Weer een uniek verslag van Malaparte

Grotesque. Is that not the only realistic way to describe the ravages of war? Curzio Malaparte is clearly just the man to provide us with an abundance of the grotesque as observed by him during his travels as a war correspondent in the war zones of Poland and Eastern Europe. His tone of voice is sharp and cynical, yet I feel his observations on the folly of war and the countries and men participating in it are very appropriate and often sensitive, even if it offended people greatly at the time. He was loved as well as loathed for his harsh, yet often humorous observations. Still today, his rather sick sense of humor is darkly comic. I feel that Malaparte gives us the real emotion of how it feels to experience war as an observer on the sideline as he was, the noise, the dead, the bombing, people on the run, the louting, people strung up on trees, the senseless hate. Malaparte himself describes his experiences as ‘cruel gaiety’. Well, yes, the man was a total cynic and I think that is exactly why his reports are feeling so truly realistic and precisely correct because of their absurdity and brutality. As far as I am concerned, the same applies to his other war novel, ‘The Skin’, about the liberation of Naples.

Malaparte travelled extensively over the battle fields during the years 1941 through 1943. He observed the war from both the German as well as the Russian front. As a born and raised bon vivant and obviously a member of high class, he was apparently very welcome to stay at Italian embassies where he dined and wined out of harm’s way, notably in Finland and Sweden. He was apparently very welcome at other embassies as well. He was, after all, a dandy with great wit and I have no doubt that he was very pleasant company. The fact that Mussolini had jailed him for his criticism of the Italian fascist movement in the 1930’s was apparently no reason not to welcome him and perhaps even a recommendation. Apparently, the German fascist regime in Warsaw loved to have him as a guest and Malaparte has quite some hilarious observations on all those pompous German men and their ladies when dining at the Embassy. He even met Himmler a few times at an Embassy dinner in Warsaw and he always referred to him afterwards as ‘the human Himmler’, thus as a specimen of another species. Very good classification in my view.

The last chapter of the book provides a horrendous description of the apocalyptic destruction of Naples. Malaparte arrived there in 1943 after another stay in prison. Although he does not go into details, I assume Mussolini’s son-in-law arranged for his release. Malaparte hurried off between all the rubble and thongs of roaming people to the harbor to try to catch a boat to take him to Capri where his house was. This house is quite a landmark till this day.

The book ends in a very Malapartian anecdote with a conversation at the harbour with an old man. I’ll translate it because it is such an appropriate ending:
‘Damn flies!’ I said.
‘That’s right’ says the man, waving his newspaper, ‘damn flies’.
‘Why don’t you people of Naples start a fight against the flies? With us in Northern Italy, in Milan, Torino, Florence and even Rome, the municipalities organised the fight against flies. There’s no fly to be found there anymore.’
‘There’s even no fly anymore in Milan?’
‘No, not a single one. We have put them all to death. It is a question of hygiene, you prevent infections and illness.’
‘Oh well, but we have taken up the fight against flies in Naples too, better even, we have started a downright war against the flies. Already for three years we have combated the flies.’
‘So how it is possible then that there are still so many flies in Naples?’
‘Oh well, Sir, what do you want: the flies have won.”