Lots to think about here. Perhaps too political any other time, but not now. America is fractured and everyone is siloed in their own delusional misery. I don’t know if this is the same as Sicily, being subsumed into a newly formed nation other than not understanding what government is - wanting things to change but stay the same too because that’s what you know. It’s a volatile time where ambitious men like Sedara can find a place for themselves and rise up. While others haven’t a clue what is happening or turn away from being any part of it like the Prince out of pride and lack of foresight. I related very much to Chevalley and feeling in the middle and not fitting in with either group.
In the US, I think it is more a lack of trust or a distrust and turning to the ridiculous false prophet who is a conduit for all your grievances, a flimflam confidence man who promises you he’ll fix it whatever it is and he’s so unconventional (I say crazy) that maybe he could? At least he let’s you release your anger and find a scapegoat so that you are not the problem. I don’t know I’m still in shock and feel like I’m in bizarro world.
As for Turin, I’ve never been. I’ve mostly been to Rome as that is where my family live. I’m watching The Law According to Lidia Poet on Netflix which takes place in Turin in the late 1800s. I was wondering why they sometimes speak French words. Lidia also said she was Waldenstein and not catholic. I never heard of that, I googled it but I still don’t quite understand. It’s a pretty good show loosely based on a true story and reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. I’ll add Brigands to my list to watch thanks for that!
ha, bizzarro world is the right mental image. modern US Americans, especially from southern red states, remind me more of modern Sicilians (or Italians in generals, to be honest), a mixture of selfishness, poverty and past wounds that still haven't been exorcised.
I never actually watched Lidia Poet but I saw the cast filming in Turin last year, quite by coincidence. I couldn't take pictures because Netflix's security is tight, it was a scene with a group of suffragettes storming a political rally, it was August and sweltering hot and all the actors were in winter clothes.
Waldensians are a small group (around 20,000) of Evangelical Protestants living mainly in Turin and Piedmont, there's not many of them nowadays but I rather like what they stand for, and they have an interesting history, they split from the Catholic church about four centuries before Martin Luther - although today they describe themselves ad Calvinists. They are way more accepting of homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion, so let's say their relationship with the Catholics is still rocky.
“….we ourselves call it pride but in reality it is blindness.” I finally found a reason that the US election ended up the way it did. But we are all blind to something in ourselves. “And we will always hate someone who tries to wake us.” How humans hate to be told the truth about who they are. It so easier to remain static and not try to change. Buddhist call the road to enlightenment a process of awakening. I have often listened to friends complain about their life or attitudes or something. When I ask them what they are going to do about it, most say, “Nothing.”
I kept thinking about the US election too while reading this. It's funny, it's talking about a specific group of people, Sicilians, and yet it's so universal?
I’m just doubling back on this chapter. There’s a line in here that really struck me. “I belong to an unlucky generation, swung between the old world and the new, and I find myself ill at ease in both”. The lament of Generation X! Born and raised pre-digitally but surviving in a digital world. At home in neither period. Or is it just the cry of the middle-aged since time immemorial? I felt for the Prince at this point. He knows he’s become a fish out of water. Also, the tiny paragraph at the end of the chapter where Chevalley wipes the window pane - marvellous writing. So evocative I felt I was really there. It felt like something Mantel might write - that super-close third person. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It feels like Mantel must have read The Leopard at some point, doesn't it? And once again, it's incredible how a book about someone's very specific experience can feel so universal.
This is so interesting - and your comments on contemporary politics and racism put it all in perspective. I’ve come to notice that we think of our modern selves as somehow ‘different’ to our ancestors, but actually we make the same stupid mistakes (usually born of fear or greed) over and over again. I listened to Thomas More’s Utopia earlier this year on Audible and some passages felt as if they could have been written yesterday.
Lots to think about here. Perhaps too political any other time, but not now. America is fractured and everyone is siloed in their own delusional misery. I don’t know if this is the same as Sicily, being subsumed into a newly formed nation other than not understanding what government is - wanting things to change but stay the same too because that’s what you know. It’s a volatile time where ambitious men like Sedara can find a place for themselves and rise up. While others haven’t a clue what is happening or turn away from being any part of it like the Prince out of pride and lack of foresight. I related very much to Chevalley and feeling in the middle and not fitting in with either group.
In the US, I think it is more a lack of trust or a distrust and turning to the ridiculous false prophet who is a conduit for all your grievances, a flimflam confidence man who promises you he’ll fix it whatever it is and he’s so unconventional (I say crazy) that maybe he could? At least he let’s you release your anger and find a scapegoat so that you are not the problem. I don’t know I’m still in shock and feel like I’m in bizarro world.
As for Turin, I’ve never been. I’ve mostly been to Rome as that is where my family live. I’m watching The Law According to Lidia Poet on Netflix which takes place in Turin in the late 1800s. I was wondering why they sometimes speak French words. Lidia also said she was Waldenstein and not catholic. I never heard of that, I googled it but I still don’t quite understand. It’s a pretty good show loosely based on a true story and reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. I’ll add Brigands to my list to watch thanks for that!
ha, bizzarro world is the right mental image. modern US Americans, especially from southern red states, remind me more of modern Sicilians (or Italians in generals, to be honest), a mixture of selfishness, poverty and past wounds that still haven't been exorcised.
I never actually watched Lidia Poet but I saw the cast filming in Turin last year, quite by coincidence. I couldn't take pictures because Netflix's security is tight, it was a scene with a group of suffragettes storming a political rally, it was August and sweltering hot and all the actors were in winter clothes.
Waldensians are a small group (around 20,000) of Evangelical Protestants living mainly in Turin and Piedmont, there's not many of them nowadays but I rather like what they stand for, and they have an interesting history, they split from the Catholic church about four centuries before Martin Luther - although today they describe themselves ad Calvinists. They are way more accepting of homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion, so let's say their relationship with the Catholics is still rocky.
The is for the history lesson. That’s really interesting
*Thanks for
“….we ourselves call it pride but in reality it is blindness.” I finally found a reason that the US election ended up the way it did. But we are all blind to something in ourselves. “And we will always hate someone who tries to wake us.” How humans hate to be told the truth about who they are. It so easier to remain static and not try to change. Buddhist call the road to enlightenment a process of awakening. I have often listened to friends complain about their life or attitudes or something. When I ask them what they are going to do about it, most say, “Nothing.”
I kept thinking about the US election too while reading this. It's funny, it's talking about a specific group of people, Sicilians, and yet it's so universal?
I’m just doubling back on this chapter. There’s a line in here that really struck me. “I belong to an unlucky generation, swung between the old world and the new, and I find myself ill at ease in both”. The lament of Generation X! Born and raised pre-digitally but surviving in a digital world. At home in neither period. Or is it just the cry of the middle-aged since time immemorial? I felt for the Prince at this point. He knows he’s become a fish out of water. Also, the tiny paragraph at the end of the chapter where Chevalley wipes the window pane - marvellous writing. So evocative I felt I was really there. It felt like something Mantel might write - that super-close third person. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It feels like Mantel must have read The Leopard at some point, doesn't it? And once again, it's incredible how a book about someone's very specific experience can feel so universal.
Absolutely. I agree 100%.
This is so interesting - and your comments on contemporary politics and racism put it all in perspective. I’ve come to notice that we think of our modern selves as somehow ‘different’ to our ancestors, but actually we make the same stupid mistakes (usually born of fear or greed) over and over again. I listened to Thomas More’s Utopia earlier this year on Audible and some passages felt as if they could have been written yesterday.