The Albanians
2011; University of Oklahoma; Volume: 85; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/wlt.2011.0236
ISSN1945-8134
AutoresErmanno Cavazzoni, Jamie Richards,
Tópico(s)Balkans: History, Politics, Society
Resumooc LLI <§ GC X Q. 0 5 1 u O 0 1 Q. FICTION Editorial note: From Ermanno Cavazzorii's Vite brevi di idioti ,copyright©1994by Feltrinelli Editore. Englishtranslation copyright©201 1 by Jamie Richards. Toread two more stories by Cavazzoni, visit WLT's website (worldliteraturetoday.com). Naldo One pound; afternoon, Govi they worked ran a dog after at escaped the him, city uphill, from pound. the for Oneafternoon, a dogescaped from the pound;they ranafter him, uphill, for anhour anda half, heandoneofthe dogcatchers; they caught uptohimatthetopofa hill, butthe dogwent ballistic andbitGoviontheshin. This probably didsomething tohim, ormaybe there wassomething wrong with him already. Hewent homeandsaidtohiswife: "Hello, Ma'am,canI helpyou?"Hiswife replied: "Isthevillage idiot backso soon?"Sheoften usedthisformulation whentheytalked. He stared at her - itwas as ifherd neverseenherbefore. His wifewas no beauty. So Govithought: "Thiswomanis crazy. I'dbetter humor her." Indeed, hiswife's hair was disheveled, andshewas wearing an oldhousecoatthat sheworetoclean.Inother words, she didn'tlookliketheladyofanyhouse."Thisis somecrazy vagrant" - hethought - "whothinks sheliveshere."Govisaidnothing moretoher becausehe started to feela burning sensation inhisstomach. In thekitchen there was a little man - thiswas hisson,buthe didn'trecognize him. He assumed he'dcomeinwith thewoman. Thislittle man, however, didn't eventurn togreet him; hewaseating something, somecheese. Govi didn't kickthem outbecausehethought maybe there was something hehadn'tfigured out.For example, howthey'd gotten in.Andwhythey weren't afraid ofhim. They were acting like itwas their house. So from that dayon,every morning when he woke up he foundthosepeople in the kitchen. He was particularly disgusted bythe little man,with hispeachfuzzandpimply face. Buthe justactednormal. Thewomanalways seemedtoworry that thelittle manwasn'teatingenough . Thesepeoplewerehisfamily, but he didn'trecognize them anymore. Sometimes he would remarkon the coffee, meanwhile observing themas theyspreadbutter on their toast andthelittle manatesomesausage. 54 iWorld Literature Today For a whilehe thought theywerefrom Albania and thathe had somehowsigned someagreement tohostthem. He had in fact signedsomething in supportofrefugees - he did remember that - and hisco-worker at the pound,Zamboni, remembered ittoo.Govitold him,"Therearerefugees in myhouse,a man anda woman." Zamboni said,"Well, yeah, you didsignthat petition." His family didn'tnotice thathe no longer knew whothey were; hisstatements justseemed a littlemoregeneric.His wifehad always thought hima pathetic idiot, as shealwaystold him;lately, shethought soevenmore. Then,sinceGovi had a pepticulcer,he requested a house call fromthe doctor, Dr. Prini - theperson whoreported this case,which wouldhaveotherwise remained unknown (and unknowable). "Those people arehere, intheother room," he toldthedoctor. "There's a middleagedwoman , anda little man" - hisson - "who's kind ofgross." Dr.Prini examined him, listening attentively, incasethiswas related totheulcer. Inextreme cases,ulcers canalsoaffect thebrain. Govisaidthat the little manwasabout five feet tall andthat hetried tostay awayfrom himbecause he smelled likeelastic nylon. He woresecondhandclothes from theRed Cross."Generally speaking," he asked,"do they disinfect those?" Andthewomanhad an indefinable smelltoo, likea hospital smell. "Maybe," heasked,"it'sa smell causedbysomeillness?" Thiswoman went around like shewasinher ownhouse, backhome inAlbania. In a way,itwas handyhaving her around, sinceshemadeomelettes ormeatballs every day,most ofwhich werefor thelittle man. Whenthere was extra, hewouldeatsome.The little manwasa total pig - that's justhowAlbaniansare - andthewomantoo.They'd fill their plateswithmeatballs andstuff their faces; then they'd takea drink andwolfdownsomemore. Thisprocessusuallytookabouttenminutes, though sometimes longer becausetheywould alternate meatballs andomelettes. Govimanaged toeatsomeofanomelette, which actually wasn't half bad.Butthelittle manwouldgivehimdirty looks,and thewomanwouldlookat himlike hewas thepig.ThesetwoAlbanians had taken overhishouseandtreated itlikea greasy spoon bydayanda hotel bynight. Especially because thewomansleptin his bed. "Better herthan that little man,"hethought, evenifhecouldn't decide which ofthe twohefound more revolting. Thewomanmadea lotofnoisewhensheslept, especially herbreathing. He couldalsohearthe little man's breathing from the other room, where heoccupied thecouch. Itwas likesomekindof camp.Buttheproblem was:whatexactly hadhe signed? "Couldn't youperhaps inquire, discreetly ofcourse" - he askedthedoctor - "without lettingon thatI wantto takeitback?"Whathe actually wanted thedoctor tofind outwas,How longdoAlbanians usually stay - ballpark? Don't they haveconcentration campsfor them? These Albanians, he said,wereaggravating hisulcer, since nowheatenothing butfried food. What's more, despite hisyoung age,theson alsohada mildulcer - perhaps itwas genetic andhebegannottorecognize hisparents. This according toDr.Prini. He wouldwakeup duringthenight , no idea whattimeit was, and wanderaroundthehousewiththisburning in hisstomach. Intheadjacent room, hecameupon twopeoplesleeping inthesamebed.He racked hisbrainstrying to figure outwhothey could be.Thenhewenttogeta closer lookandinthe semidarkness hewasabletomake outa manand a woman. Themanwassnoring a little. He stood there staring athim, thewoman too.He couldn't figure outhowthey'd gotin.Itwas a mystery tohim.Theyseemedlikesomemarried couple who'dcome tosleepinhishouse. Maybe a couple ofhomeless peopleorsquatters. They werethere during the daytoo.Thewoman wasalways inthe kitchen frying something, he(theson)ateit,and shewouldfry upsomething else.Thentheman, whowasbalding, wouldcomeandhewouldeat something too, especially ifthere wasanomelette, after which he wouldrubhisstomach andsay hehadindigestion. Since heoften heard theman mention thefar-off landofAlbania, heassumed they wereoriginally from there. Dr.Prini believes that thecauseofallthis is theulcer, a hereditary form thatcausespartial lipo-mnemonic cretinism (i.e.,gapsinmemory). He saysthat family members often don'trecognizeoneanother , without anyone everacknowledging it.Theroot causeofallthis isfried food, whichis toxictothebody.Dr.Priniis writing an article onthesubject that willappearinthe Bulletin of Hygiene andDisease Prevention. Bologna Translation from the Italian ByJamie Richards His family didn't notice that he no longer knew who they were; his statements just seemed a little more generic. His wife had always thought him a pathetic idiot, as she always told him; lately, she thought so even more. Ermarino Cavazzoni (b.1947), from Reggio Emilia, isthe award-winning author of many fantastic and absurd tales. Of his many books, including Vite brevi diidioti, Cirenaica, Gli scrittori inutili, Storia naturale dei giganti, and IIlimbo delle fantasticazioni, two novels have been published inEnglish translation; The Nocturnal Library (Vagabond Voices, 2010) and Voice of the Moon (Serpent's Tail, 1990). Heisalso aprofessor atthe University of Bologna and a member of the literary group OpLePo (www.oplepo.it). Jamie Richards, currently adoctoral candidate in comparative literature atthe University of Oregon, isthe translator of several literary works from Italian, including Giancarlo Pastore's Jellyfish (2008), Nicolai Lilin's Free Fall (forthcoming in 201 1), and Giovanni Orelli's Walaschek's Dream (forthcoming in 2012). July -August 201 1i55 New & Noteworthy Translations of Italian Literature FICTION Gianrico Carofiglio, Temporary Perfections, tr. Antony Shugaar (Bitter Lemon, 2011) Ermanno Cavazzoni, The Nocturnal Library, tr.AllanCameron (Vagabond Voices, 2010) Cristina AliFarah, Little Mother, tr. Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi & Victoria Offredi Poletto (IndianaUniv.Press, 2011)[seereview onpage 61] PapKhouma, 1WasanElephant Salesman: Adventures between Dakar ,Paris, andMilan, tr. Rebecca Hopkins (Indiana Univ.Press, 2010) PaoloMantegazza, TheYear 3000:A Dream, tr.Nicoletta Pireddu (Univ.ofNebraska Press, 2010) DaciaMaraini, Train toBudapest, tr. Silvester Mazzarella (Arcadia Books, 2010) PaolaMasino, Birth andDeath ofthe Housewife, tr. Marella Feltrin-Morris (State Univ.ofNewYork Press, 2009) Lorenzo Mattotti & ClaudioPiersanti, Stigmata, tr. KimThompson (Fantagraphics, 2010) Gianni Rodari, Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto, tr.Antony Shugaar (Melville House,2011) PaoloSorrentino, Everybody's Right, tr. Antony Shugaar (EuropaEditions, 2011) Giacomo Leopardi, Canti, tr. Jonathan Galassi(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) Valerio Magrelli, Vanishing Points, tr. Jamie McKendrick (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) AdaNegri, Songs ofthe Island andTheBook ofMara, tr.MariaA.Costantini (Italica Press, 2011) Antonia Pozzi,Poems, tr.Peter Robinson (Oneworld Classics, 2011) ^7£I*I*l3P / |!BHii8Ptv MEMOIR W,' M Umberto Eco,Confessions of a Young Novelist (Harvard Univ.Press, 2011) LuigiMeneghello, Deliver Us,tr.Frederika Randall(Northwestern Univ.Press, 2011) ■■■■■■■I is onlya temporary residence fortheuniversity, renovations areunderway ona historic palazzo that 1MB S, willaccommodate up tofifty students and faculty Italy eachsemester. Sincethefirst groupofabouttwenty students spentthree weeksinArezzoin2006,theprogram ^ has grownto nearly150 students thisacademic ^ ^ r# year. Students canchoosefrom short-term summer f ^ programs forthosewho a more 1 a semester or the year.All stuj ^m dents take languageclasses they study the legacy toItaly. TheOU Arezzoprogram also offers less subjects forstudy-abroad students. Recent examples includea classinorganic chemistry that focuses on enology(wine-making) or a structural Study Abroad, Arezzo engineering coursetaught as "MedievalFortifications andWeapons." Arezzo, Italian Italy, poet famous Petrarch as and thebirthplace the Renaissance ofthe Florence Arezzo and offers Rome proximity whilemaintaining tothetourist itsparticular hubsof Italianpoet Petrarch and the Renaissance Florence andRomewhilemaintaining itsparticular painter PierodellaFrancesca, nowcounts theUni- identity andopenness tovisitors. OU students find versity ofOklahoma among itsresidents. Inthecen- in Arezzoa welcoming homeaway from home. tro storico (historic center) ofthisTuscanhilltown, In Marchthetwocitiessolidified thisaffinity by theuniversity hasestablished a homebasefor visit- signing a sister-city agreement between Norman, ingstudents andfaculty. Whilethecurrent location Oklahoma, andArezzo, Italy. 56 1 World Literature Today ...
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