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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Date: October 19, 2018 at 8:39:18 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Belzer on Gobetti, 'Partisan Diary: A Woman's > Life in the Italian Resistance' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > > Ada Gobetti. Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian > Resistance. Translated and edited by Jomarie Alano. New York Oxford > University Press, 2014. 358 pp. $38.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-19-938054-1. > > Reviewed by Allison Belzer (Georgia Southern University, Armstrong > Campus) > Published on H-War (October, 2018) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Jomarie Alano's recent translation of Ada Gobetti's _Partisan Diary > _brings to English-language readers a vital account of Gobetti's > experiences in the Italian resistance. First published in 1956, > Gobetti's diary focuses on the last twenty months of the Second World > War when German troops poured across the border to occupy Italy. > Already a well-known figure among anti-Fascists in the previous > decades, Gobetti during this period of occupation transcends easy > categorization because she was involved in a variety of resistance > efforts. The text makes a unique contribution to our understanding of > the Second World War. > > Firsthand accounts of the war abound, but few combine the immediacy > of a diary with the hindsight of a memoir as well as Gobetti's. Using > notes she took at the time, Gobetti pieced together this diary after > several years had passed. This technique, and Gobetti's brilliant > narrative style, magnifies the poignancy of daily events. She puts us > in the room as she and her fellow activists make important decisions > but also adds commentary that previews the outcome, sometimes with > heartbreaking results: "We parted under the glow of that smile of > his. That is how I saw him again in my mind sixteen months later > when, in France, in an underground newspaper, I read the news of his > horrible end" (pp. 23-24). The meticulous footnotes provided by Alano > keep the reader in the know about the different people and groups > that Gobetti meets; the inclusion of indices organized by name and > place also helps. > > If Gobetti is not a familiar name to non-Italian specialists, her > story will capture their interest. Alano's introduction sets Gobetti > in her historical context. She was the young widow of Piero Gobetti, > a fierce critic of Fascism who died after fleeing to Paris in 1926 to > avoid arrest, leaving her to raise their infant son, Paolo, as a > single mother. She worked as an English teacher (her dissertation was > on Alexander Pope) while taking on on more responsibilities within > the network of Turin anti-Fascist intellectuals. At the time the > diary begins she was participating, alongside her teenaged son and > with the support of her second husband, Ettore Marchesini, in the > resistance at every level. The "little family of intellectuals" > carried out acts of sabotage, published and distributed clandestine > newspapers, and provided aid to other partisans (p. 7). Meanwhile, > Gobetti organized two women's groups to help rally women to defeat > the Nazi-Fascist threat. She was indefatigable in her participation. > Like the writer Iris Origo, whose well-respected diary, _War in Val > d'Orcia, _covers the German occupation of Tuscany, Gobetti made her > home the de facto headquarters of resistance activity in her area. > But, unlike Origo, Gobetti ventured out into the field, hiking across > the Alps to France. Predictably, the French maquisards did not know > what to make of her--a lone woman among men. They were somewhat > relieved when they discovered she was "the mother" (indeed, Paolo was > with them) but suspicious that she might be a Mata Hari-style > seducer/spy. Finally, she gave "a magnificent idiotic speech" that > allowed them to justify her presence as a humanitarian-minded > activist looking to network with local women about philanthropy (p. > 258). During its weeks in France the group delivered information to > the Allied commands and gathered newspapers, a radio, and guns to > bring back to occupied Italy. After liberation, Gobetti became the > vice mayor of Turin, the first woman to hold that position in any > Italian city. > > This diary is valuable for those interested in learning more about > Second World War history; it uncovers fascinating details about > resistance work, political ideology, ethical dilemmas, and gender > roles. Gobetti's most personal meditations concern her son's safety > and the sacrifices made by his generation. She was determined to > support Paolo's independence and respect his choices, but she worried > constantly when he was on a mission. Her words testify to the > importance of family bonds, a theme highlighted also in Caroline > Moorehead's excellent recent biography of Amelia Pincherle Rosselli > and her two sons, companions of Piero Gobetti, Carlo and Nello > Roselli, _A Bold and Dangerous Family _(2017). Jomarie Alano has > written a book-length biography, _A Life of Resistance: Ada Prospero > Marchesini Gobetti (1902-1968) _(2017), for those interested in > learning more about Ada Gobetti, a unique and inspiring individual. > Gobetti's diary reveals how important involvement in resistance > activities was to those opposed to Fascism and German occupation. > Creating committees and political organizations gave them a way to > plan for an uncertain future; carrying out acts of sabotage and > spreading clandestine news allowed them to display their > noncompliance with an authority they deemed unjust. And being > together to support each other gave them the courage to persevere > through monstrous hardship. > > Citation: Allison Belzer. Review of Gobetti, Ada, _Partisan Diary: A > Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. > October, 2018. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52487 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
