Into the War
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
Set in Italy in the summer of 1940, this trio of stories explores the relationships between the different generations caught up in the war as well as Calvino's own experiences as a teenager. In the title story, 'Into the War', we are given an insight into what life was really like for those too young to be conscripted into Mussolini's army, while in 'The Avanguardisti in Menton', Calvino and his friends take a revealingly anti-climactic trip to the garrisoned French town of Menton, the sole Italian conquest of the early months of the conflict. The final story, 'UNPA Nights', is a touching, comic tale of friendship in a blackout, where the narrator's imagination wanders as he roams through the seedier parts of the darkened town instead of guarding the school buildings.
Into the War is Calvino at his autobiographical best, combining brilliantly recollected memory with compelling wit and perfect prose.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sixty years after its original publication in Italy, Calvino's trio of war stories has been translated for the first time into English. The line between fiction and autobiography is decidedly blurred in the character of the unnamed, first-person narrator. A lengthy translator's note draws parallels to the author's life. The book also includes a previously unpublished note by Calvino that provides further contextualization. The title story, set in 1940, about Italy's entry into WWII, is both nostalgic and ominous. On vacation from school, the narrator and his friend Jerry want to visit the beach, where they hope to get lucky with a haughty blonde beauty. The city is flooded with refugees, and Fascist Party members are viewed as saviors. The story concludes with a random sighting of Mussolini. "The Avanguardisti in Menton" is set a few months later, and there's a larger military presence: the small French town of Menton is now a new Italian border post, which is visited by the narrator and his Fascist friend Biancone. "UNPA Nights" describes the teenage narrator's first night away from home, at his once-a-week night watchman post for the Italian Anti-Aircraft Corps. Calvino is a supreme storyteller, writing with ease and transparency that make the reader a confidante.
