“Silk” by Alessandro Baricco is a novella that can be read and savored in one sitting.   My copy was only 91 pages long.   This was much appreciated after reading “Kristin Lavransdatter: Part III” (see previous post).

Translated from Italian to English by Guido Waldman, this novella often had a poetic feel through it, although there isn’t any rhyming throughout.  Taking place in the 1860′s, “Silk” is about a French merchant of silkworms, Herve’ Joncour, who travels the world to import silk eggs and oversees their eventual production of silk in his village’s silk factories.  His travels take him all the way to Japan. 

Like a poem that will repeat a couple lines, this story occassionally repeats some lines, especially each time Herve travels to Japan.  This may bother or puzzle some readers, but I thought it showed to very good effect how long and arduous these journeys could be back then.

Herve has a loving and faithful wife, yet he becomes obsessed with a young woman in Japan.   Be forewarned– there is some erotic writing near the end that may make some blush.  The novella ends in a surprising and touching way; and I sat there for quite a while thinking about this novella –rather than getting up and doing whatever.   I recommend this somewhat bittersweet story!   From this little book, it’s hard to find a quoteable section that would remain in context.  Here is one, however,  that may provide a flavor:

“Herve’ Joncour spent the night on the edge of the camp.  Nobody spoke to him, nobody seemed to see him.  Everyone slept on the ground, by the fires.  There were only two tents.  Next to one of them Herve’ Joncour saw the litter, empty; hanging at its four corners were small cages — birds.  tiny golden bells dangled from the netting of the cages.  They jingled lightly in the night-time breeze”.

Disclosure:  Ever since first hearing about ”Silk” from Eva at  A Striped Armchair, this had been on my radar for a while.  Therefore, I was glad to find, and get to purchase, “Silk” at a local used bookstore.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 7:35 PM and is filed under multicultural, novella. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.