tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post301731391639855818..comments2014-03-02T12:25:56.256-08:00Comments on Fario Books: Don't Talk to Me about the WeatherFariohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03866017486978991106noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post-47927135570605028652011-09-11T05:48:49.428-07:002011-09-11T05:48:49.428-07:00That could be it. I don't have any direct exp...That could be it. I don't have any direct experience of contemporary Italian men or women, but when I was growing up in New York I had a friend whose parents were Italian immigrants. His mother coddled the boys like babies well past their adolescent years.Paul Dorellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post-31858250841604121732011-09-10T22:29:26.934-07:002011-09-10T22:29:26.934-07:00In a country like Italy, which apparently has a la...In a country like Italy, which apparently has a larger gap between the wages of men and women than any other country in western Europe (or perhaps all of the EU), and in which many of the top-ranking women in politics are former showgirls, it's kind of hard to speak of the marginalization of men. Maybe it's more that they've been infantilized. I read somewhere, for example, that something like an ungodly 70 percent of Italian men had never operated a washing machine.<br /><br />And Svevo's Clara is being irreverent here, even insolent, but she also seems genuinely disappointed not to have been properly wooed or even to have her hand asked for. Maybe it's men's attitudes that _Before the Ball_ somehow prefigures.Fariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866017486978991106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post-86505831458272610182011-09-10T04:04:18.026-07:002011-09-10T04:04:18.026-07:00Svevo was probably writing as an observer, noting ...Svevo was probably writing as an observer, noting a woman's distaste for the social rituals imposed upon her. Yet there may be an element of female independence here which later expressed itself as the emancipation of women and, consequently, the marginalization of men, in some developed countries such as Italy.Paul Dorellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post-73641483718974792412011-09-09T12:35:38.743-07:002011-09-09T12:35:38.743-07:00I'm not sure Svevo's work is an accurate d...I'm not sure Svevo's work is an accurate description of the Italian way of life now. Perhaps in some ways. But I do know that if I were a thirty-year-old Italian and could bring my girlfriend(s) home to my parents' house, plus have "mamma" do my laundry for me, I wouldn't be in a big rush to move out, either.Fariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866017486978991106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16331621645864225.post-22644921562173639012011-09-08T18:52:25.851-07:002011-09-08T18:52:25.851-07:00This certainly isn't Jane Austen. Perhaps Ita...This certainly isn't Jane Austen. Perhaps Italo Svevo is accurately describing what has now become common in Italy: women are not interested in marriage, men live with their parents, and the birth rate is declining.Paul Dorellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14951651359610774853noreply@blogger.com