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oard of Regents of the University of OklahomaUniversity of Oklahoma

Retablo by Vincenzo ConsoloReview by: Rosetta di PaceWorld Literature Today, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Winter, 1989), pp. 80-81Published by: Board of Regents of the University of OklahomaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40145087.

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ITALIANFictionVincenzoConsole Retablo.Palermo. Sellerio. 1987. 164pages, ill. L.8,000.

Once again, by virtue of his talent and originality,VincenzoConsolo has created with Retablo a shortnovel, a recit, that is limitless n whatpoetic truthit canreveal and suggest. It is writers of Consolo's taturewhokeeponprovingwhatprodigiousmetamorphoseshe novelas a genre is still capableof achieving.Vaguelyrococo,vaguelyhistorical,yet sharplyoutlinedand precisely drawn, the novel is built like a triptychbalanced n the centerby the traveldiary throughwesternancientSicily)of the main character,FabrizioClerici, ahistorical figure whose eighteenth-centurypainting Lagrandecrocifissione alermitana as actuallybeen chosen

by Consoloas the cover llustration.Writtenas a long etterdedicated to a Milanese noblewomanof Spanish andSicilianparentage,Donna Teresa Blasco(soonto becomeengaged o the "newtoncino" esareBeccaria),he diary srepletewithpicaresque cenesteemingwith exoticcharac-ters andevents,all seen in miniature, s it were,distancedthroughClerici'sgently detached,mildlyparodicstance.As alwaysin Consolo, a unique characteristic f thenovel'sstyle is the language tself, a seemingly nexhaust-ible resource orthe writer,who usesit withgreatease andwit to create or re-createspeechanddialect,proseformsandlyricutterances.Clerici's ucidarticulations couchedbetweentwo confessions:hat of the youngmonkIsidoro,vehement n its innocenceof the victimof love;and thatofRosaliatheobjectof Isidoro'sove),vehement n its mock-sublimefalsehood.Just as Lunaria(1985)could be read as a theatrical-metaphysicalairy ale, so can Retablobe understood artlyas allegory.Clerici'sadversarial ositiontowardhis own

80 WORLD LITERATURE TODAYslippersand,witha glassofbrandyat his side (perhapshesame mixtureof "cazallae anis"that broughtwelcomerelease to the aged grandmotherf the title poem ),pourshis tales nto the existingmoldrather hanfacethe "queda-de-brago e o cara-a-carae umaforja" ecommendedby"Oferrageiro e Carmona." he resultis poetryforplea-sure:fluent,never dull, oftenamusing a masterat play.John M. ParkerUniversityof Aveiro, Portugal

TranslationsSophiade Mello Breyner.Marine Rose: Selected Poems.RuthFainlight, r. &ed. KennethKrabbenhoft,fterword.ReddingRidge,Ct. Black Swan. 1988.viii + 104 pages.$20.

The seventy poems of Marine Rose are followedbythree statementsunder the heading"TheArtof Poet-ry," one of which contains this sentence: "[Poetry]de-mands hat I extracta seamless exture rommy life, apartfromwhatshatters,exhausts,pollutesand adulterates." ofulfill her office, Sophia de Mello Breyner (Andresen)pledges:"To save fromdeathdecayand ruin/ The actualmomentofvisionandsurprise Andkeepin the real world/ The real gestureof a handtouching he table"("InthePoem").Ifthe poet'srouteBreynerwould akebelongs, preciselyspeaking, o no one else, she neverthelessrehearsesherpilgrim's nvocations, o Homer, to Dante, to FernandoPessoa'sheteronymicRicardoReis,and to Pessoahimself,callinghim in "Cyclades"his "judicious isionary f cafesfacingthe Tagus"and reenacting he devices of the de-voted: "Where till in the marble-toppedables We seekthe coldtraceofyourhands - Their mperceptible inger-

ing."Pessoa s, of course, the toweringgrayeminenceoftwentieth-century ortuguese etters (see e.g. WLT53:1,pp. 5-9). Breynerdoes not resist that fact, for she takeswhathis workoffersher, even to the extent ofrewritingt,as she seems to do in "TheDead Soldier," repriseof "OMeninoda SuaMae,"or in "Navigations,"sequence hatdraws on Pessoa'sgreatsea poems.Still, not all the riches in Breyner'spoetryhave theirrationalen their ratio o thingsPessoan.Manyof her finestpoems are fully independentof her predecessor'snflu-ence. Take, for example,"InCrete,"a poem in whicha"somberMinotaur"s seen to "navigate"n muchthe samewaythepoetwindsa sinewyway throughheperilsofmyth"withoutever losing the flaxenthread of the word."Orconsider"The SmallSquare,"a poem that offers us thegrievingpoetwho wouldeschewmythfor"thehumbleandnostalgichumanity f small hops Whereshopkeepersoldand unfoldribbonsand cloth"but who cannot"unweaveThe tissue that death was bindingaroundyou."Breyner's poems are held together though each ofthem retainsas well its discreteplace by an invisible iberof overall intention. The poet desires not to allow thereturn of the ephemeraof this world to the nonbeingofdeath but to turn it by means of poetry into somethingeternal. What alwaysthreatens her hopes for the truepoem, however, appears in her nobleman's situation("Meditationf the Duke of Gandia n the Death of Isabelof Portugal"):Neveragain Willyourface be pure,clear,alive / Nor your step like a fugitivewave / Weave itselfbetween the stepsof time. / Neveragainwill I give my lifeto time."Thepoetknows,however, hatsuchknowledgespartialandmust not keep her fromcontinuing o serveinher particularway the things that die, for, as her bestpoems reveal, she too believes (in the words of WilliamBlake),"Eternitys in love with the productions f time."

GeorgeMonteiroBrownUniversity

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ITALIAN: FICTION 81age of enlightenments Consolo'sprotest againsthis own.For Clerici,art is a necessary llusionagainstrealityandtravel s both an antidote or love and a means of escapefrom the pain of existence. In Clerici'sown words, "Totravelas awayto detachourselves romour ownreality s awayofdreaming.And t is dreamingo write of the pastassuspension f thepresentdaily iving.And t is dreamingowrite of a voyage n the land of the past."There can be noend to the road orthis asocialpicaro,unlessperhaps hatroad eadshim to an atemporal,metaphysical imension.Rosettadi PaceUniversityof Oklahoma

Beppe Costa. Fatto d'amore:Fra politico e private conriflussosenza Stato. Dante Maffia,postface.Rome. Pel-licanolibri.1987. 112 pages. L. 15,000.Fatto d'amore,a sequel to Beppe Costa'sRomanzosiciliano see WLT60:1,p. 88), takes another ookat

the same protagonist'sife, now askingwhether Marco'sdiscontent nd suicidehad its origins n socialproblemsorjustemotional nes suchasunrequitedove. Marco's lien-ation dates backto his childhoodexperiences n variouscharitable nstitutions,where he encounterednuns andpriestswho used sexualviolenceas punishment.For himthe wordsGood andGod stoodforsomething ar removedfromhisworld.Hisyouth s lacedwith a constantdesire tofinda fairygodmother idingaroundhe next corner.Onceout of school,he findsmeaning n love, but due to slanderandincomprehension,oth families tophimjust short ofmarriage.During he specificperiod1968-77,surroundedbyfriends ndgirlfriend,Marco s very nvolved ncommu-nity and nationalaffairs that is, he reachesa moment offull potentialand enthusiasm.That sense of purposeandstability lowlydesertshim,however, o thepointthatbothhe and his girlfrienddo not "knowhow to define them-selves, not even afterlovemaking."Marco'story s meantto mirror talianpostwarpoliticaland socialhistory, and reference is frequentlymade tospecificpeople, places, politicalparties,and events. Theperiodof socialupheaval 1968)and vital questioningofvaluescoincideswith Marco'sntervalof stability,duringwhichhe is consideredo be anavant-gardeersonage.Onthe nationalevel, after1977 hingsseem to settle back ntopre-1968designs.Marcoeelsbetrayedoncemore,andtheidea of "good"moves backbeyondthe horizon.In contrastoRomanzoiciliano,Costa'snew book s lesswittilywritten,withhardly glintofhumor,and t strikesaduller chord. Perhaps he authorhas presenteda morefaithful ndmoreabjectaccountof the modern ndividualwho,awareofwhatgoesonaroundhimonthepoliticalandsocial level, realizeshis own impotenceand his lack ofparticipationn the events. He loses interest and forgets,only to be attractedby the next "hot"dilemma. His is atrulyepisodic ife-style.Asa result,his mind s ajumbleofdisassociatedmoments, ideas, and actions. The novel'sorganizationeflects hisdisarray. ts structure s based onauthor-characternterchangeabilitynd a mixtureof flash-backsand presentaction. Such a narrative ormreflectsCosta'sattempt o underscore he depth of contemporaryman'sdisorientation. Denise WaltzFerreriUniversityof Connecticut

RosettaLoy.Le strodedi polvere.Turin.Einaudi.1987. v+ 248 pages. L.20,000.RosettaLoy's new novel, her fourth in just underfifteen years and winner of both the ViareggioandCampiello rizes, s cast n the formof a family agaof locallife in nineteenth-century taly. As such, it includestheusual opicsoffamily-centeredarrative, llportrayedromthe highly individualperspective of nineteenth-centuryvillage ife:war, disease,thepoliticsofconquestand ibera-tion, the Church,marriage,ove, birth, and death. Loy'snovel breakswiththe tradition f totalizing amilial toriesin itspersistent ragmentationf bothnarrative erspectiveand narrativepresentation.This genuine strengthof hestrode de polvere, the freshnessof its continually hiftingpoint of view and of its brilliantly uggestivedescriptivepassages, thus stands at one and the same time as itsliterary imitation, n the book'soverall otalitydespiteitsrepeatedinterest in familialorganization nd genealogy.One of the principal easonswhythisodd combination fnineteenth-centuryramework,eminiscentof Verga,andtwentieth-century ragmentation,eminiscentof Vittorinior even of Hemingway, ucceeds so convincinglys to befoundin the book's use of language. Occasionallyn thenarrative's ialogue,which evinces bits of local dialectandof French, and still more consistently n the text's localdescriptions,he strode di polveremanages o be at oncepreciseandsubtle, its subjects inelydrawnyet uncannilyevocative.An earlyexampleof this blend of effectsoccursin the firstchapter's escription f"ilGiai" "ilgiallo") s hesits at the edge of a well playinghis violin while gazingatthe starsreflected n the waterbelow.Theperspectivesofthe seeminglyneutralnarrator,he frightenedwife, and,froma distance, he cousinnamed"ilMandrognin"llplaytheirparts ncomposinghe scene,which ncludesnotonlythe timeless elements ofmythbut alsothe leitmotivof the

violin, the spectral apparitionof the familyfounder,"ilGranMasten," nd the fundamental ointsof reference orthe familyas a whole, embodied n the concluding magesof the landandthe house,"la errae lacasa": Una erasi esedutoall'imboccaturael pozzoe Ifsi e messo a suonare lviolinoguardandoe stelle riflettersi iunel tondospecchiod'acqua.La moglie si e spaventata . . lui e rimastoasuonare on i piedi nel vuotoe quando l Mandrognini eaffacciato l giardino,vedendoquelbustousciredalpozzoha pensatoche fosse tomatoil GranMastenmai stancodisorvegliarea terra e la casa."In brief, he strode di polvere is a fine novel, both apleasure o readand a significant xtensionof the literarytraditionof whichit is a part. Its storyis moldedby theconcernsoffamilial enealogy,but its finalsubject,as is thecase in so muchcontemporaryarrative,s the ever-pres-ent if also thoroughly lusive motion of time itself.GregoryL. hucenteUniversityof Michigan

FerruccioParazzoli.Vigiliadi Natale. Milan.Rizzoli.1987.190 pages. L.20,000.The principal haractern FerruccioParazzoli's ovelVigiliadi Natale s Nazareno,who relatesthe story nthe formof letters addressed o severalpeoplebut mainly

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