I'm only sorry that the herbalist wasn't a woman, since it's a traditionally female profession. But he was probably based on someone the author knew in real life.
I liked how Pirrone, when faced with a woman pregnant out of wedlock is not moralising (as you might imagine of a man of the cloth) but utterly pragmatic.
How interesting - that quote you included at the top from Tomasi about giving readers a break. I've been wondering about Pirrone and the role he plays in the story. He seems like an important auxiliary to Fabrizio somehow. And both appear to be 'dying breeds' as the saying goes.
Pirrone has to be pragmatic if he wants to get along with Fabrizio, doesn't he? The prince has no patience for bleeding heart rhetoric. There's actually a long tradition for formidable priests in Italian literature, I guess because they were everywhere in real life too.
I really enjoyed this chapter and didn’t think of it as a detour until I read your notes. That’s probably because I like the character of Pirrone very much. He has always felt like a man of hidden depths and this week we got to understand a little more about him. I find it interesting that a character who represents the church is portrayed so sympathetically. Was the church generally considered a benign power during this period? We so often see priests portrayed as power/money-hungry politicians. Pirrone, while clearly a natural diplomat, seems to be a genuine man with his heart in the right place. I enjoyed his chat with the sleepy herbalist very much. It gave a great insight into his character.
Ha, church, religion and priests are always going to be divisive subjects. Back in the 1860s Sicily was SUPER religious, while Turin and the Kingdom of Italy tended to be atheist, so you got a lot of conflict there. I think Lampedusa himself recognized the flaws of both the Church as an institution and of priests as individuals, but he had a sort of nostalgic fondness for them.
That’s very interesting. I’ve always thought of Italy (even today) as being almost universally religious - at least much more so than those of us in northern Europe. But I hadn’t thought about different regions having had different religious views - especially to the point of atheism. This is why reading along with you is so enriching! 💖
Italy is still more religious than most countries, especially when it comes to older generations. We never had big scandals like what happened in Ireland putting our faith in catholic authorities into question. Or if we did, they were hidden / dismissed better.
I’ve fallen behind a bit and am mid-chapter 5. Hope to catch up by next week but with the Thanksgiving holiday, it may be longer. It’s interesting to get another perspective of what is going on in the world. I’m enjoying the chapter so far. The herbalist has a point re: taxes and the sun belonging to all was very valid. I do believe in paying taxes, theoretically, to benefit the society as a whole and for its infrastructure, but it always seems to imbalanced and unfair in practice.
Ha, that could be said for government in general, couldn't it? Good and important in theory, more often than not corrupt and ineffective. I'm all for paying taxes too, but we got to demand that they are used fairly.
Next chapter is rather meaty, I was just thinking how unfortunate it is that it'll fall on Thanksgiving week. But hey, it'll be there when you guys wake up from the food coma!
This chapter was fascinating. It gave depth to the priest and what a marvelous herbalist! No wonder the souther part remained in poverty.
I'm only sorry that the herbalist wasn't a woman, since it's a traditionally female profession. But he was probably based on someone the author knew in real life.
I liked how Pirrone, when faced with a woman pregnant out of wedlock is not moralising (as you might imagine of a man of the cloth) but utterly pragmatic.
How interesting - that quote you included at the top from Tomasi about giving readers a break. I've been wondering about Pirrone and the role he plays in the story. He seems like an important auxiliary to Fabrizio somehow. And both appear to be 'dying breeds' as the saying goes.
Pirrone has to be pragmatic if he wants to get along with Fabrizio, doesn't he? The prince has no patience for bleeding heart rhetoric. There's actually a long tradition for formidable priests in Italian literature, I guess because they were everywhere in real life too.
I really enjoyed this chapter and didn’t think of it as a detour until I read your notes. That’s probably because I like the character of Pirrone very much. He has always felt like a man of hidden depths and this week we got to understand a little more about him. I find it interesting that a character who represents the church is portrayed so sympathetically. Was the church generally considered a benign power during this period? We so often see priests portrayed as power/money-hungry politicians. Pirrone, while clearly a natural diplomat, seems to be a genuine man with his heart in the right place. I enjoyed his chat with the sleepy herbalist very much. It gave a great insight into his character.
Ha, church, religion and priests are always going to be divisive subjects. Back in the 1860s Sicily was SUPER religious, while Turin and the Kingdom of Italy tended to be atheist, so you got a lot of conflict there. I think Lampedusa himself recognized the flaws of both the Church as an institution and of priests as individuals, but he had a sort of nostalgic fondness for them.
That’s very interesting. I’ve always thought of Italy (even today) as being almost universally religious - at least much more so than those of us in northern Europe. But I hadn’t thought about different regions having had different religious views - especially to the point of atheism. This is why reading along with you is so enriching! 💖
Italy is still more religious than most countries, especially when it comes to older generations. We never had big scandals like what happened in Ireland putting our faith in catholic authorities into question. Or if we did, they were hidden / dismissed better.
I’ve fallen behind a bit and am mid-chapter 5. Hope to catch up by next week but with the Thanksgiving holiday, it may be longer. It’s interesting to get another perspective of what is going on in the world. I’m enjoying the chapter so far. The herbalist has a point re: taxes and the sun belonging to all was very valid. I do believe in paying taxes, theoretically, to benefit the society as a whole and for its infrastructure, but it always seems to imbalanced and unfair in practice.
Ha, that could be said for government in general, couldn't it? Good and important in theory, more often than not corrupt and ineffective. I'm all for paying taxes too, but we got to demand that they are used fairly.
Next chapter is rather meaty, I was just thinking how unfortunate it is that it'll fall on Thanksgiving week. But hey, it'll be there when you guys wake up from the food coma!