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Corrado Alvaro
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By Giovanni di Napoli
Not too long ago, while discussing with some friends the tenets of Tom Verso's article, Towards an American Terroni "Education Manifesto," one name came up repeatedly as a "must-read" candidate for any future curriculum specializing in Southern Italian historiography—Corrado Alvaro. Embarrassed that I've only read his Revolt in Aspromonte, I dusted off my copy and reread it. Subsequently, I made it a point to find other works by the author, but discovered that only two others—Man is Strong and The Long Night of Medea—were available in English. Luckily, I found the former at my local library and the later at a used bookstore. Needless to say, now I understand why my friends were so adamant about his inclusion.
Corrado Alvaro was a prominent literary figure during the Fascist era whose literature often explored the social and political crises of the twentieth century. Alvaro's collection of short stories, especially his Gente d'Aspromonte (People in Aspromonte), has been acknowledged as a precursor to the Italian neorealismo or neorealist movement prevalent after World War II. He is also credited with important contributions to the development of narrativa meridionale, a literary tradition focusing on the narrative of Southern Italy. |
| Revolt in Aspromonte |
Gente d'Aspromonte, considered by many to be Alvaro's finest work, delves into the difficult, often harsh realities of post-unification Southern Italian rural life. Set in the author's native Calabria, the story revolves around the peasant Argiro and the hopeless plight of his family. In short, it is an exploration into the poverty, exploitation and injustice endemic to the Italian south.
Written almost 50 years after Giovanni Verga's "Liberty"—a short story about a violent peasant revolt against the "hats" (1)—Alvaro shows little had changed for the southern populace under Italian rule and the promises of "liberty" remained unfulfilled:
"The liberation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies superseded an order of things that had been established for centuries, and the redistribution of feudal property only increased some already swollen private fortunes." (2)
Translated into English in 1962 by Frances Frenaye for New Directions Paperback, the title was inexplicably changed to Revolt in Aspromonte. "Swift, powerful and compassionate," wrote Helene Cantarella for the New York Times Book Review. "Alvaro's novella tells more in its brief 120 pages about the reasons behind the so-called 'Southern problem' and 'banditism' than many a full-size tome." (3) Despite some glowing reviews and the author's prominence in Italy, Alvaro remained largely neglected in the United States.
Alvaro's first introduction to an American audience, however, was in 1948 with the publication of his Man Is Strong (L'uomo e forte, 1938) by Alfred A. Knopf. Inspired by a trip to the U.S.S.R. in 1934, the book is a scathing critique of totalitarianism and its use of widespread fear and paranoia to control the masses. It was praised for its analysis of man's alienation in the modern world.
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Title page of Alvaro's
dystopian novel, Man is Strong
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Originally titled "Fear Over The World," Fascist censors insisted that it be changed. They also demanded the author write a forward explaining that the story takes place in Russia. I thought this precaution was unnecessary; it was obvious while reading it that he was writing about the Soviet Union. If anything, Italy was lumped in with the West, which Alvaro described as "worn and weary and effete."
Curiously, L'uomo e forte still won the Accademia d'Italia Prize for literature in 1940. The Royal Academy of Italy was founded in 1926 by the Fascist government to promote exceptional scientific, artistic and literary exploits.
Foreshadowing Orwell’s 1984, one of the more chilling passages was the dialogue between Nicholas Dirck, the book's main protagonist, and a government investigator:
"The new man is not yet born. We must destroy everything private, personal, intimate; there lies the cause of all the evils with which humanity is afflicted today. To have a secret is a crime!" (4)
A secret could be anything from owning a simple pocket watch or forbidden phonograph records or, in the case of Dirck's love interest, Barbara, parents who were enemies of the state. The investigator continued:
"Every serious crime committed by the human race in the last few centuries can be traced to this personal feeling, this sense of individuality. All this must be destroyed from the ground up. Ruthlessly uprooted and obliterated." (5)
In many ways the book is still relevant today. Unfortunately, the invasion of privacy and the incursions on freedom of speech now seem to be as popular among "democratic" governments as it is with authoritarian ones. The same can be said of cultural leveling, the drive to dampen individuality and make us all the same.
Also an accomplished playwright, Alvaro's La lunga notte di Medea (The Long Night of Medea, 1949) is a fascinating take on the ancient Greek myth. Originally written for production at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan the play has since been performed internationally by several theater companies. It was translated into English in 1966 by E. Fisher Friedman and published as part of the anthology, Plays For a New Theater: Playbook 2 by New Directions Paperback.
Friedman's interpretation, however, was during the height of the civil rights movement so he changed Medea, a Colchian princess and sorceress, into a black woman to suit his own political motives. According to Friedman, "The idea of having Medea played by a Negro actress is mine, not his. And yet the conception is implicit in his version of the myth." (6)
Undoubtedly, Alvaro would have agreed his corpus spoke for impoverished and alienated people everywhere, nevertheless, what is explicit in his writing was his focus on the marginalization of the Southern Italian people. Friedman's introduction should have addressed the ignominy of Italy's Southern Question and the distinct forms of discrimination Italian Americans have to contend with in the United States. If the alienation and hardships described by Friedman doesn't apply to Italian immigrants and displaced workers across Italy, I don't know what does.
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Plays For a New Theater: Playbook 2
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Corrado Alvaro was born on April 15th, 1895 in San Luca, a small town in the province of Reggio Calabria. The oldest of six children, his parents, Antonio and Antonia (née Giampaolo), were modest landholders. His father served as the village scribe and taught the local peasants how to read and write. Alvaro was sent to school in Catanzaro, where he published his first work, Polsi nell'arte, nella leggenda, nella storia (1912), a monograph about the Feast of the Madonna di Polsi. Wishing a better life for his son, Antonio enrolled Corrado into the Collegio Mondragone, a Jesuit seminary near Rome. Uncomfortable in the stifling environment, Alvaro performed poorly and was eventually expelled. He transferred to another school in Umbria.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Alvaro enlisted into the infantry and served as an officer. In 1915 he was wounded in both arms, cutting his military career short. He was awarded the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare or Silver Medal of Military Valor. After his recovery, he resumed his studies in literature and philosophy at the Accademia Scientifico-Letteraria of Milan.
Alvaro began his career as a journalist and critic writing for various periodicals, including the Corriere della Sera, Il Mondo and La Stampa. On April 8th, 1918, he married Laura Babini in Bologna and a year later their son Massimo was born. They moved to Rome in 1922 and from 1925 to '28 he contributed to Luigi Pirandello's repertory company, Teatro d'Arte di Roma.
In response to Giovanni Gentile's Manifesto of the Fascist intellectuals, Alvaro was among the signatories of Benedetto Croce's Manifesto of the anti-Fascist intellectuals. The document was published on May Day, 1925 in the anti-Fascist weekly, Il Mondo.
In 1926 Alvaro published his first novella, L'uomo nel labirinto (Man in the Labyrinth). The success was followed up with a collection of short stories, L'amata alla finestra (The Beloved at the Window, 1929) and his second novel, Vent'anni (Twenty Years, 1930), a story about a Southern Italian soldier during the First World War. In 1931 Gente d'Aspromonte won Alvaro the ₤50,000 prize money offered by Turin's popular daily, La Stampa. Pirandello was among the judges who awarded the prize.
A steadfast democrat with strong anti-Fascist convictions made him subject to frequent government surveillance and scrutiny. He felt compelled to leave the country and work as a foreign correspondent for La Stampa. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, Anatolia and the Soviet Union, writing several travel books.
Alvaro returned to San Luca in 1941 for his father's funeral. On July 25th, 1943 he became director of Il popolo di Roma; however, after the German occupation of the city, he fled to Chieti in the Abruzzo under the alias, Guido Giorgi. He remained in hiding until the Germans and what remained of the Fascists retreated farther north.
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Theatrical poster for Riso Amaro
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Following the war Alvaro founded the National Writers Union (Sindacato degli serittori) with neorealist authors Francesco Jovine and Libero Bigiaretti. In 1947 he briefly directed the South's largest daily, Il Risorgimento, but resigned over ideological differences. He broadened his artistic output by writing screenplays for several motion pictures, including the 1948 verismo classic, Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice). The film was nominated for Best Story at the 1950 Academy Awards. In 1951 his memoir, Quasi una vita (Almost a Life, 1950) won the prestigious Strega Prize for Literature.
After a long bout with cancer Corrado Alvaro died in Rome on June 11th, 1956. He was only 61-years-old.
At the time of his death he was considered by many to be one of the most significant figures of modern Italian literature, which makes the dearth of his translated works even more appalling. It's a clear example of how the Italian-American literati failed our community. The limited scope of "Italian studies" to all things Northern Italian has denied generations of Southern Italians knowledge of their own unique history. And as we all know, without history we cannot retain our identity, hence the tenuous state of our community today. If our hypothetical Southern Italian curriculum ever comes to fruition it is essential to include the literary works of Corrado Alvaro.
The following source proved invaluable to this post:
• "Corrado Alvaro" by Francesco Loriggio, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Gale, 2004
Bibliography:
• Revolt in Aspromonte (New Directions Paperback, 1962)
• Man Is Strong (Alfred A. Knopf, 1948)
• Plays for a New Theatre: Playbook 2 (New Directions Paperback, 1966)
Notes:
(1) Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) is considered one of Italy's greatest fiction writers. In his "Liberty" (Little Novels of Sicily, first published in 1883) the peasants refer to the gentry as "hats" because at the time only members of the privileged classes wore them. The story is derived from events following Garibaldi's conquest of Sicily.
(2) Quoted from Revolt in Aspromonte, New Directions Paperback, 1962, p. 12-13
(3) Quoted from "Cornered in Calabria" by Helene Cantarella, New York Times Book Review, June 17, 1962
(4) Quoted from Man is Strong, Alfred A. Knopf, 1948, p. 100
(5) Ibid
(6) Quoted from Plays For a New Theater: Playbook 2, New Directions Paperback, 1966, p.2
