Phil Doran

The Reluctant Tuscan:How I Discovered My Inner Italian

NY: Gotham Books, 2005.

Genre

• House Novel, but…• He’s an outside observer, so there’s more

texture• For Nancy this is an organic process; she’s

been spending time in Italy sculpting marble• It’s about more than the ins and outs of

buying and restoring a house• Note: Doesn’t set out to write a book

Some Techniques

• Tells his tale in the form of a story, with intro, development, rising action, closure (TV writer)

• Simultaneous story arcs• Small, consistent, colorful cast of characters

from Cambione (Tuscany, near Pisa)• Explanations of Italian life• Humor• Genuine self-reflection• Snappy chapter titles

Ethos• What makes us trust this author?• Friendly tone• Familiar situation—spouse wants something

we don’t• Gets into something mostly by accident• Language use is accurate (this is NOT a given

in travel narratives)• Makes an honest attempt to get along with

townspeople and understand them

Story Arcs

• Fixing up an old house• Doran’s writing projects• Pia and Rudolfo (landlord’s son and girlfriend)• Relationship with wife Nancy• Love/hate relationship w/ town• Becoming Italian

Surprise!• “Guess what?” (3)• “You’re pregnant.”• “I bought a house.”• “You what?” I gripped the receiver in

astonishment. “Where?”• “Here. In Italy We could be really happy here.”• “I’m happy HERE. And how could you buy a

house without me even seeing it?”• “I had to move fast. But you’ll see it now.”

What?• His wife’s been spending a few months in Italy

every year but wants to find a place for them to retire

• He’s totally unprepared for the phone call and doesn’t want to retire

• When she invites him to come see the house, he makes excuses—he’s working on a TV pilot.

• “Dai!” she said, which is how Italians say, “Come on.” She’d been working there so long, she had started to think in their language.

It’s okay…

• “Just come take a look. If you don’t like it we can always.” She ended her sentence there.

• “Always what?”• “Forget it, you’re going to love it.”

• Substantial hook• Tension between him and his wife• Reality and fantasy• Italy vs. U.S.

Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds……

• There’s not even a street up to their house (that’s why it was a ‘bargain’)

• They want to buy the land, so they apply for a loan

• Can’t get a loan and hence permission since there’s no address

• house is in terrible condition• Multiple problems with the workers they hire to

help them fix it up

And…• Neighbor Vesuvia assumes they want to build

a big, ugly, California-style house and tries to thwart them in every way; especially, she refuses to sign over a small bit of land

• The house is also a LOT more work than the Dorans expected

• Opening lines: ”I had a machete in my hand and I was thinking about using it on Henry David Thoreau. You know, that guy they made you read in school who popularized the notion that we should find solace in nature. “ (1)

• “Maybe I was doing this all wrong, but I had been hacking my way through nature all morning and all I had to show for it were blisters, sweat, and a shooting pain up my arm. I didn’t think I was having a heart attack, but if I were, it would have been more amusing than dealing with a hill covered in underbrush so think it made this little corner of Tuscany look like a Brazilian rain forest.”

Il piccolo rustico

• 300-year-old stone farmhouse• House? “Crumbling heap of rubble.”• So insignificant it doesn’t have an address.• The townspeople all call it “Il piccolo rustico”• Very small: “Just the perfect size for its

current occupants, the scorpions and the spiders.”

• They set about fixing up the house, but In the meantime, Doran reflects on his experiences

Reflections on Italian life

• Irony: “everybody has to drive at twice the speed of sound so they can get to a café and sit for three hours.” (9)

• “In Italy.. nothing is business but everything is personal.” (135)

• “I then realized that in all my years of watching American TV, I had never once seen Tom Brokaw’s hands.” (36)

Cultural Differences• “There are things I’ll always miss about the

States, but I can say with a reasonable certainty that when I return to LA after a long absence, and walk into Sav-on Drugs, the employee will not drop everything and rush over to me with hugs and double-checked kisses. Yet, this was precisely what happened when I returned from Hollywood and walked into Gilberto’s Farmacia. And I had only been gone three weeks.” (124)

Genuine Fondness for Italy• “Things happen in Italy that happen no where else

on earth. A magical friendliness is spread all over the place like pixie dust.” (111)

• Steadily works to improve his Italian• The trust is so mutual that the landlord’s son

confides in them when he wants to come out• Alliances shift when he makes a short trip “home”:

“When I was in Italy I kept thinking about LA, and now that I was in LA, I was yearning for Italy.” (68)

House Problems

• Despite all the “love,” the real problem is that they can’t get their money

• Go to the bank to find Marco Mucchi, the vice-president, but he’s not in, and they quickly find him at the nearest café

• Press him about why the Comune has blocked their funds

• His excuse is that they haven’t been making the proper improvements on the property, meaning they’re not honoring traditions

Doing business Italian style

• Nancy’s face has contorted into a “Greek mask of tragedy” and she begins sobbing. (163)

• “Honey?” • Blubbers that she doesn’t know what to do,

that her mamma’s coming to spend her last days and Nancy has no place for her. “Is that want the Comune wants? For me to put my poor, sick mamma in a hotel?”

A Good Show

• The banker goes to call a friend at the Comune• Phil turns to his wife, unsure what has made

her actually start crying• “Oh, relax,” she said, all dry eyed and chipper.

“I’m fine.”• I stared at her in disbelief.• “Italian men really relate to tears. And if a

mamma’s involved…”

Stuck in Bureaucracy

• They get very stuck trying to work on this house enough to make it livable.

• “The only way we could prove we were honoring the house was to finish it and the only way we could finish it was for the Comune to unblock our finds, which they refused to do.” (166)

Relationship Arc• Usually he is willing to go along with whatever

Nancy wanted, but this house deal has put him to the test

• They yell at each other all afternoon, then jump in the car to go to Fiesole because they have tickets to a concert to hear love songs

• He’s starting to fantasize about his secretary back home, wondering if he should just leave

• After the concert a car runs a red light and hits them head on

Love all around• The Italians stop and help them and testify it’s

the other driver’s fault• Nancy has to go to the hospital (possible

concussion), and Phil finally realizes how much he cares about her

• Agrees to sell their CA house and stay with her in their piccolo rustico

• Nancy can’t quite believe him

Realizations

• “Coming this close to death has made me see how I’m wasting my life obsessing over all the wrong things. The only important thing I’ve got is you.” (200)

• “I instantly understood why I felt such hostility toward the Italians. I had lived my whole life within a narrow band of emotions….

• “I never cried, I rarely screamed, and I didn’t even laugh that loud. Whenever I came up against the vast range of their feelings and the unfiltered intensity of their emotions, it made me squirm. All the while, I wasn’t even aware of how much I envied their ability to participate in their own lives. It took a near-death experience for me to feel even a tiny fraction of what the average Italian experiences every time he hugs his mamma, gazes at a sunset, or tickles a baby.” (198)

• “My chin began to tremble and there was a pinprick of tears behind my eyes. I was connecting with my inner Italian, that deeply buried part of each of us that crazes to savor life to its fullest.” (198)

• In the meantime, to the Dorans’ surprise, when they return home, the Cambionesi are at their house cooking for them!

• More importantly, public opinion has swung in their favor; many fault Vesuvia’s malocchio for causing the crash and feel it’s unfair

WW II Celebration• The town had been liberated by some

American soldiers; holds a yearly ceremony in their honor

• When the last survivor of the American platoon is introduced, Doran starts crying.

• Nancy: “Nice touch!” (215)• Phil: “I’m not faking.”• “Oh, my God, what was happening to me? I’d

turned Into an Italian. An Italian woman!”

Endings

• Have their remarriage ceremony• More importantly, make up with Vesuvia,

who’s agreed to sell the tract of land• While they’re honeymooning in Cinqueterre,

he gets an email from his agent.• Usually, this has meant the agent wants opera

tickets for La Scala, or to rent a villa, or a ride from the airport

• Instead, his emails have become so popular in the office that….