reputation among the reading audience. This for the total benefit
of his (30 years younger than him) "Vedova allegra" (happy widow), the now
pluri-millionaire Spanish woman Carmen Llera, who still lives in Rome on
Piazza Navona in Moravia's gorgeous "attico"). Therefore, if any of you is
looking for a wealthy famous widow to marry, you know under what balcony to
go and play a serenade.

(Now I have to go back to the translation of a Welsh novel I have to submit
to my publisher by the 30th august! I feel strangled, like having a rope at
my neck, because of these dead-lines. This is not a pleasant early morning
physical feeling since it does not allow em even to gulp down my "caffe
ristretto"  .......)


Amor et affectione,
Erminia







From: Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2000 8:14 PM
Subject: Query -- erminia


> Erminia --
>
> A thought came into my head via the CIA sponsored magazines.  There was a
> strange text published in the fifties here called +The God That Failed+,
> confessions of ex-communists.  The only two who (to my mind) came out of
it
> with any honour were Koestler and Ignazio Silone.  I really liked
> +Fontamara+.  Do they still speak of him in Italy?
>
> The reason it occurred is that Stephen Spender (who for me came out of it
> with least credit) edited +Encounter+ when it was payrolled by the CIA.
>
> Cheers
>
> Robin
>
>
>



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