Itaca Forever: Plot Summary, Main Characters of Luigi Malerba’s Novel, Analysis and Personal Evaluation.
Ithaca Forever by Luigi Malerba
Itaca Per Sempre is a novel by Luigi Malerba , born in Berceto (Parma) in 1927 and died in Rome in 2008, considered one of the greatest and most translated Italian writers of the second half of the twentieth century. Graduated in law, he was a journalist, film and television screenwriter, writer. Among the works of his rich production: Le pietre volanti (The Flying Stones) (Rizzoli, 1992), Le maschera (The Masks) (Mondadori, 1994), Itaca per sempre (Mondadori, 1997), Le galline pensierose (The Thoughtful Hens) (Mondadori, 1994), Il viaggiatore sedentario (The Sedentary Traveller) (Rizzoli, 1993). In 2002 “Il circolo di Granada” was published by Mondadori.
Ithaca Forever: Plot Summary
Ulysses has returned to Ithaca with the Phaeacians’ ship, he looks around bewildered, not recognizing it, since the island is abandoned to degradation. Disguised as a beggar he prepares the terrible revenge against the Proci , the pretenders to the throne who want his wife Penelope to choose a new husband who becomes king of Ithaca, moreover they abuse the riches of the absent king and have fun with the royal maids in Ulysses’ palace.
To carry out his plan and ensure its success, Odysseus reveals himself only to the swineherd Eumaeus and his son Telemachus, but not to Penelope. The hero, during a first conversation with Penelope, pretends to be an old vagabond covered in rags and, telling his wife a series of “true lies”, brings plausible news of the imminent return of her husband Ulysses . But a little later it is the nurse Eurycleia who recognizes her master by touching, while she is washing him, an old hunting scar. Ulysses asks the nurse not to divulge their secret but later Penelope also recognizes Ulysses in the guise of the beggar, and becomes annoyed because her husband, by not revealing himself, shows that he has no faith in her.
Revenge then occurs with the extermination of the Proci, first of all Antinous, a strong and arrogant young man. Penelope, however, continues to pretend not to recognize her husband even after his revelation and responds to the memories with which Ulysses tries to prove his identity with implacable logical ferocity, proving to be a superior arguer to him. Ulysses thus remains prey to pain, misunderstanding, uncertainty and doubt. Even Telemachus is no longer so sure of the identity of that man.
Wounded in his pride as a hero, Ulysses decides to leave thinking that Ithaca is no longer his home, given that his wife and son do not recognize him. This decision, however, provokes the desperate call and embrace of Penelope, who is now willing to accept him and take him back as her husband. Ulysses , instead of undertaking another journey, fulfills his destiny by remaining in his homeland and making the most of his passion and his ability to narrate: having entrusted the government to his son Telemachus, he begins to compose, in collaboration with the singer Terpiades, what will become the Iliad and the Odyssey .
Ithaca Forever: Characters
Let’s look together at the physical and psychological description of the characters in Itaca per sempre by Luigi Malerba, starting from the protagonist Ulysses.
Ulysses
The protagonist is the hero of the Achaean army who, after the fall of Troy and during his return home , encounters obstacles and faces terrible adventures, remaining at sea for ten years.
These events are not narrated in the novel. In fact we find Ulysses already on the beach of Ithaca , where he was abandoned by the Phaeacians.
There is no real description of Ulysses because the novel is written in the first person. Regarding his physical appearance we know of his beauty, even if he is a man already advanced in years, and his lively and penetrating gaze. His internal characterization is well described but only through the thoughts and actions of the character. Ulysses is clever, intelligent, courageous and strong. He is admired by all the other men for his intelligence, defined as “multifaceted”, and his cold blood is now a legend. He also has defects, such as arrogance, his curiosity beyond human limits and the presumption of understanding everything and everyone. As the story unfolds, however, we also notice other sides of his character, Ulysses appears troubled, indecisive, for the first time disconcerted, and surprised by his wife Penelope. A series of doubts upset him, because before he believed he was unbeatable. Finally he accepts to lose the challenge against the woman’s cunning , but in doing so he also gains the greatest fortune: the love of Penelope herself.
Penelope
Penelope is Ulysses’ wife , a woman still beautiful and young, cunning and intelligent. When Ulysses sees her for the first time, Penelope is described as a woman still very attractive, although her features are more severe than before.
Before Ulysses arrives in the guise of a beggar, Penelope is a desperate woman but hides her emotions so well that Ulysses is surprised to find her so flourishing and not consumed by tears. Instead, Penelope anxiously awaits her husband’s return, even if after ten years her hopes had diminished. She had raised her son alone and tolerated the suitors, devising clever deceptions, such as that of the web.
When she sees Ulysses in disguise, she is offended because her husband has not revealed his plans to her. What was once simple nostalgia for her husband turns into anger and resentment, and Penelope decides to “get revenge” in her own way. She pretends not to recognize him, not even when Ulysses reveals himself. She wins her battle when Ulysses’ presumption collapses . Penelope’s character is perhaps the best one in the novel.
Telemachus
Telemachus is the son of Ulysses and Penelope, he is a tall and thin boy, who Ulysses says looks rather like his mother. He has the character of his father, strong and courageous, even if he is still an adolescent and is not able to defend himself completely against the suitors. Together with his father Ulysses he plans his revenge and with this action he achieves a sort of maturation towards the subsequent government of the country and adulthood.
Eumeus
Eumaeus is Ulysses’ swineherd, the only one of his servants to have remained faithful to him during his absence. He hates the Proci and protects Telemachus . Ulysses reveals himself first to himself and Eumaeus, who helps him in his revenge against the suitors also thanks to the help of Philoetius, another faithful friend of Ulysses.
Antinous
Chief of the Proci, a man undoubtedly handsome, young and charming. At the same time, however, he is the meanest and most arrogant of all, and already believes himself to be in the good graces of Queen Penelope , even spreading rumors about his alleged nights spent in her company. He will be killed first during the revenge of the king of Ithaca .
The suitors
All the suitors can be considered a single character. In fact, they all have the same characteristics: they are ambitious, dishonest and cowardly. They consume all the goods of King Ulysses. Among them, Antinous, the most arrogant, and Ctesippus, the richest among them, stand out in particular. They all end up violently killed by Ulysses, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoetius.
Eurycleia
Eurycleia is Ulysses’s elderly nurse, who recognizes him by a scar he got while hunting with his grandfather Autolycus. But she must keep the secret while remaining faithful to her king Ulysses and her beloved mistress Penelope, acting as an intermediary in the various deceptions that the two exchange.
Narrator
The narrator of Ithaca is forever internal, the author Luigi Malerba chooses the mode of the two-voiced diary: the figure of the narrator is impersonated now by Ulysses, now by Penelope and therefore the thoughts of one are not known to the other.
The pace of the novel is rather slow, and the events take place in a limited time frame. In addition, many events are described twice, the first time from Ulysses’ point of view and the other from Penelope’s, and this slows down the narration even more. There are some passages in which, however, the pace speeds up and becomes pressing, such as the one that tells of the killing of the Proci. The reflective sequences predominate over all, being a psychological novel, the second are the narrative ones, the third are the descriptive ones.
The vocabulary used by Luigi Malerba is simple, linear and easy to understand. There are no technical terms, with rare exceptions, but there are many rhetorical figures. Many similes are related to nature, just like in the Homeric poem.
Plot and plot
Considering the story in general, in Itaca per sempre the plot and the plot often coincide . There are some analepsis but no prolepsis, so as not to ruin the atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty that surrounds the novel.
Setting
The whole story takes place in Ithaca, the island in the Aegean Sea of which Ulysses is king. The coast is rocky, the land is arid and covered with trees stripped by the sea winds, the sky is the same color as the sea. As anticipated, at the beginning Ulysses does not recognize his Ithaca. The landscape is foreign to him, everything has changed for the worse: The roads are deserted, bumpy, everything is in ruins. The environment is symbolic if we consider Ithaca from Ulysses’ point of view, that is, as a “home”, a safe place in which to take refuge after so much pain.
Personal evaluation
Itaca per sempre by Luigi Malerba is an original, flowing, very captivating novel . Engaging and particular, it is made interesting thanks to the psychological intertwining between Ulysses and Penelope. The only thing to point out is the fact that more or less halfway through the story the narration becomes a bit repetitive.
The story brings out the unsuspected limits of a hero, Ulysses, who chooses to become a common mortal. The first of all the limits that it highlights is the lack of confidence in his own and other people’s abilities . A lack that is fully manifested in the decision to deceive Penelope and in the certainty that she will never be able to recognize him. A lack of confidence in himself, therefore, and in his own ability to keep his wife’s love alive. A limit that is typical of man and that makes Ulysses a somewhat arrogant character and undeniably close to other common mortals and less to the hero he represents . It is in fact much easier to identify with Ulysses’ insecurities than with his infallible tests of strength. Penelope, astute and calculating, is an even more fascinating character than Ulysses: the battle between the two spouses that Malerba carries forward in the pages of his novel is a battle in which love is necessarily the means and the end.
