The Bandini in Wait Until spring bandini might well be the bandini from Ask the dust, but he certainly isn't the same character as in the other two books.
If it had been one continuous story across 4 novellas, I would have said one book, but with there being no continuity in personality or history or family memers between the books, it has to be 4 separate books.
Wait Until Spring, Bandini
One of the few book titles I recall with a comma in it. This is the youngest Bandini we meet. He's 14 and a bit of an arsehole. Actually, in the opening chapter he's 14, then 12, then 14 again and back to 12 before reverting back to 14 and staying that age for the rest of that particular story. There's no flashbacks or anything in the first chapter, just seriously dodgy copy-editing on behalf of the publishers.
He lives in a very poor area. His family are desperately poor and his parents struggle to feed him and his two younger brothers. He has a crush on a pretty girl in his class who barely knows he exists. His father goes out drinking and doesn't return for days. All in all, it's a pretty miserable existence.
This was the first of the Bandini novels to be published - way back in the thirties. The attitudes on show are a product of their time and I imagine there are a lot of people might take offense at aspects of the story. That's their prerogative. Personally, I find books about flawed characters to be far more fascinating than books about perfect people who never put a thought wrong.
It follows young Arturo through a few eventful weeks in a frozen Colorado winter, where he's unable to even play his beloved baseball - receiving no reply but the title of the book whenever he suggests it. His father's longest disappearance to date, the most miserable christmas day in literature and a deeply unrequited first crush serve to batter the young man over the course of 200 pages.
The writing is deceptively simple yet emotive. This version of Bandini actually raises some sympathy from the reader despite his flaws and his lapses into unforgivable behaviour - especially the way he treats his mother on occasion.
As an example - this is a quote descibing Svevo - Arturo's father - taken from the first chapter.
"Svevo Bandini's eyes watered in the cold air. They were brown, they were soft, they were a woman's eyes. At birth he had stolen them from his mother - for after the birth of Svevo Bandini , his mother was never quite the same, always ill, always with sicly eyes after his birth, and then she died and it was Svevo's turn to carry soft brown eyes."
That's just gorgeous writing. It's mirrored later on in the narrative with a reference to Arturo's eyes. There's subtlety happening in this book behind the brashness of the title character.
This was a great opener to this omnibus edition even with the continuity error with his age in chapter 1.
The Road to Los Angeles
This was the first Bandini book written, but the last to be published. It was printed posthumously in the mid 80s. That should be a clue that there were maybe reasons that Fante didn't think it should be published.
18 year old Bandini in this book lives in California with his mother and 16 year old sister. His father has been dead for some years. If the 14 year old Bandini was a bit of an asshole (excusably though since he's 14, he's struggling to cope with his home life and his changing body), this incarnation of the character is almost irredeemably nasty.
He's self absorbed, lazy, completely egostistical, possibly psychotic and entirely impossible to sympathise with. There's humour to be found of a very wry type in the disconnect between his proclamations of greatness and the reality of his life. The level of delusion he operates on are quite disturbing to be honest. He tells everyone he's a great writer despite not having written anything. He reads Nietzche and the like constantly (although it's clear he understands very little of what he absorbs) and imagines himself to be superior to everyone around him. He can't keep a job and of course this is everyone else's faiult, but nothing to do with him. He's racist throughout the book and talks down to absolutely everyone.
His behaviour towards his mother and sister is horrific throughout. In the first book, despite his outbursts he always loved his mother and treated her with respect when he wasn't stealing from her or trying to avoid doing what she asked. In this book, his behaviour is abusive at best. He has decided he's the boss in the house, he treats his mother like dirt and never says anything even remotely nice to his sister. Screaming verbal abuse at her is the best he ever treats her. Violence creeps in for no good reason later on.
Since this book went unpublished for so long I don't believe it was meant for publication. I don't think this is the Bandini that Fante wanted the word to see. The prose is not as nice as the first book and the character is too annoying.
I actually think I would have enjoyed it more as a separate volume with Bandini's name changed. The sudden personality change from the first book (along with the move halfway across the continent and other changes) maks this one unsatisfactory. There were still glimmers of the great prose and as a portrait of a delusional psychopath, it's actually pretty good.
Ask The Dust
This was the second Bandini novel published - also in the 30s the year after Wait Until Spring.
Bandini is back to his relatively sane self for this one and there's no reason to believe that this isn't the same characcter from book 1 but almost grown up. Once again he's 18. he's moved across the country to live in LA where he's striving to become a writer.
Prior to moving to LA he had a short story published. that's the proudest achievement of his entire existence. He lives in a run down hotel in Bunker Hill and spends his time doing anything he can to avoid the task of actually writing. He develops a very disturbing relationship with the barmaid at a nearby bar. I did find myself wondering what she saw in him since he was rarely if ever nice to her, yet the relationship develops in any case.
His racial attitudes haven't improved that much, even though the object of his affections is not exactly of aryan descent. There is some self-awareness in this this book that his attitudes are wrong and that they stem from his own treatment at the hands of racists as a child on account of his Italian ancestry. This self awareness is both a good thing, as it almosts lends him some sympathy, and deeply frustrating since he fails to learn the lessons from it. He's certaimnly a more complex Bandini than the Bandini from Book 2.
Once again, the prose sings off the page. The wry humour is back. His visit to a lady of the night was a particularly funny sequence. The story takes a dark turn towards the end and it closes on an extremely sombre note.
One amazing thing is how much he gets paid when he does finally sell another short story.
After an iffy second book, the omnibus was back on track.
Dreams from Bunker Hill
The final Bandini book - written in the mid eighties, shortly before his death. He narrated this book to his wife from what would be his deathbed. He could no longer type because diabetes had robbed him of his sight years before. Weirdly, in the three volumes written in the thirties there were references to Bandini worrying about his sight. I wonder if his family had similar issues as he was growing up.
Bandini is now 21. However it's a different Bandini again since, when he visits his family at one point, he is a middle child with an older brother, a slightly younger sister and a younger brother (all of whom he gets on well with). He's hustling for writing work in LA still, but with more success than his Ask the Dust alter ego.
This book is much more episodic than the first three (and 50 pages shorter) and hence the overall story arc is less satisfying than books 1 and 3. I'm not sure book 2 had much of an arc to it at all. The character's racist tendencies, whilst still present, are pretty much kept to his thoughts rather than his actions and are that bit more palatable as a result.
He bounces from job to job and does his usual trick of winding up everyone he comes in contact with. This time the jobs are all in writing related circles and he seems to be making a success of his stay in LA at last. The ego is still there but also toned down. He still thinks he's God's gift to women (a trait he has in all 4 books despite his notable lack of success).
He also still has a treat 'em mean attitude that does not sit well with a modern day lead charcter - however, see my comments on the first book in the quartet. It's an uncomfortable read through a modern lens, but art should aim to disturb the comfortable. All 4 volumes in this omnibus achieve that aim.
Overall this has been a great read. Books 1,3, and 4 were particularly good, but book 2 just didn't seem to fit.
I'm a bit worried what the book group are going to say next week as this was my choice for them to read...
No comments:
Post a Comment