My First Seven Years

by Dario Fo, Joseph Farrell (Translator)

An extraordinary coming-of-age memoir by the Nobel-Prize-winning playwright

 

My First Seven Years is Dario Fo's fantastic, enchanting memoir of his youth spent in Northern Italy on the shores of Lago Maggiore. As a child, Fo grew up in a picturesque village teeming with glass-blowers, smugglers and storytellers. Of his teenage years, Fo recounts the struggles of the Fascists and Partisans, the years of World War II, and his own tragicomic experience trying to desert the Fascist army.

 

In a series of colorful vignettes, Fo draws us into a remarkable early life filled with characters and anecdotes that would become the inspiration for his own creative genius.

Genres: Italy, Italian Literature, Memoir, Nonfiction, Nobel Prize, Autobiography, World War II

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Dario Fo was an Italian satirist, playwright, theatre director, actor, and composer. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. In 2007 he was ranked Joint Seventh with Stephen Hawking in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses. His dramatic work employed comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the proletarian classes. He owned and operated a theatre company with his wife, the leading actress Franca Rame. Dario Fo died in Milan on October 13th 2016, at the age of 90.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jako że dramaty wolę oglądać w teatrze, na spotkanie z tym noblistą wybrałam jego powieść autobiograficzną. I sama nie wiem, czy to był dobry wybór. Fo to gawędziarz, sprawnie włada słowem i od zawsze miał talent do snucia opowieści. I jego początkowe wspomnienia są faktycznie urocze. Noblista opowiada o swojej rodzinie, która często zmieniała miejsca zamieszkania - zależały one, gdzie przeniesiony został ojciec, zawiadowca kolejowy. Gdy rodzina przeprowadza się do małej wioski na granicy ze Szwajcarią, Dario prowadzi beztroskie życie. Szaleństwa z dziećmi, radosne zabawy na dworze, wyprawy łodzią do Szwajcarii, gdzie mieszka wujek - te wspomnienia pełne są nostalgii, beztroski i świadczą o szczęśliwym dzieciństwie pisarza.

Gdy chłopak dorasta jego mikrokosmos zaczyna się rozszerzać - spędza kilka miesięcy u dziadków, gdzie uczy się wiele od dziadka, który jest bardzo utalentowanym ogrodnikiem. Potem zaczyna uczęszczać do szkoły w Mediolanie, ważne miejsce w jego życiu zaczynają zajmować przyjaciele. Z czasem chłopiec zaczyna rozumieć aktualne wydarzenia polityczne. Jego ojciec przewodniczy bowiem w ruchu oporu, zaangażowany jest w nielegalny przerzut Żydów do Szwajcarii. Zindoktrynowany w szkole Fo, stopniowo odkrywa prawdziwą twarz faszyzmu. Książka nie obejmuje więc tylko tytułowych siedmiu lat i nawet nie jeszcze kilku kolejnych, lecz opowiada o życiu Fo aż do zakończenia wojny i potem śmierci ojca. Lata wojenne to już przede wszystkim próba uniknięcia wojska, strach przed Niemcami i ucieczki.

Ciąg dalszy: https://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot....

[Hildegunn Hodne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts very well, and the first half is pure enjoyment and good story-telling. But then he kind of leaves the plot, venturing beyond his first 7 years and continuing with stories from the next 10 years of his life. These stories are completely different to the first half of the book, and seem quite out of place and irrelevant, like Dario Fo ran out of material mid book. Makes me wish that I had stopped reading when the author ventured beyond his first seven years.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lubię tego typu wspomnienia. I jak zwykle dochodzę do wniosku, że współczesne młoda pokolenia: 1. nie mają jaj; b. nie umieją się bawić i cieszyć się życiem.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to the title of this book it should cover the first seven years Dario Fo’s life, ”plus a few more”. Already here the author reveals the jester in him. Fo was borne in 1926 and includes events far beyond that as far as far as to the time soon after World War 2. The last chapter even is about his father’s funeral. His father died in 1987. Nothing of this does, however, diminish the value of this book and the joy it brings to its reader.

The style of writing is exactly what you would expect from a gorgeous talent like Fo. The book is a collection of separate stories starting at his childhood. The stories may be true, or not. But who cares when the stories are so good. A good storyteller is always popular. In the book Po reveals some of the sources of his stories and how to construct a story so that you catch the attention of the listener. It is a very special talent, which Fo certainly masters. In one chapter he tells how he at the age of sixteen developed and trained his storytelling skills every morning on the train en route to school – learning by doing. He also talks about older story tellers from whom he has gained much of his skill, his maternal grandfather among them. Or maybe I should not call it telling stories, but performing as Fo puts it. As all great story tellers Fo too, draws from great story tellers who have preceded him, local fishermen, Homer, you name them.

The stories are not just humour. The resistance against Italian fascism and later German Nazism are present too, mixed with juvenile prank, even looting and piracy. The war and its effects on the local community and Fo’s life both during the war and the years immediately after it are depicted with humour and warmth.

[travelartandbookblogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: N-Wort, Z-Wort

Bisher kannte ich Dario Fo nur von unserer Theatergruppe @teatrom.25
Auf Italienisch wurden die Stücke #nontuttiiladrivengonopernuocere und #nonsipaganonsipaga aufgeführt. In Meine ersten sieben Jahre und ein paar dazu erzählt Dario Fo - aus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Peter O. Chotjewitz - mit nicht weniger Humor als in den genannten Theaterstücken essayartige Momentaufnahmen aus seiner Kindheit und Jugend.

Ich mochte das Flair, die Stimmung, in die ich beim Lesen unweigerlich mitgerissen wurde. Hatte Sehnsucht nach dem Lago Maggiore, den ich von christlichen Freizeiten in meiner Jugend her kenne. Irgendwie hat Dario Fo es echt geschafft, aus allen erzählten Erlebnissen etwas ganz Besonderes zu machen.

Im Vergleich zu den anderen Literaturnobelpreisträger*innen, die der Buchclub @romanistik_lmu ausgewählt hat - Annie Ernaux und Herta Müller (Mario Vargas Llosa habe ich noch nicht geschafft), hatte ich zu Dario Fo auf Anhieb irgendwie den besten Zugang, auch wenn meine historischen Kenntnisse über Italien wohl noch schlechter als die über Frankreich und Rumänien sind. Vor allem mit italienischen Soldaten während des Zweiten Weltkriegs habe ich mich bislang noch überhaupt nicht beschäftigt.

Freue mich sehr auf die Besprechung morgen 🤗

[Nicholas Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging account of childhood and youth (title is misleading -- this includes autobiographical material up to his early twenties) include life with his stationmaster father in a very small town in the Italian Alps. There are depictions of a very carefree and free-ranging childhood. But the absorbing part of the story are mostly about the struggles of anti-fascists communities resisting the fascists during the declining days of fascist rule near the end of WW II.

Dario Fo won the Nobel for Literature a few years ago. I don't this is a book that helped win the prize for him however.

[Dolf van der Haven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobel Prize in Literature 1997.
Dario Fo's memoirs span a little bit more than just his first seven years, more like his first twenty. But all stories are told in his lighthearted style, often hilarious, sometimes tragic. This is a much more interesting book than anything Elena Ferrante wrote about her childhood in Napels. Read this as a nice introduction to the works of this highly versatile artist.

[Pamrla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Multiple short memories by Dario Fo . Some very entertaining some horrific due to war. Fond memories of family and characters. Over all I found this read engaging and very descriptive of a world I will never know , and thank my lucky stars I hope to never experience.

[Alessandra Acciai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molto illuminante e fa conoscere molto bene la storia di quel tempo e di Dario Fo con un pizzico di allegria.

[Ilona]

DNF nie rozumiem tego, nudziła mnie okropnie
O co się rozchodzi?

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non sono appassionata di autobiografie, le trovo un po' troppo autoreferenziali, e in qualche punto anche questa lo è, ma si tratta pur sempre di Dario Fo, e lui è un tale genio che riesce a rendere piacevolissimo ed esilarante anche questo genere sgradito.
Così ci racconta la sua infanzia sulle sponde del Lago Maggiore, in mezzo ai personaggi più improbabili, e con vicende hanno costituito il suo immenso bagaglio culturale.
Però un genio nasce genio, altrimenti tutti i ragazzini cresciuti nelle medesime condizioni sarebbero diventati Dario Fo.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of Dario Fo, and interested in Italy immediately before, during and after the 2nd World War, this book is for you. Otherwise, maybe not. But I've rarely read such a cheerful, upbeat book, while not avoiding or denying life's tragedies. Fo remembers a lovely childhood, lots of friends, a loving family! security. His accounts of growing up in rural northern Italy are delightful. And his accounts of becoming the wonderful artist, performer writer are also fascinating.

[Aleksandra Gajewska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kolejna autobiografia, która mnie przekonuje, że czytanie o życiu pisarzy bywa nużące. Niby anegdoty są przyjemne, czasy barwne, ale to kolejna historia o tym, jaki wpływ na nas ma mądry, dowcipny dziadek, dziecięce zabawy z poharatanymi kolanami, pierwsza miłość i urocze prowincje, z których się wywodzimy. Miło się czyta, ale czy wiele wnosi do życia i literatury?

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

good for some of the details/tidbits/characters, but overall, it's not a good memoir.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Milá, pěkně napsaná knížka, která se dobře četla. Takové příběhy, které by byly zajímavější, kdyby je vyprávěl kamarád nebo osobnost, kterou znám. Já nicmémě - byť je to možná ostuda - Daria Fo a jeho tvorbu neznám.

[Demetrios Dolios · Rating 5 out of 5]

like watching fellini's armacord