422. Conversations in Sicily

Conversations in Sicily
Elio Vittorini
1941
Around 205 pages

It is really impressive that Elio Vittorini was able to get away with a novel like this in Fascist Italy. It is veiled in metaphor and I guess the Italian government had a lot on its plate at the time. But I am still surprised it was published.

Silvestro Ferrauto is a Sicilian working as a typesetter in Milan. He receives a letter from his father, saying his father intends to abandon his mother. He decides to go home and has conversations with Sicilians along the way, and they seem to be a pushy lot.

The fact that this story is told in such a dreamlike way is probably how he was able to get away with his criticism of the exploitation of the Italian people. It felt more like a series of vignettes than a coherent story, but I appreciated it for what it was.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to a film in 1998.

U.S. edition contained a foreword by Ernest Hemingway.

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