I have the Paradise
Lost theme on my mind today because I took some photos of what several
weeks ago was a very deeply wooded piece of Brushy Creek Trail near my house
and is now being cleared for a road and a hundred houses. This comes to mind when
thinking of our February discussion of The
Garden of the Finzi-Continis, by Giorgio Bassani. The book starts with the
family enjoying their property and wealth and ends with the family destroyed by
the Nazis. In between, we have a love story and a peek into how a Jewish family
in a small town might have experienced the rise of Nazi power in Italy.
A smaller percentage of the group than usual got through
this book. The sentences were long, contained foreign words from several
cultures and references to foreign locations, and often went off in tangential directions
and returned before ending.
After Dennis gave us some background about the book, we
questioned whether it was autobiographical, even though it is listed as
fiction. It seemed to me that all the information pointed toward strong
autobiographical influences. (1) The author wrote several other books about
Jews in Ferraro, Italy. (2) The author married a woman he met playing tennis. (3)
The prologue and epilogue seem like narrative from life. (4) The narrator, who
we assume is Bassani, says that after all the years gone by since the war and
since the events of the story, it's time to tell the story. (5) The narrator/main character of the story is referred to as Giorgio, the author's first name, at least once
or twice in the book. Page number, anyone?
Dennis divided the story into 4 parts, each of which has a
theme involving a question of "what if?" Part 1 begins where the
prologue ends, with the tomb. Part 1 comprises 1929 to 1938. What if Giorgio
had climbed the wall and gone into the garden? Part 2 starts in 1938, 2 months
after the racial laws went into effect in Italy and ends when Micòl goes away.
What if Giorgio had kissed her during that romantic moment in the carriage? Part
3 is the 4 years when Micòl was in Venice. What if Giorgio had visited her
there? Part 4 is when Micòl is home but
there is impending doom in the village, the world, and the relationship. What
if there wasn't a war?
Our discussion focused on the love story and on the pre-Holocaust
history. Cindy thought there wasn't enough detail about either the love story
or how the Jews were affected by the racial laws. There was some indication
that the love story was somewhat thwarted by the possibility of war and the
more and more dismal outlook for the Jews' freedom. Patty noted that the
contrast between the aristocracy and the middle class was a theme of both the
love story and the attitude of the Jews toward the racial laws. The
Finzi-Continis were aristocracy and also Jews. Janice thought that Micòl's
rejection of Giorgio had little to do with Giorgio's social status and was
because she just wasn't interested in him romantically. Joyce gave us some
comic relief by saying that when Micòl stayed in Venice for 4 years, Giorgio
should have "gotten the hint!"
The Finzi-Continis expected and received some extra respect
for their social standing but not enough and were treated as Jews in a Nazi
state rather than wealthy members of the community in the end. There was a
feeling in this book that we have experienced with previous readings and discussions,
that the individuals in the small town did not want to discriminate against the
Finzi-Continis but were forced to do so by political pressure. Patty asked how
many Jews from Italy were killed in the Holocaust. Marla Googled the question
on the spot and found an answer of 48,000.
We did discuss Alberto's possible homosexual love for
Malnate and Malnate's possible physical love with Micòl. The movie also cannot
be ignored. Although Bassani supposedly did not accept the movie, it is
probably rare for anyone to read the book without knowing about the movie. The
movie stayed close to the book in many ways but also branched out and made
assumptions. The book and movie are both part of the art that reflects the
Holocaust.
