The Chill by Romano Bilenchi

A Universal Coming-of-Age Story
My review on Amazon

"The chill of suspicion and incomprehension came between me and humankind when I was sixteen." This is how our unnamed protagonist begins his achingly familiar story about becoming a man in the real world.

Living in Tuscany in the 1920's, the protagonist is sixteen-years old and just lost his grandfather to old age. The loss--monumental in every respect--marks a shift in his perception of adult life, and adults in general. Standing on the precipice of adulthood, he studies it as if it's a piece of an overripe apple that he's reluctantly considering buying.

He contends that it isn't "possible to live among other people if all of a sudden they could attack one another with such ferocity." It's his innocence talking and it's precisely the loss of innocence that gives our protagonist the "chill."

Part of the inescapable process of becoming adults is that we shed our childhood innocence and replace it with an armor that helps us navigate the "real world." The shedding process--that inevitable fate--is what's at the core of this book. 

Our unnamed friend's journey into adulthood, as dramatic and chilling as it is at times, is so relevant and real. His encounters with the fragility of friendships, the hollowness of death, the explosion of sexuality and the dullness of shame are timeless and tireless themes that usher us into the world of grownups. He has to learn the hard way to become a man.

I didn't know much about the book when I picked it up a few months back, but I'm so glad I did. Bilenchi's prose in these 84-pages is classical and refined (Ann Goldstein did a wonderful job bringing the Italian text to life with precise and beautiful locution.) In addition to the protagonist's engrossing story, the Italian countryside setting is so delicately and thoroughly described that it makes the story that much more captivating.

This short story managed to capture the essence of adolescence like no other novel or novella has. The shedding analogy I used earlier can really be summarized in one word: rebirth. As we go past our adolescent years we are in fact reborn with calibrated sensibilities and a wiser (or damaged) perspective.

Comments

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Really i love this chillness.. like your article..