The moon and the bonfire (English: La luna ei falò)

A full-length novel by Italian poet and novelist Pavese. Published in April 1950, the author's suicide a few months later sent shock waves through the reading world. Set in the hilly region of Langhe in northern Italy, the protagonist grows up in an orphanage and as a servant to a poor farmer. He escapes to America during the Resistance, and reminisces about his return to his hometown around the time of the Feast of the Ascension. Interweaving past and present events such as war and the earth, blood spilled on the vineyards and hills, the Bona Festivities of St. John and the burning of a double agent woman, poor farmers and a priest in black, the story uses mythological poetry to depict in a multilayered way the scars of war that are repeated throughout all ages.

[Hideaki Kawashima]

"The Moon and the Bonfire" translated by Hideaki Kawashima (1977, Shobunsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イタリアの詩人・小説家パベーゼの長編小説。1950年4月刊。その数か月後の作者の自殺が読書界に大きな衝撃を与えた。北イタリアの丘陵地帯ランゲを舞台に、孤児院に育ち、貧農の下男として成長した主人公が、レジスタンス期にアメリカに逃れ、聖母昇天祭のころ故郷へ戻ってきたときの回想の物語。戦争と大地、ブドウ畑と丘に流れた血、聖ジョバンニの火祭りと焼かれた二重スパイの女、貧しい農民と黒い衣裳(いしょう)の司祭など、過去と現在の事象を交錯させながら、いつの世にも繰り返される戦争の傷痕(しょうこん)を、神話詩の手法で重層的に描いている。

［河島英昭］

『河島英昭訳『月とかがり火』（1977・晶文社）』

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