Viareggio Prize (Premio Viareggio / Premio Letterario Viareggio-Rèpaci)
Il bottone di Stalingrado
A novel that follows Marco's youth and political awakening across the rise of fascism, the Resistance, and the disappointments of the postwar years. It is both a coming-of-age story and a compressed portrait of 20th-century Italy's wounds.
Work Information
A young man's uncertainty becomes the uncertainty of an era.
Raised in a socialist family, Marco drifts toward fascism under the influence of his friend Paolo and the atmosphere around them, before eventually moving toward the Resistance. War, postwar confusion, the landscape of a working-class town, and a painful love for Rita all combine to turn private memory into a record of an era.
Review Summaries
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Readers tend to respond favorably to the way the novel ties historical change to a personal coming-of-age story. At the same time, some find the restrained style and political weight demanding.
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The review highlights how a private coming-of-age story expands into a shared memory of fascism and the postwar years. It emphasizes the symbolic object at the center of the novel and the way personal and historical time overlap.
Book Information
- Publisher
- BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli
- Published
- 2001-08-01
- Pages
- 104 pages
- Language
- イタリア語
- Size
- 12.8 x 1.5 x 20.3 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9788817126144
- ISBN-10
- 8817126144
Amazon.co.jp: Il bottone di Stalingrado : Bilenchi, Romano: 洋書
Reviews
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Bel romanzo d'impegno politico e civile. Protagonista è Marco, un ragazzo passato all'antifascismo dopo aver compreso che il regime di Mussolini rappresentava "l'oppressione di pochi privilegiati su molti bisognosi". Lo stile di Bilenchi è asciutto, essenziale, ma anche incalzante quando racconta fatti drammatici come gli scontri fra operai e fascisti, italiani e tedeschi, dimostranti e poliziotti. Molto ben caratterizzati anche Paolo, Mauro, Rita e il soldato austriaco Hans al quale si deve, per così dire, il titolo del libro.