49 pages • 1 hour read
Nino RicciLives of the Saints
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: Post-World War II Italy
Lives of the Saints takes place in 1960 in Valle del Sole, a small town in Italy. The isolated, rural mountain town is marked by the legacy of fascist Italy and World War II (1939-1945). During World War II, fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ruled Italy. The narrator’s grandfather, who is a World War I veteran, supported Mussolini during World War II, much like many of the other villagers in Valle del Sole. His support for fascism is reflected in his title of lu podesta, the term used for mayor of an Italian city under the fascist regime.
Throughout most of World War II, the Italian government was allied with Nazi Germany, although there were communists and other partisans in both countries who fought against fascism and Nazism. In 1943, Mussolini was deposed, and part of the Italian government sided with the Allies. After breaking out of prison, Mussolini established the Italian Social Republic, known more commonly as the Salò Republic, in Northern Italy. In 1945, he was killed by communist partisans. In the text, the alliance between Germany and Italy Is represented by two German soldiers who once spent the night in the narrator Vittorio’s bedroom long before he was born; he believes they are still haunting the house.
In Lives of the Saints, Cristina, Vittorio’s mother, has an affair with a German communist. This affair, along with her resulting pregnancy, creates tension with her fascist-aligned father. The fascist hold on the town of Valle del Sole slips further when the communists put up their own candidate for mayor rather than allowing a fascist to take the position. It is against this backdrop of the legacy of the war and its effect on relationships in a small town that the story unfolds.
Literary Context: Bildungsroman
Lives of the Saints is the first in a trilogy of texts that make up a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a form of literature that traces the growth of an individual from their early years through their adulthood. They typically focus on the protagonist’s formal, social, and psychological education.
The term bildungsroman comes from a combination of two German words: bildung, meaning “education” and roman, meaning “novel.” A related term for this form of novel is “coming-of-age” story. Generally speaking, a bildungsroman protagonist is a child or young adult who experiences a challenge or loss. This experience forces them into new situations, often by literally leaving home, as is shown in Lives of the Saints. Other examples of bildungsroman are the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, the Little Women series by Louisa May Allcott, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
Lives of the Saints describes the early childhood of Vittorio Innocente, the protagonist, as he gains awareness about the world and confronts its challenges. It depicts his formal education in school and his growing interest in hagiography, or the lives of saints. It also traces his social education as he learns about friendship, loyalty, and his relationships with his peers. At the end of the novel, Vittorio experiences a “loss of innocence” typical of the genre when his mother dies after childbirth while traveling to Canada.
In the subsequent books in the series, In a Glass House and Where She Has Gone, Vittorio’s adolescence and early adulthood are depicted to show how he grows and changes in new circumstances, particularly as an immigrant to Canada and in his relationship with his half-sister, who is born at the end of Lives of the Saints.
