Sunday, 31 January 2010

Bookworming: Magda Szabó - Pilátus

There are authors I literarily fall in love with after reading one of their books, only to get disappointed when I read the next one. In the case of Magda Szabó, however, I cannot but confirm the enthusiasm I had tried to convey in this post. Pilátus, which I read in its Italian translation (La ballata di Iza, Torino: Einaudi 2006, trans. Bruno Ventavoli) deals with the complex mother and daughter relation that would later be the leitmotiv of Szabó's most famous novel, Az ajtó, but it does so by taking the reader through a merciless journey into the ravages of a relationship embittered by a lack of communication.

Iza, who works as a successful medical doctor in Budapest, returns to her hometown to settle a few things after her father's death. Considered a good and caring daughter, Iza feels she needs to take care of her aging mother, and takes the woman with her to Budapest. However, for her mother this sort of uprooting and the feeling of being old and useless will be an ordeal she'll find more and more difficult to live with, and she'll sink into a depression that her daughter won't be able to diagnose.

Iza and her mother, the new and the old, are totally incapable of communicating. Iza acts out of the strict sense of duty that has tinted all her life, a sense of duty that cannot soothe the mother's desperate and silent cry for love and care. The mother, on the other hand, makes an effort to become familiar with Iza's world, but she is not able to understand it, as much as she's not able to understand Iza's need for isolation and, most important, her need to forget the past. The wall between the two women will inevitably prove lethal for both of them.

It would be too easy to take sides with Iza's emotionally abused mother and label Iza as a cold-hearted, non-affective daughter and woman. It would be too easy but also misleading. Because Iza is indeed capable of feeling love, hatred, fear and despair. However, she's absolutely incapable of showing these feelings. Her former husbands calls her a selfish coward without understanding Iza's real problem, that of being like a foreigner who can't speak the local language. Iza, who has chosen to reject the language of emotion and feeling, preferring to lock herself up in a sterile, lifeless world, has forgotten how to speak with her own heart. She doesn't see people's real needs, and people don't see the scared child behind her mask. Eventually, Iza lets out one loud cry, but it's too late. She has chosen her fate - loneliness - and her cry will go unanswered.

A painful, almost heartbreaking novel, whose limpid prose skilfully depicts family dynamics and the sometimes difficult task of being a daughter.

Sunday, 24 January 2010

Still around (a post for Marina) ;-)

While - as Marcella notes - the blogging spirit has slightly faded, I'm still exploring the different paths that the Web continuously comes up with. Which in other words means in this period I'm either:


Both in Italian, just to compensate things.

Saturday, 23 January 2010

Me and Livemocha

Today I joined Livemocha, which I got to know thanks to Marina. The idea was to start learning Norwegian, but unfortunately I didn't find any course in this language. So I joined an Esperanto course instead. I'm actually already studying the language with a tutor, but I thought some brushing up would do. The second reason for joining Livemocha was to see whether I could suggest it to an acquaintance of mine who would like to brush up his English. Right now I can't say much about the system, but I had some fun helping others with Italian. And this is my profile.

UPDATE: here my first impressions (in Italian).

Monday, 11 January 2010

The baker cat

Kneading is a feline activity all cat owners are definitely familiar with. The rhythmic pushing of a cat's paws against a human lap or (worse) thighs may be either welcomed as a token of affection ("How sweet, he/she loves me!") or squarely rejected (ie. you take the cat and shift him/her to the closest cushion) in order to avoid yet one more scratch on your legs, particularly if the feline in question has very sharp nails.
The idea behind "kneading" makes sense, as cats lift and push their front paws one after the other against something soft (humans, that is) as if... well, kneading dough, exactly. And indeed, this activity is also often called "making bread". Alternatively, I've also read "making biscuits", which I find really cute.
Except from "making biscuits", I've heard the same (kneading, making bread) in Italian. My father calls it "pressing grapes", but I guess he's the only one. Any other way of calling this pleasant (well, for them it is) cat-activity?

Thursday, 31 December 2009

2010

The new year hasn't come yet and already discussions on how to pronounce "2010" are enough to make you dizzy. Here's one. Enjoy. (And at least this time I'm glad I'm Italian.)

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Long preamble, short greetings

By now it's clear enough that my posting discipline has come to a halt. Much to my dismay, I must say. I could offer you a variety of excuses, the most sensible being "I've nothing to write about". But even this is not entirely true. Yes, besides working I've been quite busy trying to achieve a higher degree of IT literacy (and I've got a long, long way to go). I've also become more serious about fitness and made an effort to work out regularly every day. I could also say I've nothing to write about translation because in these months I was lucky enough to translate well-written, well-edited books, about which there wasn't much to make fun of. But the thing is, I simply forgot to take care of my blog. Perhaps I got lazy, perhaps I got (too) carried away by other activities, or perhaps I simply lost sight of its purpose and meaning.
All this to say that yes, I'm going through a writer's laziness, more than a writer's block. So, while I cocoon myself in this state, I want to wish you a wonderful, brilliant 2010!

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Two kings for one throne

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Scrambled words

All the information required is there, which is good; now, please, rearrange it.