Set in Turin, Italy. Reread on 2019/01: https://www.instagram.com/p/BseioL0necI/
Whenever I read #ginzburg two words come to mind: #simplicity and #depth . #familysayings(now on my 3rd time reading it!) encapsulates and excels at these two features because of the #autobiographicalaspect of the text and also because of the #historical events where it takes place in. Taking all of this into consideration, #nataliaginzburg made me think of #arendtand her #banalityofevil . We have a tendency to look at historical events and box them from one moment or year to another and also to detach ourselves from past events now considered barbaric and uncivilized. However what Ginzburg so effortlessly denotes and which resonates so splendidly with Arendt is making clear how subtle and gradual our worst chapters in human history have taken place and how much casual dehumanizing and cruelty we are willing to live with and actively participate in. Family Sayings is an intimate and personal text which aims at emphasizing the mundane aspects of our lack of solidarity and empathy. Recent events in #italian politics and so many other European countries just make a #reread of Ginzburg and all of the #einaudiwriters an imperative read and a solace for all generations. #highlyrecommended#turin #rome #wwii #antifascism#rereadmarathon #lessicofamigliare#arcadepublishing
Reviewed on 2017/07: https://www.instagram.com/p/BWJuPrdhGPT/
Funny story is that about 50 pages into the book I start thinking that maybe I’ve read it before. I clearly didn’t remember exactly everything. This was more of a vague idea. But there was something very #familiar and natural while reading it. And when it comes to #nataliaginzburg is impossible not to feel this way. Although all of her books are very similar to each other and contain characters very much like the real #levi and #ginzburgfamilies, #familysayings is the one book that claims to be her official #memoirBecause of this her writing veers toward a more descriptive and #matteroffact style. But don’t let her fool you with that! Her tragedy, her pain and her weaknesses are all there. There’s an outstanding scene for about two paragraphs describing her arrival in #rome with her two kids without absolutely nothing at all no food, no clothes, a complete #refugee and just to find her husband #leoneginzburgassassinated by the Nazis two days later… It’s a very #elsamorante moment but obviously expressed from Ginzburg’s almost diary notes. Her feelings are so powerful, so real that they become facts in her writing. Unlike other contemporaneous #italian giants her books are clearly more #personal and #inwardlooking I might never know how many times I have read or will read this book. And I’m ok with that. It’s like coming back home. #highlyrecommended #lessicofamigliare#turino #turin #italianliterature#arcadepublishing
hebdo_readings 