Reflections on the Naples story

                                                

I am now reading the third part of the Naples quartet and the last, the fourth book is already waiting on my table. I am really engrossed in the story, read late into nights and feel a need to write some of my current thoughts. I am running a risk that I will change my views, but after all, this is my blog, not a regular book review channel. This is some sort of disclaimer that makes me feel excused from writing half cooked thoughts.

In my previous post, I was very enthusiastic about the books, but I started to have second thoughts again. I understand that “the neighbourhood”, as Ferrante describes the part of Naples the main action takes place in, is by its definition limited in its population. But even accepting that, I started to find it a bit irritating that the characters reappear unexpectedly and are connected with others who earlier did not belong to the same thread. It seems intellectually incestuous and artificial to me.

I am reading at the moment the part of the book that is concerned with Italian social inequalities and unbelievably hard situation of unqualified workers in the sixties and seventies and the protests against it. There is some feministic slant as well. Women particularly suffer, in addition to the normal problems of the poor and hard working have to put up with being humiliated as convenient sex objects.  The books make many political statements and present various perspectives. The workers perspective and the perspective of their supporters – particularly students and the academics. I have to confess that my main interest is related to the psychology of the story and looking for an answer to my perennial question “how to live, prime minister?”. The part of the book I am reading at the moment is not concerned with such issues and here is my opportunity to learn more about Italy than I already know of it’s Renaissance. Actually, I believe that the whole book will lead me towards understanding Italy a little better. I still have another 600+ pages to read, so things will unfold. Already I am starting to have some understanding of the Years of Lead and appreciation of how subtly and masterfully Ferrante introduced the issues. I see how my understanding grew with the story.  First one gets only small signs of obscure social and political issues. Gossips, observations of a young girl, descriptions of fights in the neighbourhood and their causes.  It all develops to present serious political and social issues.

The language of the book is its strong part. It is written as a story told by the author, the main character Lenu. It starts when she is about 10 years old and in the part, I am reading now she is in her thirties. I was a bit disappointed with the language of the book reading its first part. I did not have any need to look into the dictionary. I thought that the language was on a simple side. And now I see that it had to be when written by the girl not yet sixteen. The second book gave me few opportunities to learn new words and now the style is almost belonging to political activists. Not my particular interest, but appropriate to the action. Generally speaking, my interest in politics is minimal. I still masochistically follow Polish politics and I am well informed, but at the same time, I am aware that there is almost nothing I could do to change things I worry about and I do worry which has the negative impact on my health. I have been sensitive to the moral injustice of many events that take place in the world, but I never got really involved. Maybe I should have been. There were reasons and opportunities to get involved in Polish Solidarity movement and the earlier events leading to Solidarity, but I did not go that way. I may be a fan of Bob Marley but I “gave up the fight”.

Opposite to me Lina, the “wicket” heroine of the story got involved and “stood up for her rights”, but realizing the price of being outspoken and superficiality of support of academics, she decides not to fight, she just wants to live as well as the circumstances allow. Lina is a courageous person, sometimes even reckless in her choices and actions, so maybe I could forgive myself for not being involved in bringing change when it was needed and possible.

Lina is a complex character and that is what makes the book so interesting. However, I find it difficult to go along with the story of a girl who is able to fight stronger than herself, marrying a wealthy shopkeeper, then walking away from financial security for love to be soon left by her lover and land up in inhumane conditions in a mortadella factory in. A bit too far fetched for me. Still, I am reserving the final judgment till later when I progress with the book further.