Fulvio Tomizza's Unresolved Conflicts
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FULVIO TOMIZZA’S UNRESOLVED CONFLICTS: IDENTITY, GUILT AND BETRAYAL and DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF HIS LITERARY CHARACTERS by IDA MARINZOLI A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University oF New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Italian Written under the direction of ProFessor Laura S. White and ProFessor Andrea Baldi And approved by __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey January, 2016 ©2016 Ida Marinzoli ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION FULVIO TOMIZZA’S IDENTITY AND HIS UNRESOLVED CONFLICTS: DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF HIS LITERARY CHARACTER By IDA MARINZOLI Dissertation Directors ProFessors: Laura S. White and Andrea Baldi This study examines the “self- identity” of the Triestino-Istrian writer, Fulvio Tomizza, and it discusses the nexus nation-language identity. Tomizza’s claim of ‘non-identity’ with a nation is analyzed, as well as his recurrent themes of betrayal, guilt, shame and loneliness in his mostly autobiographical literary works. My research concentrated on the developmental stages of his character, SteFano Marcovich (Tomizza’s alter ego), using the psychosocial and psychological approaches of Erik Erikson’s theory on developmental life-cycle stages and identity crises. This study claims that the author’s difficulty of national identification stems not only From his cultural environment and the turbulent socio-political and historical events, that took place in the Venezia-Giulia region, but also From the development of his own personal psyche. ii Acknowledgments KEEP YOUR DREAMS ALIVE. UNDERSTAND TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING REQUIRES FAITH AND BELIEF IN YOURSELF, VISION, HARD WORK, DETERMINATION, AND DEDICATION. REMEMBER ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE. (Gail Devers) It was this BELIEF that ProFessor Laura S. White sustained in me all through my long association with Rutgers University. My gratitude to her goes beyond words. Her enthusiasm, encouragement, warmth, guidance and her vast knowledge and experience are testimony oF her high standard of scholarship. Grazie ProFessoressa White! I was equally fortunate to have as a co-advisor ProFessor Andrea Baldi, whose intelligent suggestions, caring support and endless patience are outstanding. His insightful comments on my drafts and his technical support were paramount in Finishing my thesis. I could not have imagined having a better team of mentors for my dissertation. Besides my advisors, I would like to thank my dissertation committee: ProFessor David Marsh For his congeniality, his bright insight, his support and his wonderful humor. To ProFessor Pietro Frassica a sincere thank you for being my external reader. I hope to bring a breath of “Istrianità” to his knowledge of the Triestini writers and to his vast literary experience. I would also like to thank the Italian department for supporting me -- ProFessor Alessandro Vettori, ProFessor Paola Gambarota and ProFessor Rhiannon Weltch. In particular, I would like to mention Mrs. Carol Fineberg for her genuine help with my registration and for being a friend. To Sheri La Macchia thank you for iii helping me with my final paperwork. During my long years at Rutgers I was privileged to befriend many young colleagues and I would be remiss if I would not mention Lara Santoro, Daniele De Feo, Roberto Pesce, Johanna Wagner, Arianna Fognani and Rossella DeRosa for their encouragement - to all a heartfelt thanks. A owe a great deal of gratitude to Professor Elinor Delaney for the many suggestions of my dissertation. To Dr. Simon Bosco and Mrs. Bosco thank you for your loving support. My appreciation are also due to Professor Konrad Eisenbichler (Toronto), ProFessor Elso Kuljanić and Mrs. Kuljanić (Udine), ProFessor Sanja Rojić (Zagreb) and ProF. Miroslav Bertoša (Pula, Croazia) for their encouragement and valuable suggestions. My sincere thanks to Professor Marta Moretti (Trieste) for inspiring me, and a particular thank you to Signora Laura Tomizza, who not only supplied me with original unpublished documents, but also opened her home to me. Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my husband Gino, my sounding board and my bedrock, whose tolerance and great patience of my many moods testiFy to his devotion. Without his encouragement and help it would not have been possible to complete my work. To my extended family thank you for their encouragement. I’d like to thank my two sons: to Roger with great appreciation for our long discussions on history and philosophy, and to Joseph many thanks for his educational expertise and his continuous help and patience in teaching me cyber technology. To my grandchildren Alex and Faith, to whom this work is dedicated, leave a charge, with the hope, that some day they may learn of their “nonna’s” hybrid identity. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………..ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………iii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Geographical and Historical Background I. CHAPTER I – IDENTITY……………………………………………………………………………..….16 I:I Nation – Language I:II Literary Representation of Nation-Language identity………………….....23 I:III Borderline – Cultural Collisions………………………………………………..….48 II. CHAPTER II – CHILDHOOD…………………………………………………………………….....53 II:I Formation of Ego Identity II:II Stefano’s Childhood………………………………………………………………..…...55 II:III Basic Trust vs. Mistrust……………………………………………………………….59 II:IV Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt……………………………………………….....62 II:V Initiative vs. Guilt……………………………………………………………………..….68 III. CHAPTER III – ADOLESCENCE…………………………………………………………………….. 90 III:I Early Adolescence …………………………………………………………………………...94 1. Capris 2. The City of G***……………………………………………………………..103 III:II Mid-Adolescence ………………………………………………………………………113 1. Stefano’s Return to Capris 2. Life in Capris………………………………………………………….........126 3. Summer in Giurizziani – Father’s Court Trial – Friend’s Betrayal…………………………………………………………….130 4. Trieste……………………………………………………………………………136 5. Senior in Capris – Evolving Intimacy – Apprenticeship…….144 6. Death of Stefano’s Father………………………………………………. 151 III:III Late Adolescence…………………………………………………………………….156 1. Belgrade …………………………………………………………………....162 2. Lubiana and Last Days in Giurizziani…………………………….. 174 III:IV Frammenti di diario………………………………………………………….……..181 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………….….190 v IV. ERIKSON CHART…………………………………………………………………………………… 201 V. ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………….. 202 VI. TOMIZZA’S BIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………..207 VII. TOMIZZA’S WORKS CONSULTED…………………………………………………………….208 VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………..210 vi 1 INTRODUCTION Geographical and Historical Background Becoming aware of the background information that affects writers helps the reader to interpret and appreciate the text more effectively. Places and locations are mapped throughout Fulvio Tomizza’s writings in terms of social and historical representations. Thus, it is necessary to become familiar with Tomizza’s geographical coordinates and historical events that shapped his writing. Since ancient times humans have tried to make sense of the world around them by mapping it. In the northeastern corner of the ‘Mare Adriaticum’, a land protrusion in the shape of a triangle, now called Istra, is depicted on maps from Ptolemy’s Geography, to Tabula Rogeriana to the Mappaemundi1(Mapping the World 24, 35). Several past civilizations left a mark on the heart-shaped Istrian peninsula in the Adriatic Sea on the northeastern border of today’s Italy. The name Istria, legend has it, comes from the name of the Danube’s tributary called Istro and its settlers were called Histri. Its remote history goes back to Paleolithic times. The stone piles, known as ‘castellieri’, of the legendary city of Nesazio are still visible today.2 In this area remnants of sculptures are attributed to Greek settlers. Later, Illyrian, Liburnian and Istri tribes populated this region. In the 2nd century B.C. the Romans conquered it and named it Regio X. Emperor Diocletian, later proclaimed it the province of Venetia et Histria. For 1 Al-Idrisi compiled the so called “Book of Roger”, for the Norman king of Sicily, from Ptolemy’s information from travelers and merchants in 1154. One of the ‘mappaemundi’ is a road map (circa 335) of Rome and its empire copied in a 12th century manuscript called the ‘Peutinger Road Map’ 2 The archeological excavations at Nesazio – Nesactium – Vizace (Croatian) in south eastern coast oF Istria about 10-11 km from the city of Pula uncovered “the historical reality of the legend about the glorious past of the Istrian town. The settlement oF Histri dates to pre-Roman inhabitants”. See Miroslav Bertosa, Robert Matijasic, et al. Pula 3000. Pula: Libar od Grozda, 1997 and Antonio Puschi. La necropolis preromana di Nesazio in “Atti e memorie della Societá istriana di archeologia e storia patria”, Vol. 22, Pola 1905, pp. 227-236. 2 six centuries Istria enjoyed a prosperous period of Roman life, customs and language. Its cities witnessed the grand Roman architecture of monuments, amphitheaters, basilicas, public baths, etc. Today the Arena in Pola (Pula, Croatia) similar to the Coliseum in Rome and the Arena in Verona, attests to the splendor of the Roman era. In