Behind Closed Doors: Her Father's House and Other Stories of Sicily

by Maria Messina, Elise Magistro (Translator), Fred Gardaphe (Introduction)

With an ear for dialogue that may be compared to Tillie Olsen, Grace Paley, and Ernest Hemingway, Sicilian writer Maria Messina presents the captivating and brutal realities of women living in early-twentieth-century Italy in this first collection of her work available in English.

Behind Closed Doors portrays the habits and gestures, the words spoken and those left unsaid, of individuals caught between the traditions they respect and a desire to ease the social restrictions in their lives. Messina’s stories reveal a world in which women are shuttered in their houses, virtual servants to their families, and working men immigrate to the United States in fortune-seeking droves. It is also a world of unstated privileges in which habits and implied commands perpetuate women’s servitude.

A cultural album that captures the lives of peasant, working-class, and middle-class women, this volume will appeal to millions of Italian descendants and readers everywhere fascinated by Italian history.

Maria Messina (1887–1944) wrote short stories, children’s tales, and novels about her native Sicily until she died of multiple sclerosis. In recent years, her work has been rediscovered in Italy, where she has been compared to Luigi Pirandello and Giovanni Verga.

Fred Gardaphe is the director of Italian American Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the president of MELUS (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US).

Elise Magistro holds a doctorate in Italian from UCLA and is a lecturer in Italian at Scripps College in Claremont, California.

Genres: Italy, Short Stories, Fiction, Literature

144 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Maria Messina (Palermo, 14 marzo 1887 – Pistoia, 19 gennaio 1944) è stata una scrittrice italiana.

Nacque a Palermo, secondo alcune fonti a Alimena, in provincia di Palermo, da Gaetano, ispettore scolastico, e Gaetana Valenza Traina, discendente di una famiglia baronale di Prizzi. Cresciuta a Messina, trascorse un'infanzia isolata, con i genitori ed i fratelli. Durante l'adolescenza, viaggiò molto, per via dei continui spostamenti del padre, finché, nel 1911, la sua famiglia si stabilì a Napoli.

All'età di ventidue anni, iniziò una fitta corrispondenza con Giovanni Verga, e tra il 1909 e il 1921, pubblicò una serie di racconti. Grazie all'appoggio di Verga, inoltre, una sua novella uscì sull'importante rivista letteraria, "La Nuova Antologia"; un'altra, La Mèrica, uscita su "Donna", vinse il premio Medaglia D'oro.

Fatta esclusione per i fratelli, la corrispondenza con Verga rappresentò l'unico contatto amichevole e l'unico legame con il mondo letterario. In totale, questa scrittrice produsse diversi volumi di racconti brevi, cinque romanzi e una selezione di letture per bambini, che le diedero una modesta fama. Nel 1928, uscì il suo ultimo romanzo, L'amore negato, mentre la sclerosi multipla, che le era stata diagnosticata a vent'anni, si stava complicando. Maria Messina morì, a Pistoia, nel 1944, a causa di questo male. È la zia di Annie Messina (figlia del fratello di Maria, Salvatore).

Visse molti anni a Mistretta, città in provincia di Messina, nel cuore dei monti Nebrodi, dove ambientò molti suoi racconti. Le sue spoglie mortali, assieme a quelle della madre, sono state traslate, il 24 aprile 2009, proprio a Mistretta, considerata come una sua seconda patria. Maria Messina è divenuta "cittadina onoraria" dell'antica "capitale" dei Nebrodi Inizialmente non era molto conosciuta come autrice, soltanto successivamente venne riscoperta da Giovanni Verga che ripubblicò numerose opere di Maria Messina in case editrici molto conosciute.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A selection of short stories by the rediscovered verismo writer Maria Messina. The stories concern the unjust treatment of women in Sicily. The stories are all depressing (couldn't there be at least one happy ending?) but give a interesting view of early 20th century rural Sicily. In spite of the depressing subject matter, I gave a fifth star for the Introduction and Afterward, which are excellent and will point you in the direction of other Italian authors.


If you like Italian literature (especially Giovanni Verga and the verismo movement), literature of the lower classes, or the role of women in traditional rural European societies, you will find this book of interest.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing about Maria Messina when I picked this up, but I wanted a book of short stories, and Sicilian literature is an area I am lacking. What I found out was that Maria Messina is one of those authors who has been completely ignored for years. She wrote about women from her world in the early 20th-century in Sicily; in other words, she wrote about the people no one else cared to write or read about. The women native to Sicily at that time were rarely treated better than slaves, and like many other Europeans of the time, a chance to move to America was the only possibility of a better life.

These are the stories that Messina wrote here. These are powerful stories, sad stories. Messina gives voices to the women who were often not allowed to speak. Her writing was not discovered really until the Seventies, so it took a while for her words to even find the light of day in these English translations. If I can find more of her writing I would be pleased. If I can find any mention of her in a book about Italian authors, I would be even more pleased. If anyone knows of any, give me a shout.

[Wendy Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of sad short stories about the plight of Sicilian women. Written in the popular language of well-known Italian authors of the time. The author captures the harshness of the time and the customs and limited aspirations of the peasantry.

[Susan Tekulve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rare gem of a book. Written by an early-twentieth-century Sicilian woman writer, the stories in this book are beautiful and haunting, and they give you insight into a world rarely seen by people outside Sicily. By this, I mean that Messina writes stories about Sicilian women who were not seen nor heard outside of their homes in the early twentieth century. The lives of Messina's characters are tough, almost unbearable, and yet the writing is so beautiful that I felt like I was living inside of a collection of dark fairy tales while I was reading this book--except Messina writes about real women, and the stark circumstances of their lives. Of special note are the stories that deal with emigration to America. By 1913, over one million people had emigrated off the island. Most of these people were young men, the traditional breadwinners for wives, parents and close relatives. The stories in this collection are about the people remained on the island, or returned to the island-- women, children, the elderly. These people were victimized by circumstances, but most do not act like victims. They are highly resourceful, and proud.

Messina was a fierce writer. She came from a rural town, and she taught herself to read and write. It's almost a miracle that she was published at all. I'm happy that much of her work was published, (though most of the autobiographical work about this writer was destroyed in a fire), and I'm so glad that her work is now being translated into English.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about depressing. The circumscribed lives of the women in Messina's stories are dreary, repetitive, the same sad foregone conclusions as families continue to treat daughters, sisters, and wives as chattel property to use for advancement of other family members. Have a daughter who needs a dowry? Chase off all of your shy sister's potential suitors and bully her into signing over what little she has left of your family's inheritance. Married? No problem, just sail off for America with a promise to come back and then maybe, if everything goes to hell, actually come back. Over and over, Messina treads these slices of turn of the century Sicilian life for women, and over and over the stories end in sadness, death, deprivation.

Which is not to say that the book isn't illuminating, moving, and disturbingly readable. The rediscovery and reprint of this forgotten Italian author opens up the field a bit more among the Calvinos and the Ecos and the Lampudesas out there, filling the shelves.

[DeAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with sad little stories of poor Sicilian women in the early 1900's. They were typically either abused or neglected in favor of other women are dreams of "La Merica."

During this time period, a flood of Sicilian emigants, including my great-grandfather, came to the US in hopes of a better life. One of her characters returns from the US poor and says,"Damn La Merica. She's an old whore who leads you down a bad road with all her flattery. Honest people hardly get rich over there."

Although it is a bleak picture, I am happy to have a snapshot of my families history. And, it makes me wonder about those that were left behind.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. What an interesting group of stories. Was like eavesdropping in someone's diary or journal. So personal yet a bit removed (if you know what I mean). This author certainly knows how to translate emotions in family situations. Although these stories were written a long time ago, they still have an agelessness about them - as though they were written last year. Not overly dramatic, but touching and poignant. Indulge yourself in this small book. You won't be sorry.

DD@Phila

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me, in a way, by Colm Tóibín. He did a short video for the New York Times and this was one of the three books he recommended. Now, it shows you the assumptions you make. When he spoke about his book I assumed that it would be a novel and that it had been written relatively recently. Neither assumption turned out to be the case. It is a collection of short stories and written over a hundred years ago. The introduction to this one is a must read – and you should do that before you read the rest of the book. Not least since it will help you make sense of some of the cultural things that happen throughout.

There is a Jewish prayer that says, thank god I’m not a woman. Reading this book provides the full force of that prayer. The violence the female characters are routinely met with is gobsmacking. And the acceptance that this is a normal part of life is equally so.

The reason why I read this book is due to what Colm says in his video – that the book is about the dashed hopes that have been associated with emigration, particularly by Southern Italians going to the United States. The expectation was that they could go to the US, work for a couple of years, become insanely wealthy, and return to live as kings. Too often, they returned only to feel that they had wasted years of their life and in some cases much of their health. There are times when the loss of young men, in particular, from the villages is compared to them going off to war. The comparison is perhaps more apt than you might expect.

The stories are beautiful – I know I’ve perhaps put you off this book from what I’ve said already, but I really did not intend that. They are well crafted and intimate – we are often inside the head of the narrator. Best of all, none of the stories really ‘end’. At least, we are not directly told what happens next – what is about to happen might be obvious, but it is rarely stated. There are simple and beautiful rituals – the making of sown items for one’s wedding being one, the washing and ironing of these annually. But the overwhelming sense of women being the property of fathers and then husbands pervades the entire book. It is hard to read this in places – not merely due to the overt violence, but also the mind-forged manacles used to keep women in their place that is clear on every page.

I am far too aware that my review hasn’t done justice to this book. Don’t not read it because the themes are challenging – it really is well worth the read.

[Pat Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for me.
A powerful reflection of the culture in Sicily during the mass immigration to the US from the 1880’s to WWI.

Quotes from the afterward by Elise Magistro

“….deals with the plight of the elderly, most of whom were left behind either because of financial considerations or bureaucratic regulations.
….reveal the human toll emigration exacted on Sicily’s people.
With their attention to detail, these deceptively simple works belie the importance of familial relationships and social hierarchies that defined Sicilian society and that figured centrally in the decision to emigrate.
The current volume reflects in part both my personal and scholarly relationship with Sicily—its history,culture, literature, and tragedy of emigration—as well as my desire to bring Maria Messina’s writings to an English -speaking audience.”

[Glenmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by Irish writer Colm Toibìn. The introduction is a brilliant introduction to Sicilian emigration. The stories are heartfelt and troubling, exposing the condition of patrimony in Sicilian families and society.

[Janine Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life of a Sicilian woman in the early 20th century was full of struggles, and each unique story revealed the shared challenges they faced as the men headed off to America for greater opportunities.

[Stephanie Isaacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fascinated by this genre of verismo writing

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

so interesting to read Sicilian stories written by a woman in the early 1900's.

[Diana Lupu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Andrea Chapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little book (translated by Elise Magistro) of short stories by an Italian author, Maria Messina (1887-1944) who grew up in Sicily. A friend loaned me this collection as well as Messina's novella, A House in Shadows (translated by John Shepley). Messina's writing is beautiful and haunting and conveys a time and a culture in which women were often kept uneducated and shut in their houses. Messina takes the reader behind closed doors into a world rich with memorable characters, their passions and their struggles.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction and afterward are must reads, don't skip them. These are very specific stories, written about a class of women in Sicily, during a specific time period, going through situations it might be hard for some to relate to if your not really immersed in back story. The introduction even explains the dialogue that may seem lacking, when really its just very true to the real people the characters are drawn from.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved this!

[Kate Murdoch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been moved to read the simple and beautiful prose of this book of short stories. Maria Messina documented the often sad and hidden lives of women in Sicily in the early 20th century, as men left in droves for America. They were at the mercy of their husbands and fathers, often living in the poorest of circumstances. The way the author combines visuals of natural surrounds, domestic environments and the nuances of the characters is evocative and deft. The stories are rich with emotional resonance, romance and tragedy. I would love to read more of her work.