First Execution [Paperback]

In Richard Linkletter's animated film WAKING LIFE, a group of young rebels walk down a city street debating politics, justice, and revolution. As they reach an intersection, they happen upon a man in the middle of the street ranting a raving like a crazed lunatic. Suddenly, the man douses himself with gasoline, pulls out a match, declares that there is too much injustice in the world, and finally strikes the match. Two of the three rebel-onloookers are quick to dismiss the man's actions as a meaningless protest or social commentary. Yet the third rebel sees things differently. "He's all action with no theory," he admits to his friends. "But we are all theory and no action."

The scene - one of my favorites of contemporary cinema - could be a page out of "First Execution" by Domenico Starnone. Starnone's story is that of Professor Statsi who spends his days lecturing on the injustices of modern political and economic systems and praising those who have the courage to do something about it - even if the actions (like the man in WAKING LIFE) are somewhat misguided. Now at the end of his career, Stasi begins to grade himself - as it were. Why has he not done something more to eradicate injustice? Is charity enough, or does it merely excuse oppression? Is violence ever called for, and if so, could he live up to the task? Is he, like the rebels in Linkletter's film, all talk and no action?

Enter Nina - one of the professor's former students who has been arrested on charges of "terrorism" for having the courage to fight against poverty, racism, and suffering caused by the State. Upon discovering her arrest, should Stasi feel a sense of pride that his lectures have resulted in action, or shame that they may have contributed to violence - albeit for what he deems a worthy cause? Adding to this inner turmoil, when Nina contacts her former professor and asks for him to complete an unfinished operation, is Statsi willing to follow through on his own lectues?

Just when the story couldn't get any more compelling, enter the voice of Domenico Starnone, a retired professor and - yes - the author of the very book we're reading. Like Stasi himself, Starnone seems pulled regarding which direction to take the novel. Should he write a story where Stasi engages in acts of terrorism, or should Starnone pen a novel about restraint, patience and struggle? Like Italo Calvino's IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELER.., Starnone deliberately interrupts passages, starts scenes only to abandon them mid-sentence, and decides mid-book that the reader should ignore what has previously been introduced. All of this is a stroke of brilliance, for it shows that even the author himself struggles with the questions he has forced his characters to ponder.

FIRST EXECUTION is definitely worth the time, but it takes some patience (hence 4 stars, not 5.) The narrative/plot is not linear, and it can be difficult to keep track of who is narrating (Stasi or Starnone.) Yet this is deliberate, and once the reader accepts the deliberate confusion (all other characters have similar names to their fictional counterparts), one begins to appreciate the big themes of the book. After all, is this merely a book of words, of theory. Or is Stasi - that is, Starnone - thinking about action?

Fans of metafiction will get a real workout with this novel by Domenico Starnone, who in 2001 was honored with the Strega Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary prize. First Execution, a book which appears to be about terrorism and the shedding of blood by all extremist groups--from fascists to communists to, more recently, religious extremists--is, like all metafiction, a novel in which reality and fantasy overlap. A narrator/author, Domenico Stasi, is writing a story about events from his own life while adapting these events to the needs of his fiction, telling his story and then backing up and rewriting his plot, while also experimenting with characters. The reality of his life is the starting point for his fantasies, but by the time the book ends, the reader's perception of reality has been so distorted by Stasi's creative process that the "real-life" conclusion feels more like fantasy than reality. The effect is akin to witnessing to an act of violence--one is not sure whether to believe what the eyes are seeing.

Stasi, a sixty-seven-year-old former high school teacher, has always been on the cutting edge of progressive, radical ideas, moving in the course of his life and teaching career from promoting Christian charity to communism, to the anti-Vietnam war movement, to, ultimately, world revolution. Respected as a teacher, he has always been seen by his students as "capable of showing the injustice in just about everything," and he has told them that "You should die on your feet, rather than live on your knees." Despite this brave statement, however, he is unsure of who he really is, declaring that "I had grown old doing not what I wanted to do, but rather what corresponded to the way I saw myself."

When he is contacted by Nina, one of his former students, he agrees to go to an apartment, copy a passage from a book there, and then put it into an envelope which someone will later retrieve. Though Nina is a member of the Red Brigades, he wants to live up to her memories of him from her student days ten years ago. Later he agrees to return to the apartment where he finds a package addressed to him, containing a pistol and the photograph of a man whom he is presumably expected to execute. While he is doing the bidding of Nina and her associates, he is also contacted by Augusto Sellitto, another former student, who has taken a different route. Sellitto is a police officer who warns him that "those streets you cross with your eyes closed could be dangerous."

Throughout the novel, Stasi the author/teacher and Stasi the character in the story explore their philosophical worlds. Stasi the author continuously changes the story and its details, adding information from his past life, erasing ideas that he believes do not work in his fictional story, explaining how his political ideals have changed, and trying to live his own real life while creating a new fictional life. Eventually, Stasi the author and Stasi the fictional character merge in a grand climax at the conclusion, bringing Stasi's reality and fantasy together to create a new "reality," one which proves to be the height of irony.

Readers who enjoy metafiction will enjoy the novel's twists and turns into and out of reality and the author's exploration of political thought and action in the twentieth century. The story itself is by turns exciting, absurd, and ironic. Readers who prefer more straightforward novels, however, may find themselves frustrated with the artificial construction and the fact that most of the "action" seems to take place in the fictional story. The book's dramatic conclusion, continues the author's dark, if not cynical, tone, hammering home the idea that "Maybe the human race never had any hope at all, right from the beginning." n Mary Whipple

Via Gemito

I usually get pretty cranky when discovering that I am reading a book within a book . It's not that I'm against metafiction - it's just I get antsy about it - I want the story - not the story about the story - if I had wanted THAT story, I would have bought that story. I know - that's not the point. So I try to be good and read the more often than not dreary and pointless story that seems to be there for nothing better than filler. Not so here.
This may be a small book, but it's 173 pages are not a quick read - nor do you want it to be. I think Domenico Starnone - and especially where it concerns First Execution, is the reason WHY I read literature in the first place! Such an intelligent story that's by all impressions, a great thriller -
And this is not metafiction - it's actually, Mise en abyme - a perfect Chinese Box.
And I'll explain: Domenico Starnone, who used to be a high school teacher writes a book about a retired teacher, who happens to be named Domenico Starnone, who is trying to write a novel - a sort of thriller where the main character, a retired teacher named Domenico Stasi meets up with one of his former students in a coffee shop. Nina. Just weeks before, Stasi had seen her name in the paper as one of the suspected terrorists who were arrested. Now that she had been released, he asks to meet with her to see if she is okay but also because he is worried that some of the philosophical and ideological lessons he taught were behind her downfall. He was worried - that he had created a monster. During their meeting over coffee, doesn't necessarily proclaim her innocence, but she's not foaming at the mouth either - all very mysterious. But finally, she asks her former professor to do a small favor for her, a task that she herself was unable to complete because of her arrest.
This assignment is the first step in a dizzying cascade of events for both the character in the story, and its author. As Starnone writes out each episode, driving his elderly namesake on an odyssey of jeopardy, he himself begins to spiral out of control. He gets himself involved into an altercation with some knuckle-dragger on the bus and it escalates way beyond anything the author ever imagined. So while he writes about his character's adventures and mishaps, his own life hits some curves at high speed and in the end, no one is innocent.
For a book that appears to be so straight forward - once you get all of the Domenico's straightened out, that is...nothing, you will find - is what it seems. And when I said this wasn't a quick read...that is the one ding I have about First Execution, trying to figure out when the story is referring to Domenico, the author in the story or Domenico, the character in his story. I had to re-read several passages in order to keep them straight.
Though Starnone has written numerous books, some award winning, it appears that First Execution may be the only one translated into English - in any case, watch for more from this extraordinary author - he's certainly worthy of your time.