What do you think?
Rate this book
Gli ultimi anni di Clelia Trotti
“Ebbene, chi poteva mai essere se non Clelia Trotti la persona venuta ad aprire? Era certo lei. Non poteva essere che lei la donnetta risecchita e trasandata, la specie di beghina di cui parlava la gente! Per sincerarsene bastava guardarle gli occhi. Erano tuttora gli occhi stupendi della libera, ardita fanciulla emula di Anna Kuliscioff, dell’impetuosa eroina della classe operaia.” Clelia Trotti è la maestra più conosciuta di Ferrara, impegnata politicamente, apertamente socialista. Per questo motivo, è anche stata in prigione e al confino. Un giovane insegnante, Bruno Lattes, anche se non sposa le sue idee politiche, farà di tutto per diventeranno amici, condividendo progetti e paure per il futuro incombente. Tratto da “Cinque storie ferraresi” pubblicato da Feltrinelli.
Numero di 87.387
Numero di 87.387
48 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 16, 2014
1 person is currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Giorgio Bassani
65 books218 followersGiorgio Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood with his mother Dora, father Enrico (a doctor), brother Paolo, and sister Jenny. In 1934 he completed his studies at his secondary school, the liceo classico L. Ariosto in Ferrara. Music had been his first great passion and he considered a career as a pianist; however literature soon became the focus of his artistic interests.
In 1935 he enrolled in the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bologna. Commuting to lectures by train from Ferrara, he studied under the art historian Roberto Longhi. His ideal of the “free intellectual” was the Liberal historian and philosopher Benedetto Croce. Despite the anti-Semitic race laws which were introduced from 1938, he was able to graduate in 1939, writing a thesis on the nineteenth-century writer, journalist, radical and lexicographer Niccolò Tommaseo. As a Jew in 1939, however, work opportunities were now limited and he became a schoolteacher in the Jewish School of Ferrara in via Vignatagliata.
In 1940 his first book, Una città di pianura (“A City of the Plain”), was published under the pseudonym Giacomo Marchi in order to evade the race laws. During this period, along with friends he had made in Ferrara’s intellectual circle, he became a clandestine political activist. His activity in the anti-fascist resistance led to his arrest in May 1943; he was released on 26 July, the day after Benito Mussolini was ousted from power.
A little over a week later he married Valeria Sinigallia, whom he had met playing tennis. They moved to Florence for a brief period, living under assumed names, then at the end of the year, to Rome, where he would spend the rest of his life. His first volume of poems, Storie dei poveri amanti e altri versi, appeared in 1944; a second, Te lucis ante, followed in 1947. He edited the literary review Botteghe oscure for Princess Marguerite Caetani from its founding in 1948 until it halted publication in 1960.
In 1953 Passeggiata prima di cena appeared and in 1954 Gli ultimi anni di Clelia Trotti. In the same year he became editor of Paragone, a journal founded by Longhi and his wife Anna Banti. Bassani’s writings reached a wider audience in 1956 with the publication of the Premio Strega-winning book of short stories, Cinque storie Ferraresi.
As an editorial director of Feltrinelli Bassani was responsible for the posthumous publication in 1958 of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo, a novel which had been rejected by Elio Vittorini at Mondadori, and also by Einaudi, but which became one of the great successes of post-war Italian literature. Bassani’s enthusiastic editing of the text, following instructions from Elena Croce (daughter of Benedetto) who had offered him the manuscript, later became controversial however; recent editions have been published which follow the manuscript more closely.
Also in 1958 Bassani’s novel Gli occhiali d’oro was published, an examination, in part, of the marginalisation of Jews and homosexuals. Together with stories from Cinque storie ferraresi (reworked and under the new title Dentro le mura (1973)) it was to be form part of a series of works known collectively as Il romanzo di Ferrara which explored the town, with its Christian and Jewish elements, its perspectives and its landscapes. The series also includes: Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1962, Premio Viareggio prizewiner); Dietro la porta (1964); L'airone (1968) and L'odore del fieno (1972). These works realistically document the Italian Jewish community under Fascism in a style that manifests the difficulties of searching for truth in the meanderings of memory and moral conscience. In 1960 one of his novels was adapted as the film Long Night in 1943.
Bassani died in 2000, and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Ferrara. He was survived by his estranged wife Valeria and their two children.
In 1935 he enrolled in the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bologna. Commuting to lectures by train from Ferrara, he studied under the art historian Roberto Longhi. His ideal of the “free intellectual” was the Liberal historian and philosopher Benedetto Croce. Despite the anti-Semitic race laws which were introduced from 1938, he was able to graduate in 1939, writing a thesis on the nineteenth-century writer, journalist, radical and lexicographer Niccolò Tommaseo. As a Jew in 1939, however, work opportunities were now limited and he became a schoolteacher in the Jewish School of Ferrara in via Vignatagliata.
In 1940 his first book, Una città di pianura (“A City of the Plain”), was published under the pseudonym Giacomo Marchi in order to evade the race laws. During this period, along with friends he had made in Ferrara’s intellectual circle, he became a clandestine political activist. His activity in the anti-fascist resistance led to his arrest in May 1943; he was released on 26 July, the day after Benito Mussolini was ousted from power.
A little over a week later he married Valeria Sinigallia, whom he had met playing tennis. They moved to Florence for a brief period, living under assumed names, then at the end of the year, to Rome, where he would spend the rest of his life. His first volume of poems, Storie dei poveri amanti e altri versi, appeared in 1944; a second, Te lucis ante, followed in 1947. He edited the literary review Botteghe oscure for Princess Marguerite Caetani from its founding in 1948 until it halted publication in 1960.
In 1953 Passeggiata prima di cena appeared and in 1954 Gli ultimi anni di Clelia Trotti. In the same year he became editor of Paragone, a journal founded by Longhi and his wife Anna Banti. Bassani’s writings reached a wider audience in 1956 with the publication of the Premio Strega-winning book of short stories, Cinque storie Ferraresi.
As an editorial director of Feltrinelli Bassani was responsible for the posthumous publication in 1958 of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo, a novel which had been rejected by Elio Vittorini at Mondadori, and also by Einaudi, but which became one of the great successes of post-war Italian literature. Bassani’s enthusiastic editing of the text, following instructions from Elena Croce (daughter of Benedetto) who had offered him the manuscript, later became controversial however; recent editions have been published which follow the manuscript more closely.
Also in 1958 Bassani’s novel Gli occhiali d’oro was published, an examination, in part, of the marginalisation of Jews and homosexuals. Together with stories from Cinque storie ferraresi (reworked and under the new title Dentro le mura (1973)) it was to be form part of a series of works known collectively as Il romanzo di Ferrara which explored the town, with its Christian and Jewish elements, its perspectives and its landscapes. The series also includes: Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1962, Premio Viareggio prizewiner); Dietro la porta (1964); L'airone (1968) and L'odore del fieno (1972). These works realistically document the Italian Jewish community under Fascism in a style that manifests the difficulties of searching for truth in the meanderings of memory and moral conscience. In 1960 one of his novels was adapted as the film Long Night in 1943.
Bassani died in 2000, and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Ferrara. He was survived by his estranged wife Valeria and their two children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Read
February 15, 2016Un funerale, un cimitero, una città, un'epoca: in poche pagine entriamo completamente nel mondo di Bassani. Non è storia da guardare, è storia da vivere, perché in ogni sensazione, anche piccola, ritroviamo una parte di noi, della nostra famiglia, delle nostre radici.
November 10, 2022
Schizzo in margine al romanzo di Ferrara. Memorabile la scena d’inizio, con il funerale che rappresenta l’occasione per ritrovare il proprio ruolo da parte dei “vecchi” e per esprimere la propria diversità da parte dei “giovani”. Che, passata guerra e resistenza, ha voce con una sgasata di lambretta.
I dialoghi tra Clelia e l’aspirante antifascista sono ricchi di spunti, ma il romanzo non è risolto. Più che gli ultimi anni sono pochi mesi, pochi giorni di discorsi intorno al socialismo. Efficace è anche la scena finale, ma era il finale previsto dall’inizio? O Bassani ha lasciato queste cinquanta pagine così, pensando che forse non ne avrebbe cavato di più?
I dialoghi tra Clelia e l’aspirante antifascista sono ricchi di spunti, ma il romanzo non è risolto. Più che gli ultimi anni sono pochi mesi, pochi giorni di discorsi intorno al socialismo. Efficace è anche la scena finale, ma era il finale previsto dall’inizio? O Bassani ha lasciato queste cinquanta pagine così, pensando che forse non ne avrebbe cavato di più?
April 22, 2022
I colloqui tra una vecchia sognatrice socialista e un giovane disilluso. La storia è breve ma porta alla luce un interessante punto di vista sul ventennio fascista e sulla resistenza non partigiana. Il libro è stato scritto nel 56 ma è attualissimo, soprattutto le pagine nelle quali viene descritto il "non essere socialista" del vero protagonista. È un peccato però che non venga approfondita la vita e neppure il pensiero politico di Clelia che appare come un personaggio marginale. Da apprezzare sono invece le descrizioni di Piazza della Certosa, viene voglia di visitarla, sono convincenti infine anche le pungenti introspezioni.
February 12, 2023
ma perché non esistono i mezzi voti?
mi dispiace sinceramente, forse è colpa del periodo appena vissuto, non sono riuscito a cagare abbastanza questo libro. amo Bassani comunque, senza dubbio, ora e sempre. chissà, magari ci riproverò
mi dispiace sinceramente, forse è colpa del periodo appena vissuto, non sono riuscito a cagare abbastanza questo libro. amo Bassani comunque, senza dubbio, ora e sempre. chissà, magari ci riproverò
December 29, 2023
L'Italia tra fascismo e Italia postbellica attraverso l'amicizia tra la maestra e partigiana Clelia Trotti e il più giovane Bruno Lattes. Breve storia, con qualche prolissità, ma ben scritto e con una certa acutezza di analisi, senza semplicismi retorici.
January 3, 2019
Ho faticato un po' più di altri racconti di Bassani a seguirne le vicende, ma lo stile resta inconfondibile e la scena iniziale della manifestazione in piazza bellissima.
March 28, 2020
Bellissima la scena iniziale, con la contrapposizione tra il vecchio e il nuovo mondo.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews