Don Camillo's Dilemma

DON CAMILLO #5

by Giovannino Guareschi, Piers Dudgeon (Editor)

THE NEW DON CAMILLO with 12 stories in English for the very first time.

Reading Giovanni Guareschi’s stories about the little world between the Great River and the Mountains, is to travel to the Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, and to do so in the incomparable company of a cast of characters which testifies to the exquisite humour and humanity of their creator.

Place and people are as one: ‘The river country of the little world created them;’ the author wrote. ‘I crossed their path, linked their arms with mine and made them run through the alphabet, from one end to another.’

The year is 1953. All is peaceful in the village we know so well. The people are cheerful and friendly, and exercise their famous sense of humour. But the national elections hang like a shadow over proceedings. The Soviet Union is the West’s No. 1 enemy and the Vatican has issued its famous ‘Decree against Communism’, which makes voting communist a mortal sin.

No.6 in the Don Camillo series provides the sharpest real-life context yet for the often hilarious feud between the battling village priest and the communist Mayor, Peppone. Although, as ever, the author's message as to what truly lies at the heart of being human is for all times and peoples.

‘These haunting stories about this haunting place… Somehow Guareschi made people laugh at their own predicament at a time when humour was sorely needed.’ BBC Radio 4

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Italy, Classics, Short Stories, Italian Literature, Catholic

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Giovannino Oliviero Giuseppe Guareschi, also know as Giovanni Guareschi, was a Italian journalist, writer, humorist. Along with Giovanni Mosca and Giaci Mondaini he founded the humorous magazine "Candido". He was well know because of the "Don Camillo" series based on the stories about the two main characters: Don Camillo, the priest and Peppone, the communist Mayor.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politics, philosophy, psychology and religion served up in the little world of a rural town in post-war Italy. And let's not forget humor. Delightful.

[Kaveh Rezaie · Rating 3 out of 5]

دن‌کامیلو باز هم در دوره‌ای سخت برایم هوای آزاد شد. حالم را بهتر کرد در این روزها.
مانند قبلی‌ها کتاب داستان-داستان است از ماجراهایی که بین بخش‌دار کمونیست و کشیش ناحیه می‌گذرد و طنز ظریف گوارسکی که شیرین است.
در مقدمه‌ی کتاب، گوارسکی داستان جالبی را از شکل‌گیری و مشهور شدن داستان‌های دن‌کامیلو بیان می‌کند.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

دن کامیلو، کشیشی است باهوش، رند، ساده، خوش‌قلب، جوانمرد، خشن، مومن، زورمند، لجوج... روستایی؛ په پونه نیز مردی است زورمند،لجوج، خوشقلب، مهربان، خشن، ساده‌لوح، جوانمرد، جزم‌اندیش، کم سواد، با روحیه‌ای نامستحکم، مایل به حیله‌گری اما ناتوان از آن، روستایی و ... کمونیست. محیط عمل و میدان تعارض این دو شخصیت، قصبه‌ای است در کنار رودخانه‌ای در حاشیه یکی از شهر‌های ایتالیایی: دن کامیلو کشیش این قصبه است وبه په پونه شهردار آن، که در عین حال مکانیک قصبه هم هست. و این دو، به لحاظ اختلاف دو ایدئولوژی و بینشی که بدان پایبندند، دائم با هم گلاویز... نیز باید به وجود یک شخصیت سوم هم در این "دنیای کوچک" اشاره کرد. این شخصیت مجسمه عیسی مسیح است که بر فراز محراب کلیسا نصب شده و در جریان وقایع، گاه به دخالت‌هایی ظریف، ما حاصل را به خیر و عافیت می‌کشاند و در نتیجه، هر چند ظاهراً در پایان هر ماجرا نوعی تعادل و توازن بین دو عنصر نمادین داستان( کشیش و شهردار مارکسیست ) برقرار می‌شود، اما حضور و دخالت مجسمه، نیروی کشیش را کمی "مساوی‌تر" می‌کند.

[Filitsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Don Camillo! I have read this book again and again just because it is so funny and moving at the same time. A small Italian village after WWII, where people are struggling to find salvation either through politics or religion. Don Camillo, the priest, is at loggerheads with Pepone, mayor and communist activist, but in essence they are two good men who trust each other and work together (in the end) for the good of the people and their souls. Great collection of stories.

[Melea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gentle, funny! Even with the conflict between the characters placed in a specific time, political climate, and place (post WW II Italy), the human foibles and truths are still the same. Folks are folks.

[Judith Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Giovannino! A legacy of love, written in troubling times, and a help in current troubling times.

[Phyllis Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the reject pile in the library. Loved it. The great conflict of the catholic church vs communism treated in a gentle and humane manner. Without answers.

[David Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is another testament to used book stores; otherwise I would never have come across the book or the author.

These stories are set in Italy's Po River Valley in the 1950s. Each story is very short, about 10 pages; very entertaining; and different from all the others. All of them feature both Don Camillo, the priest; and Peppone, the Communist mayor; some have much more Don Camillo, some much more Peppone. Some stories are more focused on politics, and some on the personal.

Some are quite touching. My favorite is "The Excommunicated Madonna". An itinerant painter takes the local girl Celestina, a malicious, mocking, taunting woman, as the subject of an altar painting of the Blessed Virgin. He paints her as truly beautiful, both inside and outside. When the woman sees the painting, it changes her:

Don Camillo looked at her ugly expression and thought of the gentle countenance of the Madonna of the River.

"It isn't your face," he said. "Come see for yourself."

The girl walked quickly to the chapel and came to a halt in front of the rail. Don Camillo took the pole and removed the cloth cover. Then he looked at Celestina. As she stood motionless, staring up at the picture, something extraordinary happened. Her face relaxed, while her eyes lost their malice and became gentler and more serene. The vulgarity disappeared, and gradually she seemed to take on the expression of the painting. The artist gripped Don Camillo's arm.

"That's how I saw her!" he exclaimed.

[Hamed S · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتابی بامزه از مجموعه دون کامیلو. تقابل کمونیست‌ها و مسیحیان در اوایل جنگ سرد و آغاز نفوذ سوسیالیسم در اروپای بعد از جنگ جهانی دوم دستمایه نویسنده است. ترجمه روان و قلم شیوای مترجم، کتاب را جذاب و خواندنی کرده است.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arguments from of old, but the heart is what counts.

[Anand Sankar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous collection of short stories describing the ugly feuds and begrudged reconciliations between the village priest and the head of the communist party set in the rustic Italian countryside.

[Janet Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, funny and entertaining.

[Farzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

من دن کامیلو و شیطان رو خونده بودم و خوندن این کتاب هم مثل اون برام لذت بخش بود
با اینکه توی زمان قدیم نوشته شده ولی برای این زمان هم قابل درک هست، شاید بخاطر اینکه ذات انسانها توی گذشت زمان هنوز بدون تغییر مونده...

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in May 2000.

While the later collections of Guareschi's tales of the little world of Don Camillo never quite match the freshness of the first one, Don Camillo's Dilemma is one of the best of them. The politics are rather more clearly apparent, and despite the words given to Christ saying that he is part of no political party it is clear where Guareschi's own sympathies lie - almost all the stories end with the triumph of the church over (some, at least) of the Communists of the village. The villagers still want children baptised, even if they don't believe in God.

The delight of these stories is the naive and sincere nature of the villagers, which can easily become a pleasure derived from a smug feeling of comparative sophistication. Guareschi has too much respect for his characters to allow this to happen, and so the enjoyment the stories produce is tinged by a slight regret for something that we have lost.

[Paul Jellinek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the original book in this series, The Little World of Don Camillo, about the fiesty Italian priest and his ongoing fued with the Communist mayor Peppone, but about halfway into this volume, Guareschi seems to run out of gas. The stories become more complicated, more confusing and less funny. Still, Don Camillo's private conversations with Christ make this book worth reading, and some of the stories in the first half are vintage Don Camillo.

[Mohsen Rajabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

به جرأت یکی از جذاب ترین کتابهای طنزی که خواندم، داستان های دن کامیلوست. طنز هر سه کتاب فوق العاده است و آدم تقریبا مطمئن می شود که ایتالیایی های نویسنده، دست بسیار توانایی دارند در نوشتن طنز. ایتالو کالوینو که معرف حضور اهالی کتابخوان هست. اگر جیووانی گوارسکی (نویسنده داستان های دن کامیلو)، ایتالو اسوئو(نویسنده وجدان زنو)، اومبرتو اکو و حتی اینیاتسیو سیلونه را در کنار کالوینو در نظر بگیریم، می بینیم طنز به سبک چکمه پوش ها، بسیار جالب و خواندنیست.

[Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

داستان آدم‌های واقعی اطرافمون که تناقض عقاید و رفتارشون به قدر کافی طنز هست، فقط قلم جووانی گوراساکی می‌خواست تا بنویسدشون.

[Gaurdin · Rating 4 out of 5]

باز هم یک خوب اما نه به اندازه کتاب دن کامیلو و شیطان

[Sudds Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb shines like a jewel in a field of mud.