Forever Young

‘Kay, this is supposed to be part two of a discussion on whether The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is primarily a love story or a story about the Holocaust. Of course, as is true with most such distinctions, both are true. However, I think it’s reasonable to say that, in contrast to other writings by Bassani, Finzi-Continis centers on a male/female relationship.

The way the story is presented suggests that the unnamed narrator is, after a confused adolescent relationship with Micol which culminates in the scene in the carriage, certain but awkward about his feelings for her. She is the one who endlessly bats his overtures aside, who flirts and banters, leaving him in frustration and self-doubt. Of course, this is the narrator’s experience; we never have direct access to Micol’s perspective. But that’s all we have to work with, my friends. It must be said that the narrator himself is no romantic dynamo. In his pursuit of Micol, he is hesitant and easily discouraged. In fact, what is the reason for his attraction to her? As my late father often said, there are lots of girls in Ferrara (well, he didn’t say in Ferrara). But in a realist sense, it’s true; out of many possible paramours, the narrator picks someone who is elusive. The psychologists among us might wonder if he does this to avoid adult intimacy. Let’s just say again that this is a fiction; it’s written to show a certain aspect of human existence.

So, why would the narrator and Micol consistently flirt and talk about their feelings for one another without taking things to the next level?

The overt reason is clear. The narrator’s feelings for Micol develop out of a pre-adolescent, pre-adult “crush” that involves considerable yearning and confusion. The young people are attracted to one another without having the adult conceptual frameworks of love to explain how they feel. And this yearning does develop into the adult version. However, as we saw in the quote cited last time when the narrator questions his shyness years after the fact, he, at least, struggles to identify his feelings, let alone to act on them.

He dreams about her:

“I dreamed also that we spoke, and finally without pretense, finally with our cards on the table…Micol insisting that the thing between us had begun on the first day, when she and I, both of us still filled with the surprise of meeting again and recognizing each other, had run off to see the park.”

(they banter a bit)

“You could come out after all.” (meaning with him).

“Me? Out?” she exclaimed, her eyes wide. “And just tell me, cher ami, where would we go?”

“I…don’t know,” I answered, stammering. “…if you’re afraid of being compromised, to Piero Della Certosa, on the Via Borso side. That’s where they all go to be alone, you know that…And after all, what’s wrong with being together a bit. It’s not the same as making love! You’re on the first step, on the edge of an abyss. But from there to touching the bottom of the abyss, it’s a long descent!”

This scene shows the narrator openly suggesting that he and Micol move things along—however, he’s reporting a dream he had.

At one point while he’s awake, the narrator kisses Micol when she returns from a long absence in Venice, but she is shown as shocked and non-responsive. Is it possible she just isn’t interested in the narrator? Yes, it is, however, we are told she has no other paramours and certainly seems to otherwise encourage the narrator’s attentions in an enigmatic way. She encourages him but remains resolutely un-sexual. (Please note that in this respect, the film version is different. Micol becomes sexually involved with Malnate—this does not occur in the book, and the film's presentation of sexuality negates a key theme in the story).

Her undergraduate dissertation is on Emily Dickinson, that famously single poet. Micol sends the narrator her translation of a Dickinson poem:

“I died for beauty, but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb,

When one who died for truth was lain

In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I had failed?

“For beauty,” I replied.

“And I for truth,—the two are one;

We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,

We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips,

And covered up our names.

Micol adds a postscript: “Alas, poor Emily. This is the kind of compensation vile spinsterhood is forced to hope for!”

‘Kay. Micol’s translation (as well as her choice of dissertation topics) says a lot about her. Apparently, she hopes for “vile spinsterhood.” She will die—for beauty and for truth but will be lost to time. Her premature death will be an act of beauty. This is another nicely done encapsulation of the whole story and also touches on our question: Why does Micol not act on an adult relationship with the narrator? Because she wishes to remain forever young—normal sexual relationships mean being a mortal adult, and she wishes to die young while she’s still tragically beautiful.

But wait; does she know she will die in the Holocaust? Of course not.

But she is aware of the increasingly dangerous environment for Jewish people in Italy, and this awareness surely affects her view of life. Life is unfair and cruel; it doesn’t matter what you do or how virtuous you are, others will judge you as belonging to a group you have small allegiance to. Micol and her family respond to the restrictive laws by withdrawing from the world behind the walls of their estate. They are self-contained, being wealthy enough not to have to work or rely on others for basic needs. But a fundamental condition remains. Is the reason Micol avoids the narrator’s awkward attentions due to a limitation within her, something beyond the condition of being Jewish?

I believe Bassani presents a story of the narrator being in love with someone who fears love and life itself. To Micol and her family, life is dangerous. The narrator is dangerous as he represents the outside pressing in and disrupting all efforts to stay the same. There is a clue early on in the story: Micol’s parents had a son who died of illness before Micol was born. The parents decided that their son died because of contamination with the outside world and that they must not expose Micol and her brother to the same risk. They keep their children home and educate them with private tutors. The growing hostility of Italian society confirms their desire for isolation. This the environment Micol grows up in.

A great irony is that, despite all their efforts to remain safe and to escape time, all the Finzi-Continis, including Micol, will perish in the Holocaust.

Till next time.

#TheGardenoftheFinzi-Continis #GiorgioBassani #AlanBray