A fierce father, drawn from real life
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| Title: | A fierce father, drawn from real life |
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| Authors: | Tim Parks |
| Source: | Washington Post, The. 06/02/2023. |
| Abstract: | The father "always said that he was the best at everything." As a boy he was the best looking and the best student. Now he is the best lover and the best linguist. The best railway man. But above all, the best artist. With the best eye and the best technique. Other painters pale in comparison. ¶ The story in Italian writer Domenico Starnone's novel "The House on Via Gemito" is told by the son, who yearns for his father to achieve success and celebrity so that he can stop carping about his menial day job, the miserable conditions in which he has to paint and the envious rivals who stand in his way. At the same time, the son is embarrassed by the father's boasting, irked by his invasiveness and disturbed by his reduction of every sphere of life to a competition that he must win. Most of all he is disgusted by his father's treatment of his mother. ¶ The novel has clear autobiographical roots. Starnone's father is, or was, the painter Federico Starnone, whose masterpiece "The Drinkers" graces the cover of this book. Another Italian writer, Natalia Ginzburg, once commented that her classic "Family Sayings" was "all fact. And yet … a novel, because it lacks the objectivity of documentary." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
| Database: | Regional Business News |
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| Abstract: | The father "always said that he was the best at everything." As a boy he was the best looking and the best student. Now he is the best lover and the best linguist. The best railway man. But above all, the best artist. With the best eye and the best technique. Other painters pale in comparison. ¶ The story in Italian writer Domenico Starnone's novel "The House on Via Gemito" is told by the son, who yearns for his father to achieve success and celebrity so that he can stop carping about his menial day job, the miserable conditions in which he has to paint and the envious rivals who stand in his way. At the same time, the son is embarrassed by the father's boasting, irked by his invasiveness and disturbed by his reduction of every sphere of life to a competition that he must win. Most of all he is disgusted by his father's treatment of his mother. ¶ The novel has clear autobiographical roots. Starnone's father is, or was, the painter Federico Starnone, whose masterpiece "The Drinkers" graces the cover of this book. Another Italian writer, Natalia Ginzburg, once commented that her classic "Family Sayings" was "all fact. And yet … a novel, because it lacks the objectivity of documentary." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
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