Ernesto (NYRB Classics)

In November 2019, the book discussion group at The LGBT Center in NYC had a solid group of very thoughtful readers to discuss this book. While most everyone thought that the book beautifully written in a poetic style and full of terrific details, we had serious problems with the free-flowing thought and parenthetical style of the prose, the full-blown Narcissism of the 16-year-old narrator of the title, and the lack of an ending. The introductory and ending material by the translator made this small book much more interesting.Written in 1953 by an aging Saba in a mental institution, but taking place is 1898, "Ernesto" is wildly sexual and openly gay: there's a hot warehouse sex scene between the unnamed man and Saba about 10 pages into the short novel without a single hesitation or bit of guilt on the part of the young Ernesto. It's fine that the man with whom Ernest has his first sexual affair remains unnamed, but Ernesto seems distant or removed from his feelings during the sex and decides to distance himself completely from the man fairly quickly. (The sex, by the way, is all anal. Apparently oral sex didn't occur in late 19th century Italy?) The unnamed man, on the other hand, is passionate and recognizes that Ernesto is offering him something very special that he'll never have again.Some of the minor characters, such as Ernesto's Jewish boss (who gets a shocking flash-forward), his doting but overly dramatic mother, and his controlling uncle are fairly rich characters. But Ernesto is a teen without much consideration for those around him and seems thinly drawn. If this is an autobiographical novel, it doesn't begin with a sensitive young man who Saba --as a recognized poet-- turns out to be. This may the problem of the unfinished work. We don't get to see Ernesto mature and turn into a character we want to know.We discussed the translation and how difficult it must be for the translator to try to capture a very distinctive writing style as well as a foreign dialect, but don't think that it was successful. "Ernesto" is an OK quick read but a very minor piece of gay literature.Just FYI, here's an English translation one of Saba's most famous poems, written when he was in his 20's. (It's apparently about Trieste, where "Ernesto" takes place.)AFTER SADNESSThis bread tastes of a memory,chewed in this poor tavernwhere the harbor is most littered and deserted.And I savor the beet’s bitterness,seated, on the way back home,facing the cloud-topped mountains and the lighthouse.My spirit, having vanquished one of its torments,observes with new eyes in the ancient eveninga pilot with his pregnant wife,and a ship, its seasoned woodglistening in the sunset, its smokestack,as tall as the two masts, making a childishdesign that I made myself twenty years ago.Who could have told me then that my lifewould be so beautiful, with so many sweet concerns,and so much solitary bliss!

Arguably among Italy’s finest poets of modern times, Umberto Saba’s Ernesto (first published posthumously in 1975; the New York Review Books edition translated by Estelle Gilson with an Introduction and additional essays and notes by the translator; 2017) is a remarkable coming of age novel about a sixteen-year-old boy set in Trieste, Italy, in 1898. Saba began writing the novel in 1953, but ill health left him incapable of finishing the work. As per his wishes, the manuscript of the novel was kept sealed up and revealed to relatively few people. Gilson quotes Saba’s thought that the novel would be condemned as being obscene, but that he considered the book to be a chaste work, but “of a chastity that people would not understand.”Umberto Saba (March 9, 1883 – August 26, 1957) was “born Umberto Poli in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the nom de plume "Saba" in 1910, and his name was officially changed to Umberto Saba in 1928… In 1900 he began composing poetry… In November 1910 his first collection of poems, Poesie, was published” (Wikipedia). The highly autobiographical Ernesto is Saba’s only piece of prose fiction.Saba’s concern about the manuscript for Ernesto is rooted in the explicit nature in which the author treats homosexuality. As a sixteen-year-old Ernesto becomes “an apprentice at a company that bought flour from large Hungarian mills and sold it to the city’s bakeries.” There he encounters a twenty-eight-year old laborer who is attracted to the youth’s beauty and at the older man’s bequest, the two of them begin to have sexual relations. Saba’s writing is very pointed and for the times, when homosexuality was still a crime in Italy, quite uninhibited. Ernesto, although he has never had intercourse with anyone of either gender welcomes the older man’s advances and Saba writes it was something the youth had “been dreaming of for months (from the first moment he’d seen him).” Theirs becomes an on-going, secretive affair with the fatherless youth glowing in the attention he is getting from an older male.In her Introduction to Ernesto, Estelle Gilson states, “What Saba thought poets had yet to do was to write honest poetry” with a commitment that every word needs to correspond to the poet’s vision. This is the philosophy Saba brings to his poetry and to Ernesto with his depiction of the youth’s life at the mill, at home with an aloof mother with both Ernesto and his mother dependent upon an aunt’s wealth to get by, and the lad’s sexual relations with “the man” (the only name ever given to the laborer). The story is told without sentimentality or sensationalism and in clear and concise language.Throughout the book there are many humorous and wry moments when Ernesto lets loose typical adolescent behavior (jealousy, awkwardness, temperament, etc.) and thinking (Ernesto is often quite quick to jump to conclusions as he tries to comprehend and fit into a society of mostly older adults). As he relates Ernesto’s thoughts and actions, Saba often writes what amount to asides in parentheses explaining the reality of the situation which is often comically contrary to Ernesto’s perception). Knowing that Saba is closely mirroring his own youth in Ernesto’s story and that Saba “found himself charmed—literally enchanted—by the teenage boy he had created” according to Gilson, makes the writer’s asides even more meaningful and attractive.True to many adolescents his age, Ernesto is quite self-absorbed. He is restless in mind and spirit and feels as though “every man and woman over thirty-five was ancient and ready for the grave.” Ernesto is paradoxically open to and yet manipulative of others. None of this works to the advantage of “the man” who genuinely is in love with the “good-looking” teenager and isn’t using him simply to satisfy his lust. As Ernesto begins to tire of “the man,” and wishes to lose his virginity (sex with “the man” doesn’t count in his mind), Ernesto seeks out a female prostitute.Sprinkled throughout Ernesto is the poet’s love of his hometown of Trieste—its people, landmarks, and customs. As Ernesto begins to follow his dreams of being a concert violinist (even as Saba makes clear the boy starts lessons much later than he should and that he isn’t very good), there is also within him a growing love of poetry—a love of which of he is almost unaware. His passion for violin music and his violin lessons leads him to a major turning point in his life.Ernesto is both enchanting and enticing. It is also a bit frustrating since it is an incomplete work. At one-point Saba interrupts his narrative to inform his readers in “Almost a Conclusion” written on August 31, 1953, what he wants to write about Ernesto’s “complete story of his adolescence” will take at least a hundred more pages and summarizes what will happen to Ernesto. “Unfortunately,” Saba states, “the author is too old, too weary and embittered to summon the strength to write all that.” Saba does, however, manage to write a further chapter. Like the author’s asides in the novel, his “Almost a Conclusion” is highly unusual, fascinating, and personal.Estelle Gibson’s closing material about translating Saba’s prose and the history of both the book and Saba’s declining years makes both a story and reading Ernesto even more unique of an experience. Her additional artifacts drive home what the reader already will know—the deep sincerity of Saba’s desire to produce a true-to-life portrait of his own counterpart as well as the author’s success at doing so in spite the book’s partialness. [NOTE: Ernesto was filmed in 1979 starring Martin Halm as Ernesto and Michele Placido as “the man.” The film was directed by Salvatore Samperi. The film is currently not available on DVD in the US.]

This is a very special novel and the story behind it is almost as interesting. I highly recommend this artful and knowing portrait of a boy coming to terms with his sexuality. Really great reading.

Rich with history and full of insight into the struggle for self understanding and enlightenment. At the roots of the gay cannon...

Moving account of the author's sexual socialization. Full of irony and nostalgy. I highly recommend, although the novel remained unfinished.

awesome book and in great condition

Un libro imprescindible en la biblioteca. La historia de como fue concebido, desarrollado y dejado a medias es increíble. Totalmente recomendado.

The story of my life as a homosexual adolescent in the puritan America of the sixties might interest you. My book is entitled What Rough Beast, by Robert Dole, published by Austin Macauley in London in2017.