How many fans of Don Camillo, I wonder, are aware that Giovannino Guareschi's first book to feature a hero by the name of "Camillo" was not one of the ones about our beloved Communist-fighting priest? And how many know that before he wrote his well-known stories set in the cozy Little World of the Po Valley, he wrote a lesser-known farcical novel whose setting spanned the big wide worlds of the Riviera, tropical islands, the plains of Argentina, and even New York City?

Well, if you're not "in the know" regarding the above, the good news is that you can be. Both of those books I alluded to exist in English translation! Curious? Click on one of the titles below to read more about it (or just scroll down the page for both descriptions). [Note: I've listed the books here in order of their publication in English.]

1. A Husband in Boarding School. NEW YORK: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux; 1967. Copyright © Rizzole Editore, Milano, Italy, 1944. Published in Italian as Il Marito in Collegio. Translation by Joseph Green, copyright © 1967 by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, Inc. Library of Congress catalog number 67-22432.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Ambassador Books, Ltd., Rexdale, Ontario.
Published in Great Britain--as School for Husbands--by Macdonald & Co. (Publishers), Ltd.; 1968.

Some six years before The Little World of Don Camillo became a hit in English, Italian audiences were chuckling over the story of humble woodcarver Camillo Debrai, an innocent who is unfortunate enough to cherish an unrequited passion for the well-born (but not entirely scrupulous) Carlotta Wonder. Upon discovering this, she, to secure an inheritance needed to support a gaggle of free-loading relatives, is not above taking advantage of his affections and hastily arranging a wedding. But Debrai, pronounces the family's ancient matriarch, must be brought "up to snuff" before he may actually be introduced to the world as the spouse of Carlotta, and so he is secretly packed off to what amounts to a Swiss finishing school for young men. The real complications ensue when, in his absence, there arrives a "more appropriate" suitor for Carlotta's hand...

Though this story didn't see the light in English till 1967, it's actually one of the earliest Guareschi efforts, originally published in Italy as a serial in "L'Illustrazione del Popolo" between December 6, 1942 and May 9, 1943. The book form was then published while GG was a prisoner in the Lager of Sandbostel, Germany. It's light fiction, purely for fun, and Alberto and Carlotta Guareschi say their father evaluated the story as "humoristic, but more bland than [its predecessor,] Duncan and Clotilda; a book written with the intention of making people smile." [from e-mail dated 25 February 1998]

In my opinion, it definitely succeeds in achieving that goal. What I'm less certain about is whether I agree with Guareschi's assessment of which of his two early comedies, this one or Duncan and Clotilda (see below), is the more sparkling. Both farces feature silly upper-crustians, a kidnapping by inept villains, unrequited love, and a disputed inheritance: I suspect that whichever of the two stories a person reads first will seem the more lively.

There was one thing about Husband that I found a bit distracting on my first reading, though, and that was the character names. They are disconcertingly peculiar: two of the families, whose members have such Italian-sounding first names as "Casimiro" and "Robinia," are saddled with the English surnames "Wonder" and (of all things) "Food"! My initial thought was that the translator might be to blame, but Alberto and Carlotta Guareschi confirm that the names read that way in Italian, too. "[I]n Italy," they told me, "when people or situations not edifying were described, the author used to write [that] they were English, American, etc., but not Italian." [from e-mail dated 05 April 1998]

Reviews of A Husband in Boarding School from both the Fort Worth Press and the Long Beach Press-Telegram are quoted on the back jacket of my copy of Duncan and Clotilda (which, though it was the earlier book in Italian, was not published in English till the year after Husband). The Press called Husband "delightfully absurd... one of the freshest and most entertaining books of the [1967] season," while the Press-Telegram's reviewer said "Guareschi's farces are even better than his Don Camillo books; in plot this one reminds one of Chekov's comedies. And we can see Mastroianni as the woodworker, Gassman as the swindler, and Sophia Loren-- who else?-- as Carlotta." Now there's a movie I'd've liked to see...

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2. Duncan and Clotilda: An Extravaganza with a Long Digression. NEW YORK: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, Inc.; 1968. Copyright © Rizzole Editore, Milano, Italy, 1942; published in Italian as Il destino si chiama Clotilde. Translation by L.K. Conrad, copyright © 1968 by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. Library of Congress catalog card number 68-24598.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Ambassador Books, Ltd., Rexdale, Ontario.
Published in Great Britain by Macdonald & Co. (Publishers), Ltd.; 1969.

This was the first of GG's "non-Camillo" books that I ever read, and it was all I could do to keep from periodically checking the book jacket for assurance that I was, indeed, reading a book by the same man who created the Little World. After all, it was utterly different: an early story written in a farcical mode rather than whimsical one, and with no Italian flavor to speak of! That said, let me add that I found Duncan and Clotilda a delight; so entertaining that I read it in one long sitting because I couldn't put it down.

The plot: it's 1905 (but it could be any time) and there's discontent among the young jet-setters of a nameless European country (which could be any place). Duncan Fitzmorris, an eccentric young man of iron will, cannot inherit his fortune because he will not bend to fulfill a particular clause in his mother's will; meanwhile, headstrong heiress Clotilda Troll, full of unrequited love for Duncan, has decided to employ a crazy scheme to attract his attention and shanghai his affections. Things are eventually resolved to the satisfaction of all, but not before there's a kidnapping, a run-in with smugglers, some trouble with the New York police, and a curious digression (on the part of the narrator) to the plains of Argentina. Trust me, it works.

The situations are Wodehousian, but the prose is pure Guareschi--limpid and lightly ironic. And I'm not alone in my admiration for this book. Here's what Alberto and Carlotta Guareschi told me Umberto Eco (!) said about Duncan and Clotilda: "one of the most beautiful humoristic books... I prefer the Guareschi of those years [the early 40's] to the one of 'Don Camillo.'" (!) They added that, in GG's own words, the book was "definitely humoristic, sometimes violently humoristic, written with the intention of making the reader happy." [from e-mail dated 25 February 1998]

The story was first published as a serial in the weekly "Bertoldo," between September 6, 1941 and March 12, 1942 (so it pre-dates A Husband in Boarding School); the book form was then published in 1942. It was well-reviewed and has always done well in Italy, where the most recent paperback edition came out in 1997.

Interesting: My copy's dust jacket has a very "60's" design-- almost Peter Max-ish, with psychedelic pinks, yellows, and oranges. And the story wears its age very well (although, not knowing it in the Italian original, I can't say how much of my perception of this is a function of the '60's translation). Thus, I'm sure some of those who didn't know better must have thought they were getting a newly-written book (rather than a 25-year-old one) when they bought it in English in 1968.

NOTE: I wrote the above synopsis/review of Duncan and Clotilda based solely on reading the book in English translation. (Indeed, I could hardly have done otherwise, as I have no Italian!) But afterward, I happened across a 1964 book of literary criticism (also in English) on the subject of "views of the USA in early-20th C. Italian literature." And what do you know: a whole chapter of that book was devoted to an analysis of this novel, Il destino si chiama Clotilda (referring only to the Italian text, since the English translation had not yet been made in 1964). Perhaps those who have already read the novel might like to click here to look at my summary of that interesting critical analysis (but I'd say don't click if you haven't read Duncan and Clotilda, since the thing is full of plot spoilers).

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