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Fulvio Tomizza, Materada Translated
from the Italian by Russell Scott Valentino
Northwestern Univ Press Image (left): English book cover Image (right): Italian book cover |
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From the Publisher Source: |
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Materada, originally published in Italian in 1960, is a moving and personal story of post-World War II farm life on the Istrian peninsula. Damaged by war and the initial divvying of the country between America, Britain, and Yugoslavia, and then the final dividing between Italy and Yugoslavia, Istria has seen many intruders in the last century, both welcome and unwelcome. The two main ethnic groups, Italians and Croats, have had tense relations, and the quiet rural farms have been witness to political violence. Tomizza's protagonist, Francesco Koslovic (the name itself is a blending of the two cultures), has his own personal battle. The uncle he has worked for all his life refuses to give Francesco any rights to the family farmland. With no land of his own, he must choose between staying in Materada or building a better life in Italy. Loyalty, trust, and cultural unity have fallen away with all the dividing and passing of land. This is a short but wonderful exploration of ownership and cultural identity. Michelle Kaske (Review amended by the author, Russell Scott Valentino , March 18, 2000) Source: Aveg.
Customer Rating:
It's the lyricism of the writing that first got me. On page two, I was already in the world the main character resides and remained captivated all the way through the novel. The first-person narrator is not depicted as any extraordinary person, but simply as a diligent individual who longs for his own land like many other farmers. It's admirable that the author projects complex historical, political landscapes of the region through the eyes of peasant farmers, realistic, literary "down-to-earth" characters. The book doesn't over-sentimentalize or preach. Yet it helped me better understand the complicated regional tension/balance that history and politics have brought to Istria. Just a final note: Read the translator's foreword after you read the story. The foreword is very informative but somewhat dense, and you might feel a little taken aback from the story you are about to begin if you read it first. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Source:
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Even as the name "Francesco Koslovic" straddles two cultures, during the spring of 1955 in the village of Materada on the Istrian Peninsula, the two worlds of Francesco Koslovic are coming apart. A novel both lyrical and elegiac, Materada unfolds against the backdrop of the Istrian “exodus,” when hundreds of thousands who had once thrived in the peninsula’s rich ethnic mixture of Italians and Slavs departed from their homeland in the spring and summer of 1955. Complicating and hastening Koslovic’s own departure is his vain attempt to keep the land that he and his brother have worked all their lives. This novel is the first in Fulvio Tomizza’s Istrian Trilogy, the other two being La ragazza di Petrovia (The Girl from Petrovia, 1963) and Il bosco di acacie (The Acacia Woods, 1966)—the first works of his career. Sources:
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