Writing Italy—Part 2More

Travelers’ Tales from Sturla,

Thorpe, Alford, Ellis, Parks,

Green

Comparing Authors

• Credibility—what makes us trust them or prevents us from doing so?

• How do we feel about them?• In what ways do we sympathize with them?• Purpose—what, if anything, do they want to

do besides entertain?• What are the most vivid portraits that they

paint?

What’s in a Name?Vince Sturla

• “I’ve just spent the last 24 hours traveling… As I near my final destination, it is just beginning to occur to me that maybe this isn’t such a great idea after all.” (215)

• Common travel problem: what am I getting myself into?

• Hint of mystery: well, why would he go and why is he suddenly worried?

Why trace family?

• Curiosity? Understand yourself? History buff?• Lots of Italian Americans do this—more than

other groups?• Italians ARE generally fond of American

relatives• Note that it doesn’t matter how far removed

you are!

Illusions

• Chasing a myth—always dangerous!• Doesn’t sound like the best part of Italy (“Let’s

Go: “Don’t wander the streets at night.”)• Via Sturla: “I can’t stand it. I walk across the

road to take a picture of the street sign.” (217)• “Now’s the chance to use all of that Italian I

learned on the flight over and find out if this guy is a relative.” (His Italian is so rough that every conversation is “arduous.”)

Whose Name Is It Anyway?

• Sturla: Stirla vs. STOOR!lah• (Note that people can’t understand you if

you’re just a little off!)• Hand gestures help him a little• Has fun with his Italianness here: compares

the Dutch couple whose expression is the same regardless of the message) (217)

• Piazza Sturla: a triangle where roads converge

Ironies• “Well, where are the Sturlas?” Again the look.• “There are no Sturlas, signor.”• “You mean there are no Sturlas in Sturla?”• “Yes.”

“Are you sure?”• “I’ve lived here for many years. You’re the first

Sturla I’ve met.”• Where did they go Did they all migrate to the

United States? I can’t believe this. (221)

Identity• Returns to the hotel for “a bad night’s sleep”• Spends a couple of days walking around,

“assaulting locals with my rough Italian.”• This is his first trip to Italy, but now he

“declares” himself Italian American.• Rejects his other half-dozen nationalities• All the Sturlas seem to have gone to Iceland• Probably not an Italian name anyway!

Catherine ThorpeAdventures in Leather

• Title suggests….• “I once had an Italian suitor. He was very tall,

dark, and handsome…….. (223)• And he offered me discounted leather goods.”• Any sexy image is already blown• Educational tour, but the chaperones have all

given up!• Wanders in a trance

Expectations

• She’s read and seen A Room with a View a few times too many

• Naturally expecting a Romantic Adventure• Gives up Pitti Palace to go shopping• While thinking about how to impress her

classmates…. She gets slimed.• Classmates admire her but keep on walking• “You should have a million boyfriends!” 226

Backs Out• Claims she doesn’t have money, he bargains• Offers to take her dancing, says she can’t• Offers to go with her friends too• “No—I just can’t!”• She’s lost her “friends,” and all chances for a

“proper Romantic Adventure”• “E.M. Forster hadn’t prepared me for a

waylaying Florentine merchant.” (227)• That night, no one finds her story noteworthy

After the Fact• “The formerly empathetic chaperone was

pitiless. ‘That’s what you get for going leather shopping.’” (227)

• The closest thing she has to an Adventure is embarrassing to remember

• Wonders what might have happened if….• (When DO you take opportunities?)• “In retrospect my suitor became rather

attractive…”

• Mom shocks him by inviting herself along• Admits that he assumed getting “away from it

all” included getting away from his mother• Not sure how well his boyfriend will get along

with her• Surprised to find her such a great travel

companion, folds maps, carries hankies, “elicit(s) sympathy in the hearts of hotel clerks

Henry AlfordVacationing with Mom

Alford’s Mom

• Surprises him by finding fault with Bernini• Trying to get a good word in for him at the

Vatican• Mom on a Vespa

Trey Ellis The Visible Man• Used to being a minority wherever he goes• “Guarda, mamma, un nero” better than old

ladies in CT crossing the sidewalk (300)• Goes European: dresses better and uses hand

gestures!• Assume he’s an African refugee• “Yet Italians accepted me more readily than any

people I’ve ever known. They shared their Easter dinners, their beach houses, their grandparents.”

Fun with Identity• “Back at school [in the States], I didn’t realize

how uncomfortable I sometimes felt in the States until I remembered how at home I’d felt in Italy.” (302)

• On a short trip, you can “fiddle with identity,” but when he returns to Florence with no set date to return, “I began to act less Italian.”

• “My savings stretched until Italian stereotypes about blacks landed me a job.”

• Becomes a marketing gimmick in a ski store

Displaced• Similarly, gets a job in a gym—he’s like a

stamp of approval• Knows he would never really fit in, so he can’t

really live in Italy.• Problem: “I couldn’t imagine myself in ten

years, a stranger in every land. I needed to move on, but I wasn’t ready to go home.”

• But first travels to Africa where, for the first time, he’s a majority.

• And THEN he’s ready to return home.

Tim Parks Una bustarella• Author has spent a lot of time in Verona• Has written several books about Italy• This is an excerpt from Italian Neighbors,

2002• In this passage: makes fun of a bureaucratic

situation in a humorous way• Also manages to make a complex situation

understandable—(and convinces us that our tax situation is not so bad after all!)

Tim Parks Una bustarella• Cf Stone in My Greek Taverna, Elkjer• His friend gets a university teaching job, but

instead of security, gets a tax nightmare he can’t understand (353)

• The tax laws are not only complicated but contradictory

• 4 years later, he’s called in because his accountant forgot to complete a code

• The wrong code might have slipped by

More Problems• Makes the mistake of asking the “dusty old

man” to find a code, but he asks his colleague• “You have evaded VAT for around 9 million

lire!” (357)• They ask him to bring in his university contract• “When?”• “When you like, but don’t forget.”• He’s left with disconcerting vagueness, wants

the matter settled

Must be another way…• Government official says he must also pay a

fine on top of the VAT he owes• The friend explains about how colleagues are

lobbying to be recognized as university employees, not freelancers

• The official is unmoved• “For the first time my friend lies, and this is

another step forward.” (360)• He claims he’s begun his own court case

Italian-Style• Official says to come back with copies of his

friends’ cases and his own• “Which, of course, he hasn’t got.” (361)• Has his accountant go and talk to them: they

want a “Christmas present.”• “Prego?”• “Una bustarella.”• “Did they say so?”• “God forbid!”

Plot thickens

• So how does he know?• He knows. (Otherwise the officials would have

already filled out paperwork against him)• The accountant had learned long ago the trick

of dropping an envelope on the floor, or reading the signs if asked out for coffee

• Parks: it’s like the exhilaration of making overtures to a lover without knowing whether the sentiments will be returned

Leniency• The officials let him off the hook because he

was merely “a victim of circumstance.”• They’re willing to take a bribe of 800,000 lire. • He’s afraid of going down this “dark road,” so

he consults his lawyer (the one helping all the colleagues in their fight for classification)

• She can’t talk about it over the phone but has to check

• Helps him negotiate a lower amount

Last Line

• “My friend walks out into the bright street with the feeling of one waking up from a nightmare. In the end he’s only lost 250-odd quid. Not much to pay for a significant experience.” (364)

Margaret Green The Nicholas Effect

• Family is touring southern Italy (parents, daughter 4, son 7)

• Young Nicholas enjoys the ruins at Paestum• Dialogue to brighten the story: —”I’m Zeus!”• “We planned to drive all night to the southern

tip of Italy and take a ferry to Sicily.” (387)• When she wakes up, there’s a car beside

theirs and a man pointing a gun

Bad events• Catch-22; they’re afraid to stop, and then

gunmen shoot out two windows• Finally the men stop chasing the Greens• When they see police at another accident

scene they stop—find Nicholas has been shot• They’re rushed to a hospital in Messina,

lament the fact that they’re alone in Italy• Nicholas is soon brain dead• Decide to donate organs

Surprising support

• A crowd awaits by the time they return to the hotel, including a mom who wants to hug her

• Countless other kindnesses: store owner gives clothes for the funeral, an old man stops and presses a stuffed animal in Eleanor’s arms

• They’re flown home in an Italian Air Force jet

Continued support

• But that’s not all. The story was carried in newspapers and on TV stations, and letters and telegrams pour in

• The whole country grieves. They get letters from school children, and streets and schools named after Nicholas

• Invited to a ceremony in their son’s honor that they don’t want to attend

• Meet all the organ recipients

Aftermath• More importantly, doctors report a rise in

organ donations and transplants• “Doctors said Nicholas had changed the entire

country.. The willingness to donate went up 400%.” (391)

• “They called this ‘The Nicholas Effect’”• Father Reg is even dragged to a disco to hear

a song about his son• “It was like a church. There was that much

love.”