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ARTS NEXUS - "In my own climate of Gascony, they find it funny
to see me in print. I am valued the more the farther from home knowledge
of me has spread." Antonino's life is a journey towards self-realization
and independence, and, as such, fits the shape of a bildungsroman, a
"story of formation" in which the subject is the development
of the protagonist's mind and character in the passage from childhood
through varied experiences – and usually though a crisis –
into maturity and the recognition of his identity and role in the world.
This blending of the narrative modes of biography and bildungsroman
is achieved with remarkable skill and subtlety. But fate and history draw Antonino increasingly into the annoyances of life. Minor troubles with school, with priests ("men in black dresses"), and with family teach Antonino the skills of both cunning and charm. He mixes with the "scugnizzi" (street urchins) and "these streets taught him how to get what he wanted, taught him about the nature of man, his strengths and his weaknesses" (68). A climactic event occurs when Antonino's father, in punishing him for forgetfulness, misjudges the strength of a blow which knocks his son unconscious. His father flees to the hills, and Antonino remains in a coma for many months. His maternal grandfather takes the boy on a desperate and perilous journey to Milan where he is eventually brought back to consciousness by a surgeon. After this, things are never the same again: Antonino transfers his affection to his loyal grandfather, while preserving a core of fear and anger towards his father. On the death of this grandfather, Antonino vehemently vows to "be loyal to those who return your loyalty and be wary of everyone, everyone!" (94). Antonino is now apprenticed to a tailor, but soon the
war breaks out, and, when his father is lost at sea (he has been working
on cargo ships supplying the Italian government's colonisation of Ethiopia)
Antonino, at the age of 14, suddenly finds himself the breadwinner for
a family of nine: Too young to be enlisted (and in any case opposed to the policies of the Mussolini government which did nothing to help the numerous impoverished families of the South) Antonino does what he must to support his family in this "most challenging time where the dangers of war were trivial in the face of sheer survival" (109). These central chapters recounting the protagonist's trading in contraband goods and involvement in smuggling are full of suspense and excitement, but, thanks to De Rosa's research, also give us a painfully vivid and authentic picture of the injustice and degradation suffered by the poor in Italy during the years of World War II, first as a result of the social negligence of the Fascist Party, and then as a result of the occupation by German and then American forces. After the war Antonino emerges from a period of deep depression and must go as far north as Genoa to find employment. His mother dies, making the children even more dependent on his financial support. Eventually, Antonino receives a commission on a Panamanian liner transporting immigrants around the world in the post-war European diasporas. After a number of trips to Australia, he skips ship in Melbourne in 1951 after playing a significant role in a union challenge to the exploitative practices of the Panamanian line's captains, and "this step would change his life forever" (240). Thus begins Antonino's life in Australia,
at that time not a place for someone who has been branded as a "militant
Communist - sympathizing unionist". He decides to leave the
dangerous political scene in Melbourne and head north into the wilderness,
seeking a job in the canefields of North Queensland. The work is excruciatingly
hard and the climate unbearably hostile for Europeans, but eventually
work leads to relative self-sufficiency. Settling in Cairns, Antonino
meets his wife-to-be: "They each had left Italy for different
reasons, from different circumstances. Vincenzina tried to regain the
prosperity of her youth, whilst Antonino tired to forget the lack of
prosperity in his" (299). Antonino marries, builds a house
in Grafton Street, Cairns, and, says the author in concluding her story,
"It was finished in 1961, the year I was born, and together we
moved" (301). If you are tired of the increasingly
formulaic "Kitchens in Tuscany", "Houses in Umbria" and "Villas in Venice",
then read Antonino's Niche. Dr. Stephen Torre Stephen Torre is a lecturer and researcher
in modern and Australian literature at James Cook University Cairns.He
is the editor of Etropic:journal of studies in the tropics (http://www.jcu.edu.au/etropic).
His grandparents migrated from Tuscany and Venice after WW I. He is
a past president and current committee member of the Dante Alighieri
Society of Cairns. Etropic: journal of studies in the tropics will feature a special issue on Cyclone Larry. etropic invites contributions of short stories, poetry, non-fiction prose, photo-essays, and art work, on the theme of Cyclone Larry's impact on the geography and society of North Queensland . Send contributions to the editor at
Stephen.Torre@jcu.edu.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________ Arts NeXus gratefully acknowledges Key Organisations financial support from the Community Cultural Development Board [CCDB] of the Australia Council for the Arts as major sponsor, as well as support from Arts Queensland's Cultural Infrastructure Program [CIP] . |
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