The Path to the Spiders' Nests by Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was a distinguished Italian writer who was widely considered a contender for the Nobel Prize when he died in 1985 at the young age of 61. The Path to the Spiders' Nests, published in 1947, was his first novel. Calvino later revised the book; I read the Colquhoun/McLaughlin translation of the revised version.
The book offers a picture of Northern Italy at the end of World War II, with fighting (and espionage and betrayal) among various political and military forces--Germans, fascists, communists, Bolsheviks, and local residents recruited to one side or another. There is no overall description of these groups, or their different political agendas, or their relative strength, or their success or failure, nothing to indicate who is winning or losing. This is in no way a history. The picture is of pointless, chaotic fighting, which is a consequence of the story being presented mostly from the perspective of a child, Pin, who is caught up in it. Pin is a slum child, ostensibly apprenticed to a shoemaker, who lives with his older sister, a prostitute who services whoever will pay, with no concern about political or military affiliation.
Pin is a scrappy street child, making his way by singing songs (often obscene) in exchange for food, wine, or cigarettes, telling jokes (also often obscene) and hurling insults (ditto). He has no knowledge or interest in politics, he is puzzled by grown-ups, and baffled by the lust that brings clients to his sister. At the same time, he hates being treated just as a child; he wants to be taken seriously. As a result, having been urged by some conspirators in the tavern, he steals a pistol from a German sailor while the sailor is in bed with his sister. The pistol becomes his secret treasure, and after some thought he takes it and its holster off their belt and buries them in a secret, secluded place: the place where spiders make nests and construct tunnels in the grass.
On Pin's return to town, the German patrols recognize the belt and take Pin into custody, where he is interrogated and beaten. He refuses, however, to say where he hid the pistol and shortly after that, with the help of another prisoner, he escapes from the prison. Abandoned by his fellow former prisoner, he encounters a stranger, known as "Cousin," who befriends him and takes him to the camp of some resistance fighters in the mountains. Pin spends some time with the fighters. He observes them, sometimes entertains them in the only way he knows, by singing songs and hurling obscene insults. He also tries, at times, to be taken seriously and become one of them. Eventually, having realized that he has no place among the fighters, he leaves them and returns to the place where the spiders build their nests. The pistol is gone, but Pin finds out where it is and recovers it. Back at the place where the spiders build their nests he re-encounters Cousin, who proves to be the Great Friend Pin has dreamt of.
The Path to the Spiders' Nests combines a comment on war with what in the end is a touching story--a coming of age story, if you like. The place where the spiders build their nests is a theme throughout, with significance on several levels. It is a secret place, then a hiding place, then the place of what is of greatest, even self-defining value. In the end it is a place of fulfillment, of finding oneself.
I definitely recommend this book.
The book offers a picture of Northern Italy at the end of World War II, with fighting (and espionage and betrayal) among various political and military forces--Germans, fascists, communists, Bolsheviks, and local residents recruited to one side or another. There is no overall description of these groups, or their different political agendas, or their relative strength, or their success or failure, nothing to indicate who is winning or losing. This is in no way a history. The picture is of pointless, chaotic fighting, which is a consequence of the story being presented mostly from the perspective of a child, Pin, who is caught up in it. Pin is a slum child, ostensibly apprenticed to a shoemaker, who lives with his older sister, a prostitute who services whoever will pay, with no concern about political or military affiliation.
Pin is a scrappy street child, making his way by singing songs (often obscene) in exchange for food, wine, or cigarettes, telling jokes (also often obscene) and hurling insults (ditto). He has no knowledge or interest in politics, he is puzzled by grown-ups, and baffled by the lust that brings clients to his sister. At the same time, he hates being treated just as a child; he wants to be taken seriously. As a result, having been urged by some conspirators in the tavern, he steals a pistol from a German sailor while the sailor is in bed with his sister. The pistol becomes his secret treasure, and after some thought he takes it and its holster off their belt and buries them in a secret, secluded place: the place where spiders make nests and construct tunnels in the grass.
On Pin's return to town, the German patrols recognize the belt and take Pin into custody, where he is interrogated and beaten. He refuses, however, to say where he hid the pistol and shortly after that, with the help of another prisoner, he escapes from the prison. Abandoned by his fellow former prisoner, he encounters a stranger, known as "Cousin," who befriends him and takes him to the camp of some resistance fighters in the mountains. Pin spends some time with the fighters. He observes them, sometimes entertains them in the only way he knows, by singing songs and hurling obscene insults. He also tries, at times, to be taken seriously and become one of them. Eventually, having realized that he has no place among the fighters, he leaves them and returns to the place where the spiders build their nests. The pistol is gone, but Pin finds out where it is and recovers it. Back at the place where the spiders build their nests he re-encounters Cousin, who proves to be the Great Friend Pin has dreamt of.
The Path to the Spiders' Nests combines a comment on war with what in the end is a touching story--a coming of age story, if you like. The place where the spiders build their nests is a theme throughout, with significance on several levels. It is a secret place, then a hiding place, then the place of what is of greatest, even self-defining value. In the end it is a place of fulfillment, of finding oneself.
I definitely recommend this book.