My Writing Life: Awareness, Reflection, Inspiration: A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano

“For me, to write has always been to pluck from the dense and complex fabric of life some image, from the noise of the world some note, and surround them in silence.”

Lalla Romano

When a tyrant starts a war and tries to impose a fascist regime, the strongest response of resistance is one of love, community and friendship. This may be the subtle message of A Silence Shared… Techno-fascism may require the same kind of resistance, even though techno-fascism has the power to sabotage love, community and friendship in more effective ways. Can insightful books battle these effects?

The fact that Lalla Romano wrote A Silence Shared in the 1950s is mind boggling. She was clearly ahead of her times. Lalla Romano (1906-2001) was awarded several prestigious prizes in Italy for her literary works. Yet the literary recognition she attained was not enough to have her works translated into the English language until the year 2023. Why did this happen? The only reason that comes to mind is her gender.

She was a woman.

Lalla Romano was a visual artist before she became a writer. She was also a teacher and a translator of literary works.

A Silence Shared is a novel based on the personal experiences of the author. The story takes place in a small town in the province of Cuneo, Italy, in the early 1940s. Giulia lost her home, so she has to stay with a couple of cousins with whom she does not have much in common. The place where she stays is oppressive and dull, but Giulia finds solace and peace when she visits her friends, Ada and Paolo, a married couple with a daughter. Stefano, Giulia’s husband, is away working in Turin, but he comes and stays with them when he is available.

“The cousins had set up a gloomy room for us, their mother’s old sitting room. The only option was to stay put on the bed, in that room cramped with furniture and other useless things, which moreover happened to be freezing cold. The bed, located in the middle of the room, was tall and had a bulging ‘bombe’ frame. It wasn’t a double bed, and even for two skinny people it was tight.”

The way Giulia feels about her childhood town helps the reader understand her better in that setting:

“I felt lost in that town, where I had spent my childhood no less: my return had been forced by the war.” This may have been the bridge to the friendship with Ada and Paolo, who may have felt lost too.

The beginning of the novel caught my attention straight away. Lalla Romano is introducing Ada and Paolo:

“I had heard people talk about them, the way locals talk about out-of-towners: as something suspicious, if not outright scandalous. He, a teacher and intellectual, sent to that isolated town near the border as if in a kind of exile; she, proud, aristocratic. No one knew how they managed to get by: they didn’t give lessons, and yet no one could say they had racked up any debts. Worst of all was that they ‘didn’t go to church.’ I felt bad for these strangers. For them, life in that provincial town could not have been easy.”

The intrigue in this introduction suits the story. The author will carve deeper into situations that expose the authentic self of the characters.

How can one describe the mystical nature of Lalla Romano’s poetical prose? Entrancing and vivid, her words paint landscapes and people with artistry and empathy. She endows her writing with both simplicity and depth.

One of her talents is to awaken the reader’s curiosity in the people she describes. How refreshing it is to read her prose!

I appreciate that she deals with her main characters with respect and unsentimental tenderness. Lalla Romano examines the heart of the characters with sensitivity and realistic expectations instead of encasing them in boring stereotypes. Modern writers have a lot to learn from her work. (I will not elaborate on this; you can simply read previous blog posts of mine to understand my comparative statement).

Lalla Romano does not waste time boosting the power of prejudices and judgments. Her insights reflect a deep understanding of the behaviors and attitudes of the people of Tetto Murato. Most importantly, one does not feel threatened or attacked when reading her prose. It is a safe space of reflection and inspiration.

The shortage of food and fuel as an effect of war is portrayed in subtle ways. She shows how the characters respond to the effects of the war. In this paragraph, Lalla Romano refers to Ada:

“She really was hungry but she was used to eating little, next to nothing actually, to the point that Paolo often scolded her and she would cover up the sacrifices she made with lines like ‘I already ate,’ or ’You know I don’t know how that tastes.’ Now she was loading up on food precisely in preparation for future fasts.”

Another example is the situation in which Giulia comes across an apple tree on her way back from work:

“On the highest branches of the apple trees I would eye a few forgotten fruits, gleaming red; sometimes a fallen apple shimmered on top of the dirt in the field amid the sparse strands of newly sprouted wheat. Then I would look around me like a thief, climb over the low hedge, and run into the field. If a growling dog caught sight of me, my heart would leap into my throat; I’d hide the apple—always a tiny thing—in my hand.”

Conclusion

A Silence Shared is a stunning, delicate masterpiece, so I invite you to take your time with it; relish the moments of contemplation; explore its insights and vivid settings. It is a gift to get to know Ada, Paolo, Stefano and Giulia in the face of their ordeals. It is also entertaining to understand them.

Welcome the adventure of its prose and discover the humanity of its characters. It is a peaceful pause from the fast-paced rhythm of our lives.

I purchased this book from a small local bookstore and I would love to keep it, but it would be selfish of me to do so. Therefore, I will gift it to a little free library.

May this book find the right readers in its own mysterious journey.