A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar

A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar

Author:Hisham Matar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Art, Biographies & Memoirs, Europe, Italy, Painting, Travel
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2019-10-22T03:00:00+00:00


I listened to it all the way to the end, not once interrupting the various tasks that were involved in the preparation of my meal. More tracks followed: Sviatoslav Richter, Maxine Sullivan, Shahram Nazeri, John Coltrane. When the food was ready, I switched off the music and did not feel like eating. The artichokes and the little pasta I made now appeared as though they had been intended for another man. I thought of going out for some fresh air but my legs felt tired, my entire body seemed empty of will. I sat down in the armchair and fell asleep for a few minutes. When I woke up, I did not know where I was. Then I served the food without reheating it and ate in front of the television. One channel was playing clips from Tripolitania, a documentary shot in 1939, when Libya was still an Italian colony. The old footage showed Italians on the streets of Tripoli dressed in their Sunday best. Even in a black-and-white film I could recognize that bright tenor of Tripoli’s light, washing out everything it touched, erasing figures and objects from view. The camera focuses on a young Italian boy playing war games, loading and firing imaginary rockets while his plump face frowns theatrically. He is so earnest in his efforts to appear menacing. I wondered what became of him. In his white shirt and black tie he looks like a clerk of some sort. His hair, severely combed to the side, shines when he moves as though it were a black helmet. There is a small chance he is still alive today, I thought. The historic footage was followed by a round-table discussion between Italian commentators talking endlessly about the current troubles in Libya. There was little critical engagement with the issues, just the sentimentality of history and the sentimentality of the present.



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