The Obscure Reading Group discussion
Reeds in the Wind
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REEDS IN THE WIND June '23 Discussion Thread
I just want to get this off my chest before we actually start talking about the book. The first Nobel Prize in literature was awarded in 1901. Leo Tolstoy was nominated the first several years and never won. Though perhaps his greatest work was earlier than the inception of the prize, lifetime contributions to literature have certainly facilitated bestowal of the award. Comparatively speaking, as much as I like her, I don’t think Deledda holds a candle to Leo. Her first major novel was published in 1903 and Reeds in the Wind in 1913. She won in 1926. Her body of work was so much smaller and she had such a shorter career compared to him I find it hard to imagine she could win and he could not. Okay, moving right along.Her writing is lovely. The natural world is written with the author’s love and attention as carefully as a human character. My husband’s family is from Lombardy, and their summer vacations were always on Sardinia. It always made me interested in the locale and so this was a opportunity to learn a little about it. Thanks to Ginny for telling us that the Redeemer statue is real and help us learn something about it!
What struck me a lot about the story is the class structure within the society. The sisters are hardly better off than their servant Efix, and they probably only do as well as they do because they gyp him on his pay year after year. Their privilege and his willing subservience seemed, quaint isn't the quite the right word, but outdated or passe. The guilt he carried and the secret that burdened him didn't seem to explain that after so many years. What do you think?
Cherisa: I wondered about that award too. The story was much like a folktale in its simplicity. I kept waiting for something to happen!
I wondered about that too. Although I found parts of this beautifully written, my reading was hampered by a terrible translation and printing. I guess I got what I paid for! It’s difficult for me to totally assess the story because my reading was chopped up at times because of those problems but overall I liked it. It did seem, above all, to be a tale of fate, colored by superstition specific to that area, and so much fear. No one was happy in that small village and even outside it, the only happy moments seemed to be at the festivals. Was this due to poverty? Lack of opportunities available for anyone? Was it the effects of the superstitious beliefs? I noticed occasional mention of men (I think it was men) who had left for America. Were many young women being left in Sardinian villages with no prospects?
Hi, everybody!Ken, thank you for the quote from Dolores Turchi. I think it's spot on.
Cherisa, when I was thinking of what 'Reeds in the Wind' have in common with any other novels I've ever read, I actually thought of the Russian classics. This novel, like many of those, is rustic and eventually tragic. The beginning of the novel is also full of subtle humour. When Efix repeatedly said that the nephew would need to have a horse bought for him, didn't he remind you of Zakhar from 'Oblomov'? This is also relevant to what you mention later, his extreme subservience to his 'padrone' - I think this kind of attitude mostly happens in Russian novels (remember, for instance, Anton, Lavretsky's old servant in 'The Home of the Gentry'?).
Sue, I also got the impression of determinism; when Efix says that they're all like reeds in the wind - which must be important, since it's the title of the novel, right? - isn't this what he means, that their destiny is not for them to decide, and that ultimately things just happen to them? The ethnographer in Ken's quote in the first post calls Sardinia 'the unforgiving land', - it seems to me that Deledda shared this impression (as I understand it, she did appreciate the beauty of nature there, but she left the island to live in Rome).
For me, there were three distinct parts in the novel. The first one was the setting of the scene; real-time action was very much interspersed with remembrances of the dead. I think every one of the first four chapters had the same pattern: a character sees something or somebody and relives a scene from the earlier times. This part of the book was close to magic realism, and the long passage about various supernatural creatures that haunt the vicinity was my absolute favourite one.The next part of the book for me begins when Giacinto arrives and things start to happen in real time. This was the page-turning part, but the tone became definitively sadder.
And the last part for me is Efix's pilgrimage, return, and death, and I cannot say I enjoyed this part. I think Efix's story is heartbreaking. I am not sure if the double marriages are meant to be a kind of a happy ending, but I'm very unsure Noemi will be really happy with Predu.
What did you all think of this ending?
In my opinion, Efix is the only nice person in the whole story (well, maybe Zuannantoni is not bad, but he's a very minor character), and of course, nobody is ever nice to him, nobody ever appreciates him, he suffers the most and dies in the end. Definitely not a light and bright read.
I enjoyed your synopsis, Plateresca, and essentially agree with it. Efix is so important to this novel and, as we learn, is not only a reporter but an important actor in the history of the area. His sense of guilt underlies so much of what he does. Yes he is nice, but he has this secret guilt that has led to some of the continuing sadness of many people. It’s like a Greek tragedy…no one can escape. Efix is used by the sisters but he also was a part of the disappearance of their other sister, Lia. As for their father, I doubt they missed him in many ways but his death may have added to their withdrawal from the world. So many layers of loss, sadness, guilt.
Sue, I absolutely agree, this does sound like a Greek tragedy!Efix's guilt. I understand he was to a large extent tricked by Lia into helping her run away, then her father learnt about this and was so enraged he tried to kill Efix. Efix killed him in self-defense and/or by accident; then spent the whole of his life regretting this and taking care of the rest of the family.
I find it characteristic that Efix would have told everybody about it and done his penance earlier, only he didn't want to leave the Pintor women on their own. I do think he is punished much more severely than what he did deserves (by Fate, or by the author ;)).
What do you all make of Giacinto?I've found an article that might be interesting to discuss, here are some excerpts (I do not necessarily agree with each and every word here):
“My husband is like a boy, still so handsome,” Grazia Deledda remarked describing her spouse, Palmiro Madesani, in the very first paragragh of her biography <..>. Judging from her life and her life’s work, one indeed suspects that her husband was like a boy in many other ways as well, just as were Deledda’s two brothers, if we can extrapolate from her autobiography. <...> Grazia Deledda’s male protagonists <...> [are] examples of a psychological syndrome <...> [called] “arrested maturation.”
Known to clinical psychologists sometimes as “borderline adulthood,” and at times as the “Peter Pan” syndrome, this serious problem afflicts the adult male who exhibits some, many or all of the following characteristics. <...> these adult-adolescents who refuse to grow up lack a strong identity; they rarely experience feelings of self-worth. They almost never value themselves or their work. They learned young to be peer-oriented. They turn to coeval friendship for the love and secure identity that they never experienced as children. They are unduly influenced by friends’ decisions, opinions and desires, not by their own convictions, of which typically they have few, not having had in their childhood an adult model by which to mature.
As adults these men are attracted sexually to nurturing women who through their own cosseting behavior enourage narcissistic irresponsibility in their male partners and who invariably rescue the men from their problems. Unwittingly, together the couple creates an emotional co-dependency of the strong and dominating woman who needs for her psychological fulfillment the petulant, self-centered, overly dependent, baby-figure of her man <...>. Once married to these stronger women, the men are then inclined to take their love for granted; eventually they treat their women more like mother-servants than lover-partners. As grown men, the adult/adolescents are incapable of giving love or receiving it in a mature way. They remain self-centered adolescents throughout adulthood; their emotional maturity stopped in their adolescence despite their advancing physical years. In their adulthood they remain the narcissistic boys of their preteens, like walking time-capsules of themselves.
As adults the men are spendthrifts.
Sufferers of arrested maturation are unusually charming. They know it; and they beguile others deliberately in order to obtain what they want, especially from those women who are most susceptible to the emotional machinations of an enchanting man. They rely on their personal charisma to sail them through life’s problems and to avoid shouldering the blame for the disasters of their own making. They are irresponsible; they refuse to be accountable for their own actions or problems which are predictably self-inflicted. They engage in endless blame-a-thons to avoid responsibility. They fear adulthood and its attendant duties. In general these male adult-adolescents are promisers who never deliver on their commitments or live up to their undertakings, personal or professional. Concomitantly they are procrastinators. When confronted for their failure to fulfill obligations, they engage in temper tantrums in the form of indignant assertion, raging bluster and splenetic fits of pique. They are experts at the cut-and-run: they usually disappear when trouble arises.
Consider Giacinto of 'Canne al vento'. Even his arch-enemy, zia Noemi, is seduced by his magic; his charisma gets him through all of his delinquent behavior, and he knows it.
In an incredible scene from 'Canne al vento', Deledda establishes throughout the novel that the male figure, Giacinto, is a baby by using various, scattered phrases such as “‘si diverte come un bambino” <...>, etc. Then at one point in the novel undulations of baby-images connected to Giacinto follow one another. After this build-up of Giacinto being a bambino, at an intoxicating and sexually charged outdoor festa, his new girlfriend, Grixenda, immediately turns from a potentially sexual encounter with Giacinto and redirects her attention to a real baby <...>
What we know of her [Deledda's] two older brothers indicates that they were her primary models for youths of arrested maturation. Santus, a serious alcoholic, suffered from lengthy bouts of depression. His inability to control his drinking brought about his early demise, but not before a life of dissipation and wasted opportunity. Her brother Andreas spent an entire lifetime in destructive adolescent pursuits; his own alcoholism eventually brought the once-proud Deledda family much public opprobrium and close to bankruptcy because of his profligacy. At one point, Andreas was even jailed for being part of a counterfeiting operation, consistent with his penchant for petty thievery and hooliganism. Perhaps precisely because of both brothers’ prodigal behavior, Grazia Deledda became somewhat of an unwilling expert on every adolescent, juvenile ruse described today in the clinical studies. Indeed Deledda knew the syndrome well, even the pessimistic prognosis. For she also recognized that there is little hope for recovery; few of her own protagonists mature significantly at the end of the story.
You can read the full article here:
https://archive.org/details/annalidit...
Grow Up! Grazia Deledda's Adult-Adolescent Males of Arrested Maturation by Jan Kozma
Vol. 15, Anthropology & Literature (1997), pp. 329-340
There are spoilers for other works by Deledda, though.
Perhaps from the problems with my translation/printing in my ebook, I wasn’t so clear on the details of the death of the father or Lia’s “escape.” Or I might have misread his guilt to indicate greater complicity in events that weren’t well described in my copy. I think Efix would have felt guilty no matter what the original course of events because he couldn’t speak of them. So he accepted his poverty with no wages. The role of being a beggar then came naturally to him, as long as he could be honest about it…and with other honest beggars. What a sad life. Of course we know that he liked Lia and Noemie both at various times, didn’t he. Also, to me he seemed attached to the estate land as much as the people at the end. Even when he was away, he kept looking for his home mountain.
Plateresca wrote: "For me, there were three distinct parts in the novel...."I think your three distinct parts idea is good, Plateresca, but for me the thread all the way through each bit was Noemi and Efix and what tied them together. I felt I was missing something. We know Efix was involved with Lia's escape and the accidental death of the sisters' father, but what was it that bound Efix to Noemi?
I thought that Efix replaced his “love” for Lia with the same feelings for Noemie, feelings he would, of course, never act on because of his class.
Plateresca wrote: "What do you all make of Giacinto?I've found an article that might be interesting to discuss, here are some excerpts (I do not necessarily agree with each and every word here):
“My husband is like..."
The idea of the patriarchy and how it has gone wrong in this world is pretty important. The father was a strong and overbearing man, whose toxic malehood basically destroyed the lives and livelihood (or at least inheritance) of his girls. Giacinto is an ineffective male on the opposite side of the coin, a goodtime boy just hoping for good things to come his way with little effort, and always getting the benefit of the doubt because of his privilege until it's just impossible for the other party to overlook his shortcomings any further. The sisters are rooted in the snobbery that came from the patriarchy even though they have nothing to show for it now, and their scornful reserve is all the patrimony they have left. That and the prison they have made of their home.
Sue wrote: "...The role of being a beggar then came naturally to him, as long as he could be honest about it…and with other honest beggars...."I thought Efix's time with the beggars ended when he learned "his" beggar wasn't blind after all, and so not "honest."
Plateresca wrote: "I also got the impression of determinism; when Efix says that they're all like reeds in the wind - which must be important, since it's the title of the novel, right? - isn't this what he means, that their destiny is not for them to decide, and that ultimately things just happen to them? "I don't think determinism drives them as much as fatalism. Efix says 'We are the reeds and fate is the wind,' and this submission and resignation to whatever happens to each is what blights them. Yes, leaving here, going there, some of the characters try to outrun their fates, but for the most part, staying put and hoping but mostly suffering is the standard mode of living.
Plateresca wrote: "What do you all make of Giacinto?As grown men, the adult/adolescents are incapable of giving love or receiving it in a mature way. They remain self-centered adolescents throughout adulthood; their emotional maturity stopped in their adolescence despite their advancing physical years. In their adulthood they remain the narcissistic boys of their preteens, like walking time-capsules of themselves...."
Hmmm. Do you know any men who are NOT like this? More or less.
I wonder if Efix' most serious sin--the one that has destroyed the family--is that he loved Lia. "I knew your mother wanted to run away, and I was sympathetic because I loved her. That was my first crime. I, a worm, a servant, dared to look at her. Then she took advantage of my affection, and used me to get away.... And he, her father, guessed everything." I think Efix is Giacinto's father. If Giaci (as Efix calls him) can rescue the sisters, then Efix could feel less guilt for his destruction of the family. In this weird embedded class structure, Efix fathering Lia's son would amount to miscegenation.
Yes Cherisa, ultimately Efix learned the truth but it took a long time and it was after seeing through the other fraud. I think by then he really wanted to go home badly. If I remember correctly he had seen Don Pedro at a festival and decided to go home with him if he saw him again on his way home. But he must have used another route home. Maybe his wish to go home made him more honest in his look at his companion.
And I agree about the fatalism. I find it curious that those who went to America aren’t named. They seem to be written off.
I wonder if Don Perdu will be happy. Though he finally wins Noemi, do you think it will be a good marriage? The last sister, Ester, will be all alone at their crumbling home.
Sue, I agree, I also think Efix probably exaggerated his guilt; was quietly in love first with Lia and then with Noemi; and loved the land most of all.Cherisa, I agree with your analysis of the plot through the lense of toxic patriarchy.
The beggars. These episodes do make me uncomfortable. I appreciate that Deledda does not try to idealize the beggars and shows that they're often disingenuous: Istene, as I understand it, was, indeed, blind, but his Biblical stories were calculatedly lewd; the other blind beggar was not really blind; and beggars often fought and schemed. But what's the lesson here for Efix? I thought it might have to do with acceptance, but then didn't he practice that enough at the farm?
Fatalism vs determinism
What I meant by determinism was this: Efix was (according to himself, if I understood this correctly) doomed to suffer because he dared to love Lia and then killed don Zame. So these events determine his life and there's no escaping it.
But I also have a feeling that the 'unforgiving land' is important, that these events would have unfolded differently in another place, and so the simple fact that these people live in Sardinia determines that they will be like reeds in the wind.
Lia escaped and she had, apparently, a different kind of life, with a happy marriage and a comfortable home.
On the other hand, Efix does have this attitude that one can't oppose fate, - this is, of course, fatalism.
Ken, as the gentleman here, do you agree with Ginny's thesis about men? :)
For me, Giacinto is a repulsive character from beginning to end, but I can see how the author tried to make him more complex than just a spoilt boy.
I think in literature, we often now if a character is 'good' or 'bad' by the reactions of other characters to him (I always think that Horatio's support of Hamlet makes Hamlet more likable, for instance). And there are no people here who don't like Giacinto! Even the robbed captain loves him, and even Noemi turns out to be secretly in love with him.
But I still find him awful :)
The theory that Efix is Giacinto's father is an interesting one, but I don't think there are any indications of this in the text. The book says that a lot of time passed before the sisters received the first letter from Lia.
And I think in this story 'love' does not mean 'sex', although I'm not that sure about Giacinto and Grixenda.
Speaking about the ending, Cherisa, but do you think Noemi will be happy?
Predu is not very likeable (although then again, who is here). I think he's not very sensitive and will probably be content.
Will Giacinto and Grixenda be happy together, do you think?
Mod
I was going to be a gentleman (see?) and keep my peace, but since you ask, I think that NO group can be generalized or ever should be. It won't hold up, or even come close.
Plateresca wrote: "Will Giacinto and Grixenda be happy together, do you think?"I think Grixenda will be pretty undemanding and let Giacinto get away with plenty. That could make the marriage satisfactory over the long haul, that is along as they can keep the family fed and a roof over its head. Happy might be expecting too much.
Plateresca wrote: "But I also have a feeling that the 'unforgiving land' is important, that these events would have unfolded differently in another place, and so the simple fact that these people live in Sardinia determines that they will be like reeds in the wind...."Exactly. The language used to describe the landscape is the most erotic of all. (And this is a deeply erotic novel.)
Clouds of white and yellow butterflies flitted about, mingling with the pea blossoms. Grasshoppers leaped and fell as though flung by the wind, bees buzzed around the low wall, gilded by pollen. A row of poppies burned in the monotonous green of the bean field.
The passions of the people are created by this passionate landscape.
Ken wrote: "Ken, as the gentleman here, do you agree with Ginny's thesis about men? :)I was going to be a gentleman (see?) and keep my peace, but since you ask, I think that NO group can be generalized or ev..."
It wasn't my thesis. In my admittedly rather glib response, I was thinking about men we know who have none of the characteristics described in the essay. In this novel, that man is Efix. It is his story. And whatever sins he feels he has to expiate, that guilt has taken over his life. He is travelling an almost classic hero's journey. I am also reminded of Dante's Inferno. This story is the tragedy of Efix' life. But he loves so intensely and helps so many people, is his life wasted?
Plateresca wrote: "Sue, I absolutely agree, this does sound like a Greek tragedy!Efix's guilt. I understand he was to a large extent tricked by Lia into helping her run away, then her father learnt about this and w..."
Earlier in the book I thought that Efix was a good guy, but as it progressed I thought so less and less. I think ultimately, he was motivated by selfishness and even vanity. It was bizarre to me that he chose to hold up so many lies towards the end. And his final message was about people being destined to suffer. Why do you think he never insisted on payment? I guess that probably was because of his guilt about the father.
Plateresca wrote: "What do you all make of Giacinto?I've found an article that might be interesting to discuss, here are some excerpts (I do not necessarily agree with each and every word here):
“My husband is like..."
To me, this seems like a bit of a stretch - the author saying that her husband still looks youthful isn't saying he's in a state of arrested maturation, and it's hard to say where that conclusion was drawn from. As for the brothers, of course anyone that's stuck in addiction of any kind won't be able to progress, so I think that's a different story than what we see with Giacinto who has difficulty accepting responsibility, although honestly when he moves away, I think he rises to the challenge, to some extent, and he does have cognizance of his debt. At a minimum it seems that he is no longer incurring additional debt or causing additional harm once he moved away. I think he also ultimately opted to marry out of a sense of responsibility.
Cherisa wrote: "Plateresca wrote: "What do you all make of Giacinto?I've found an article that might be interesting to discuss, here are some excerpts (I do not necessarily agree with each and every word here):
..."
Why do you think they chose to continue to make their lives a prison after their father died? I could see a sense of duty while he was alive, but once he passed? It's odd to me that this entire novel revolves around the three women, but they really don't have much character at all, and it's those surrounding them that are really the core actors in the book.
Ginny, sorry if I misinterpreted your meaning; I admit I wanted to draw Ken into the discussion :)I do not think Efix's life is wasted. In fact, he's sure that Noemi's marriage solves the sisters' problems, so he probably dies happy.
But I still think the ending is heartbreaking.
Dianne, the way I see it, Efix cared for the sisters, so partly he just didn't want to upset them with this petty question of his payment. On the other hand, he respected them as nobility, so it seemed inappropriate to bring up this question. And he was a determinist/fatalist: if you look at life in the light of 'we're all reeds in the wind, all destined to suffer', who cares about payment.
And also, yes, he felt guilty.
I agree, the statement about Deledda's husband might not be relevant. By the way, has anybody read anything else by this author?
It might be that immature young men are a feature of her work.
I've read somewhere that Grixenda is a very unusual name for Italy and/or Sardinia, and that it has the first two letters of Grazia and the last two letters of Deledda.
By the way, as I was reading the novel, I assumed that maybe Efix would have to marry Grixenda in the end, because the story is told mainly from Efix's point of view, but we also have a chunk that's written from Grixenda's point of view (at the festival). Come to think of it, there's also a bit from Noemi's point of view, but it's very short and probably not fully sincere (when Giacinto first appears).
Dianne wrote: "Why do you think they chose to continue to make their lives a prison after their father died?"
When we are told Lia's backstory, it's mentioned that the sisters were dishonoured by her escape and so couldn't find husbands for themselves.
But, you know, I do not see them as prisoners at all. They lived in their family house, they were provided for, they went to festivals.
On the other hand, where could they go, what could they do? I suppose the whole island is more or less like that, and its inhabitants are mistrustful of the rest of Italy.
I thought Efix was the main character, but he's also the one most connected to the land, so in the end maybe the land is the protagonist...
Plateresca wrote: "By the way, has anybody read anything else by this author?It might be that immature young men are a feature of her work...."
Earlier this year I read Deledda's novella The Mother, which is about a mother and her son, who is a priest. The man in that work is nothing like any of men in this one, though he does show some stern characteristics which might put him in the camp of the "father" in Reeds. That story began feeling somewhat quaint and simplistic then turned into an exploration of faith and love that was deeply moving. I think I liked it better than Reeds. The people were more sympathetic and understandable.
Dianne wrote: "It's odd to me that this entire novel revolves around the three women, but they really don't have much character at all, and it's those surrounding them that are really the core actors in the book..."Yes. We only rarely see things from the Pintor sisters' point of view, as Plateresca points out in message 28. We see little or nothing of their inner lives. This is a novel of Efix's pilgrimage. Giacinto's arrival changes everything. If Efix is his father, something that could never be revealed, Efix's reactions and actions become more believable. We never learn Giacinto's nominal father's name. Giacinto is considered a Pintor. In chapter 12, when describing Don Predu's transformation (was it magic?) our narrator tells us "No one knew. These things are never clear cut, and if they were they would no longer be great and mysterious." Perhaps this is also the case for Efix revealing the sins that torment him.
I found this lovely quote in The Revolt Of The Scribe In Modern Italian Literature: With limpid effort Deledda eschews every literary cliche, such that the symbols she employs emerge from the realism of the text: the jewels on the chest of the dead Ruth, the dancer's costumes in the light of the fire, the lyrical descriptions of the sky in its various colours, the figure of the Redeemer on top of the mountain of Nuroro, the reed mat where Efix lives and dies.Such a beautiful, spiritual, passionate book.
I am still limping through this . My overview is likened unto a saga of mediocre creativity. At times the author does describe a day in the life, but she only commits to a point. Nothing stands out , maybe her other books were better. One curious aspect though is the fantasy hallucinations everyone seems to have possession of. My question is malarial fever delusions or true folklore?
Carol, I think there is a steady beat of folklore and superstition running through the story, in many of the characters. Many festivals around the world have been superimposed on pre-Christian events and holidays or holy days. I don’t know enough about Sardinia to speak to their background, but I felt there was a very strong non-Christian or pre-Christian folklore/belief system at work. All the talk of witches seemed not in fun.As for the sisters not marrying, I can imagine that their lands were being lost so they had limited dowerys. They might also have felt bound by their father’s words as he was such a domineering man.
The two marriages: if Noemie can accept that she is actually married to Don Predu, I think theirs would be the stronger marriage. The other will be destroyed by cheating and lack of money. Heaven forbid they have many children!
Cherisa, thank you for sharing your impressions of that other novel, this is interesting.Ginny, thank you for the quote! Very interesting, too. Indeed, the jewels are often mentioned, although the ones that came to my mind first were those of Pottoi.
By the way, Pottoi obviously knew Efix's secret; how, do you think?
Carol, I agree with Sue, the book is permeated by folklore. Folklore is, after all, a product of the land, and if the land is not the protagonist, it's at least an important theme in the novel.
Ginny, I'm looking at your diagram of the hero's journey; do you think Efix is transformed by his pilgrimage? I gather he should be, but I'm not sure how.
Plateresca wrote: "Indeed, the jewels are often mentioned, although the ones that came to my mind first were those of Pottoi...."Oh, you are so right. I think the author of the quote got mixed up. No mention of jewels for Ruth that I could find.
Plateresca wrote: "I'm looking at your diagram of the hero's journey; do you think Efix is transformed by his pilgrimage? I gather he should be, but I'm not sure how...."I think that is the most important question to ask of this novel. Not will the marriages be happy, but did Efix believe he had received absolution?
At Zia Pottoi’s deathbed, he has a vision which sends him on the quest.
....and it seemed to him that he had always lived this way, on the side of a road, half of the way already finished the other half ahead. Down there he had left the place of his sin, up there, toward the mountain, was the place of his penitence.At the centre of Efix's guilt is the belief that women cannot manage without a man to look after them. When he killed Don Zame (in self defense), he believed the most serious consequence was the sisters were left without a man to protect them. He can only make amends by getting these poor single women married. So yes, I think he does die in peace. He rallies long enough for Noemi to get married. But the irony of his life-long penance is that the women were not really in need of a man to look after them.
Ginny, that's certainly an interesting viewpoint! Are you certain the Pintor sisters really didn't need Efix? The way I understood it, he worked the land and they received the produce, and later sold part of it, - so I can't see how they would have managed on their own; somebody had to do the work, they couldn't do it, and nobody else would have agreed to do it for free. How do you see this part?
I thought he felt guilty because he dared to love Lia, so he thought that don Zame was in a way justified in trying to kill him. So for me, the centre of Efix's guilt was his breaking of the class boundaries - which would have been even worse if Efix was, indeed, Giacinto's father, as you suppose.
Plateresca, I agree that the sisters did need Efix. Women of their class did not work the fields, probably would never have even considered that a possibility and would have starved before doing so. So Efix was their perfect solution. The fact that he would only meekly request pay and then ignore lack of wages was a plus for them and added to what financial security they had. Didn’t Efix arrange with a local boy to act for him while he went on his “search” for himself? He knew they would need help.
The local boy, Zuannantoni, was, I think, appointed - and paid - by Don Predu, who by that time had bought the farm which the sisters had to sell to pay off Giacinto's debts; but Predu let them keep the house. Still...
'As he [Efix] walked up and looked around he realized that the farm was badly cared for'.
Predu didn't care because he had more profitable farms elsewhere; also, he was giving all the produce to the sisters anyway.
But he hadn't been that charitable years ago.
Speaking of transformations, the character of Predu does change over the course of the novel, doesn't he?
As I was checking this, I stumbled upon the descriptions of how Efix was carrying around his two (supposedly) blind beggars; what do you all think is the symbolism of this blindness?
Thanks for the information on the boy. I’d forgotten do Predu was paying him and about the timing of his buying the land. Don Predu has changed a lot over the course of the book and more, apparently, over the course of the sister’s adult lives. I wonder if his feelings for Noemie were even a surprise to himself. As for the cause of the truly blind man (I believe there was one who was really sightless), there are so many physical causes especially among impoverished people. As for the fake blind, he knew a good scam.
Do you think Efix might have influenced Predu?As for the blindness, well, it might be just that, of course, but I have a feeling that maybe it means something more in the context of the novel, as a symbol.
Maybe people are blind to Efix's good qualities? Maybe he's blind to something, too, since he's in this company?
Predu says to Efix, 'You must, it's your duty to open their eyes if they're blind' (speaking about the sisters).
Then Efix says to one of the blinds, 'You know me even though you're blind, and I don't know you even though I can see.' (This has a Biblical sound, don't you think?).
Then when he left the two blinds, he had the impression he was still carrying them with him, and they came back to him in his dreams, - they're probably mentioned more often than Zuannantoni, so they might be more important to the story.
Yes, very true on the allegorical level. I had been thinking literally. But blindness exists on many levels, doesn’t it. Efix has gone through various phases of “seeing” the reality of the sisters, their nephew, his own life. His vision has definitely been impaired. Was Don Predu initially blind to the possibility of love? And Noemie also? And the sisters blind to the effects of never paying Efix for all those years, leaving him dependent and in poverty?
I think the answer is probably yes to all of these questions :)I'm not sure if we're still discussing the book or not, but just in case:
thank you, everybody, for your interesting comments! I've enjoyed talking to you.
And thank you to the person who nominated this book ;) It's been an adventure.
I agree. This discussion definitely opened up the book for me, particularly after my less than perfect reading experience. I’m glad I read it.
Plateresca wrote: "I think the answer is probably yes to all of these questions :)I'm not sure if we're still discussing the book or not, but just in case:
thank you, everybody, for your interesting comments! I've ..."
Thank you for your insights. I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
I appreciated all your thoughts and insights also. My takeaway however, is a bit of disappointment with the book. Cited as the author’s masterpiece, I don’t think Deledda comes off well a century later. She doesn’t seem to stand up to the test of time.
This was my first read with this group as I recently discovered you guys and this “obscure” group. Anyway, I must say I have been very impressed by your attention to detail and insights into this story. You all seem so learned and erudite and it has been a joy to read your thoughts.I enjoy Italian authors and was so excited to try this one. For me, this was disappointing. Few characters were really developed and motives for action vague. There didn’t seem to be love, jealousy, remorse etc… I wanted some more insight and feeling from the female moneylender. The premise of the book was promising, but the execution lacked emotion in my opinion.
A book I can recommend from an Italian woman is The Silent Duchess by Dacia Mariani.
I look forward to continuing reading with this group.
Melody: welcome! Great in-site and I will check out your recommendation. I kept waiting for more in this book too but it was so little pages-an editor’s dream come true!
Melody, I agree, Kallina is an interesting character and I also would have liked to know more about her. I enjoyed the scene in the beginning in which she berated Efix for borrowing money from her - she definitely had a lot of insight into this whole situation. In the end, there's a kind of gruff companionship between her and Efix. And yet, she accepted Giacinto's faked signatures, - she's a complex character, maybe even more interesting than any of the sisters.Barbara, I was actually glad the book wasn't longer, - the last part was so sad I wouldn't have wanted to spend more time in this world.
Hello. I too, am new to this group, and in fact, any book group on Goodreads. To start, Reeds in the Wind was a difficult book to find, and I ended up getting it for free on iBooks. The translation was not perfect at all which made this a bit interesting.The tone of the book is very stark, archaic and a little bit dark and pessimistic. The manner in which the author utilized the belief systems (superstitions, religious beliefs?) of the characters to influence the mood and tone of the novel was well done. I thought the author had some wonderfully descriptive passages of the countryside.
As the story developed the reader was left trying to piece together what had happened in the past as well as the relationships between the characters. While frustrating for a “just the facts, ma’am” type of reader, this added to the mystic quality of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed the detailed discussions of this group, and look forward to future readings, and discussions.
"Deledda tells her story with her characteristic love of the natural landscape and fascination with the folk culture of the island, with details about the famous religious festivals held in mountain encampments and the lore of the 'dark beings who populate the Sardinian night, the fairies who live in rocks and caves, and the sprites with seven red caps who bother sleep.'"
This thread is to discuss the novel in its entirety, so if you have not finished and worry about spoilers, beware. Feel free to offer questions, opinions, connections, and asides about Deledda's plot, writing style, characters, literary devices, etc.