How do we reconcile protecting ‘our own’ and following laws that may damage our interests? In the Euthyphro, one of Plato’s Dialogues, we see the ultimate form of this dilemma, as Euthyphro, a renowned lawyer, needs to decide whether to prosecute his own father for murder, in order to fulfill the dictates of the law and morality. People have been pondering the relationship between self-interest and humanitarianism from time immemorial. Who have we become, how do we feel about where we are and who we are at this stage, have we accomplished what we hoped to do? What were some of our formative experiences, what stands out as factors that influenced us and shaped us? Barzini engages the reader, draws us in and makes us think and feel his little memoir conveys a much deeper message than it would first appear.In 2015, author John Hooper updated Barzini’s observations in The Italians, and astutely noted that the long-standing internecine conflict between the North and South has taken a new turn it “is now trumped by a shared aversion to ethnic and racial ‘outsiders’.” In a stunning ironic twist, Italians have finally found unity-at least on one point-by finding a common enemy, the migrant. He makes us think about how we will feel as we reflect upon our own lives as we age. He conveys to us that we are a product of our time and place, and of our experiences.
I like the way Barzini shows how the history of an individual, a society and a nation are inextricably bound together. They are both older, perhaps wiser, with some dreams and potential fulfilled and others lost as life interceded. He reflects upon where he and America were, once upon a time, and where both of them are at the time of the book's writing. Barzini sees strengths, the things that make a society great, as well as the weaknesses that make a society less than perfect. The book is at times nostalgic, pragmatic, amusing, poignant, hopeful, optimistic and regretful. Through Barzini's eyes, we see a snapshot of an America that is in our past.
The prose is often poetic in its ability to convey the sights, sounds, smells, mores, prejudices, hopes, dreams and emotions of a specific time and place, in both America and the life of a young immigrant. 'O America' is one of my favourite books by him. He is insightful, literate, thought-provoking, and still remains accessible. I have read several books by Barzini and greatly admire his work.
0 kommentar(er)
