Fontamara by Ignazio Silone
Another book and another story of fascism. I can hear you saying that this book cannot be interpreted from the point view of immigration. But in fact, no, there is also an element of internal migration in the book although it is not at the centre at all.
Fontamara is a village that always has problems with the hierarchy, with the rulers, governors, with the city people. One of the issues mostly underlined in the book is the different living styles and understandings of the people in the town and in the city. An officer comes from Roma to Fontamara but nobody understands what they want to say or implement: they just say "well he has come here for money". That is for sure clear. The taxes increase all the time and this means bad news for the farm workers of the village mostly, rather than the privileged of the village, the landlords get most of the water, the lawyer who is the only educated one that seems to be standing with the people of the village actually sells his soul to the devil of corruption, too.
Ignazio Silone in the beginning of the book also makes fun of religion a little bit: Tells the conversation between the pope and Jesus. Jesus asks some privileges for the people of Fontamara and each time the pope says, "but the state, but the land, but the money, but ..." in the end, pope "grants" them fleas, so that they can itch themselves forever and never find the time to commit sins from itching all the time! The book starts with that joke and moves on to the times of fascism where a group of officers come with their dogs (meaning a vulgar and spineless group of people) and make the town suffer. The officers asks them who should rule. Each give a different answer but none says "Mussolini". In the end, the officer gives an etiquette to each of them: anarchist, leftist, liberal... etc. But this is not the end of the sufferings for Fontamara people. One of the main characters decides to go to Rome to earn money, because he knows that a man without land cannot make his woman happy in Fontamara. Like the previous people of the town did, going to the city means taking a risk, but this migration brings them money and welfare, they all dream that they come back to their town full of money. Not that this experience has been proved in the past. He goes to Rome but has to bribe almost everyone. Where does he reach? Does he find a job? Does the union help him? Do the lawyers help him? Unfortunately I would not reveal this part, I leave it open so that you can read the book.
The book was translated by one of the greatest writer of our times and of those times (1930s-1940s) Sabahattin Ali. There were many Turkish words whose meaning I either forgot or I did not know. At the end of the book there are the definitions of these words as well. This is a great thing to do in my opinion for us who have only used these words in the elementary, middle or high school. The book has personalised in my head the internal migrant who goes out of his town into the city for the sake of earning a lump some of money, dreaming to come back to his town well-off... It also gave me some ideas about the dominance of the state in every part of their lives: The state is the tool of the ruling elite, as Marx said and if the ruling elite is fascist, what is the state for? Then the state is against the people, not for the people. The police, the tax officer, the soldiers, the dogs (those who support the ideology in a violent and destructive way via rape, violence and murder) are all against the people, so who defends the rights of the people? Who stands for them? There is nobody but themselves to rely on. Fontamara has to realise this fact painfully.
I would like to read the book in Italian once more. To understand it better. I suggest the Turkish translation to everyone. To every generation. My eyes closed, I would suggest as much as I suggest Yasar Kemal, as they have taken up similar topics. They had the same worries about the abandoned people of the state, who had nothing to rely on but themselves in the hard times.
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