The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovannino Guareschi 10 out of 10
The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovannino Guareschi
10 out of 10
The Little World of Don Camillo is an eminent, sublime novel, perhaps contrary to the name that suggests somehow a vaudeville – or at least it did for this silly reader – and it has been deservedly included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, available here:
there are two main characters, opponents that at the same time appear to hate each other, but they also respect and often support one another, in spite of the fact that they belong to two camps that could not be further from each other – Don Camillo is the catholic priest of this village near the Po river, while his nemesis, Peppone, is the leader of the local branch of the communist party, and after the first few chapters also the elected mayor.
Both protagonists are strong – so powerful that when a machine that measures the strength of a punch arrives in the locality, first the mayor hits 950 out of a total of 1,000, then he provokes his major enemy (and friend paradoxically) by repeating the accomplishment and adding one point, then another, until the priest arrives and reaches the maximum score, to the astonishment of those present.
The propensity that the clergyman has to fight with those who insult him, or more seriously the faith, Jesus, god or other holy figures, gets him into trouble quite a few times, for he is so athletic that he once plunges a huge, heavy table into a crowd of reds that had mocked him, making over fifteen casualties and making both the investigators and his vicar doubt the accuracy of the report, until he repeats the fantastic stunt and lifts the table, or a heavier weight for the vicar.
In another instance, a regional boxing champion is invited to fight with the village Hercules, only to send him to the floor after a short time and then see the mayor jump into the ring to win and wipe the shame of the defeat – in what is after all a competition among party comrades, for they are all communists – and he is also sent down, but the Knock Out is revenged by…Don Camillo, who fights disguised, with beard and clothes that cover his identity.
Apart from extreme physical force, the two representatives of different ideologies, always in combat with each other, have an incredible bravery that makes them face the most dangerous situations without stepping back, as in the case of the fire and consequent explosion at an arms arsenal, hidden by the men of the Komintern – as the priest likes to mock them – discovered by the said clergyman and set on fire, after keeping a machine gun for himself, in case the red revolution is started and he has to defend the church.
Don Camillo talks with Jesus, on a regular basis and these conversations are amusing –often hilarious – insightful, charming, ecumenical and prove that Christ – if he thinks as the character envisaged by the brilliant Giovannino Guareschi – has a wonderful mastery of human psychology, although he confesses with modesty that he does not know about politics, would not indicate a winning horse – even if it would be for the good of the church or auxiliaries for it – and explains many situations, such as when we find a wallet and it is not his doing, as someone’s potential gain would also be another man’s loss and chagrin.
When the wife of the communist – by the way, normally, such a loyalty would be reason to hate the personage, for this reader, having lived for twenty five years under the communist dictatorship and forever after suffering the consequences has been enough to reject Any Communist and wish him to end in hell – leader wants her baby baptized, she is rejected.
Indeed, they want the boy to be called Lenin and that is enough for the priest to send them packing and then face Peppone, who enters the church furious and insolent, albeit he also has the desire to have his son baptized as Camillo…Lenin, and then his nemesis would finally agree, in spite of the fact that Lenin. Bolsheviks, the Komintern and all things associated with that awful doctrine are anathema to him and he hates it when they win in a football game, during which the referee works for the red side, having been bribed 2,500 lire, which is 500 more than the priest himself had offered in order to have his team favored!
The two competitors try and often outsmart each other, as in the case when the mayor comes to the priest and asks if it is his duty to absolve those who come and talk about their mistakes, and after Don Camillo agrees, he then presents his political speech, prepared for the inauguration and wants it corrected, for in school, he has not paid attention to lessons, and when the clergy is angry, Jesus calms him down and explains that syntax and grammar have nothing devilish and therefore he should help the man who came to him.
There are innumerate occasions when the confrontations are hilarious – actually, most of the time – as in the scene where the priest steals a cigar from the red leader – who has not shown his gratitude for the help offered with the speech and thus Jesus agrees with the act – the moment when the two opponents come head to head with one another, but there are dramatic events as well, as when the cows at one farm are about to die and help is needed.
Peppone is always ready to organize strikes – one could argue that this what communists do most of the time…we used to have many jokes, one said that ‘we pretend to work, they pretend to pay us’ and the Jerome K. Jerome quote as good for this absurd system too: ‘we love work, we can watch people work for hours’ .
In one occasion, when the workers at a farm stop their activity, the animals suffer for days and their heartbreaking noises are heard for long distances, when Don Camillo decides to intervene and thus feeds the animals with the help of his political enemy and initiator of the strike, who would gain the upper hand when the landlord, no longer hearing the cattle, thinks they are about to die of hunger, having lost even the strength to moan, concedes to some rise in wages.
This is a stupendous, scintillating, extremely enjoyable novel.
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