Valentino and Sagittarius
Valentino and Sagittarius are two novellas from the 1950s, both by Italian modernist, Natalia Ginzburg, translated from their original Italian. Both novellas are told in first-person, from the perspective of a young adult woman, an insignificant daughter. Both include parents with seemingly unrealistic expectations for one of the narrator’s siblings. Both come to life in post WWII Italy as they grapple with the theme of disappointment and generational divides. While they share no characters in common and stand alone, they are certainly related and suite each other nicely in this New York Review Books edition.
Valentino’s titular character is the beloved son of the family, the narrator’s brother. The father has great hopes that Valentino “was destined to become a man of consequence,” a phrase, first written on the first page and repeated many times. From the first pages, then, the father communicates his tremendous pride in and hope for his son. Also from the start, however, Valentino’s character falls short of such praise. Thus, a tension emerges between the generations early. The heartache resulting from such tension and disappointment, drives this novella.
Sagittarius is the story of the narrator’s mother and her great disappointment. Having moved into the city from the country with a prideful air, the mother repeats the phrase, “enough and to spare for the parish poo,” many times in the story’s first half. Like the father’s repeated phrase in Valentino, the repetition and pride wrapped in these words embody the mother’s personality. As the story continues, this line appears less and less frequently; a marker of her diminishing conceit. As in Valentino, the narrator of Sagittarius accepts her modest life and its lack of grandiosity; both narrator’s wisdom and acceptance of the cards life deals contrast greatly with their respective parents.
Both stories transport the reader to post-war Italy and include a hefty dose of dashed expectations, particularly for members of the older generation. Life, Ginzburg’s writing points out, does not always deliver what one hopes. Valentino and Sagittarius both demonstrate how often we fool ourselves into believing what we wish to be, rather than accepting things for what they are. Children may not be as grandiose as parents wish; and dreams, perhaps, should be modest and realistic. Both these stories include plenty of heartache, but alongside Ginzburg’s narrators demonstrate a resilience to the troubles and regrets so common to the modern era. This single volume that encapsulates both, provides a moving glimpse at the simple eloquence of Natalia Ginzburg’s writing.
Bibliography:
Ginzburg, Natalia. Valentino and Sagittarius. Translated by Avril Bardino. New York Review Books: 2020.
A Few Great Passages:
“I mustn’t give way to such negative thoughts, she said: they were wooly and senseless and only cluttered the mind like unhealthy vapours” (S 96).
