Riassunto
Riassunto di L’alcova d’acciaio
A chi è rivolto
Readers who like firsthand war writing, bold experimental prose, the story of the Italian Front, the Futurist movement, or a vivid personal voice that mixes jokes, poetry, machines and battle.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Steel Alcove is the war diary of F. T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, who died in 1944. It follows his last months as a lieutenant in the Italian army in 1918, from the mountain batteries of Val d'Astico to the end of the war in the valleys of Carnia. The book was written to celebrate a victory, and it does so in the loud, noisy style of the Futurist movement.
You get the war as Marinetti wants you to feel it. Shells whistle in written sound, echoes laugh, machine guns become ladies, and an armored car becomes a lover. Between the battles come brothels, salons, love affairs, a hospital for the mutilated, and village feasts. The author never hides his pride, his anger or his appetite.
The key points that follow walk through the diary in time. They begin with a mountain barracks on the eve of the Austrian attack in June 1918.
In questo riassunto
- 1Pranks and brothels before the great battleFree
- 2The Austrian offensive of June 1918
- 3Victory parades and a prize in Modena
- 4A madman, painted ships and the lover numbered 74
- 5Rapallo's moonlit dance of the wounded
- 6Leave, salons and a cold farewell to Bianca
- 7Debating cavalry and waiting for the Piave
- 8Across the Piave and into Vittorio Veneto
- 9The liberated villages and the bells of Friuli
- 10The captured army and the last night in the steel alcove
Punto chiave 1 di 10
Pranks and brothels before the great battle
The diary opens on June 1, 1918, in a bombardiers' barracks on a mountain ridge in Val d'Astico. Marinetti and about twenty officers eat spaghetti at sunset. He turns the meal into a game by ordering everyone to shift two places to the right, which leaves the doctor with his plate in his lap. The jokes are a way to push away what he calls the offensive of loving memories.
The officers around him are drawn in quick strokes. Colonel Squilloni is a Florentine with a guitar and a chest of medals. Captain Melodia is a cavalryman famous for wild tricks, and he tells how he once hid in a coffin to escape a hospital. Marinetti's orderly Ghiandusso and his little war dog Zazà are always at his side.
The next day they all ride a supply truck to a brothel villa in Thiene. Marinetti describes it as a machine, with women who seem like motors and officers who queue on the stairs. A woman called Maria tells him she has read his books and even subscribed to the magazine Lacerba.
Back at the front, Marinetti declares what he wants from his book. He wants it to dance, to leap from the reader's hands, and to strike dull traditionalists in the face. At a fort, an Austrian deserter reveals that the great attack is set for June 15.
That Slovak deserter, who says he was slapped by his lieutenant, is only one of many odd witnesses. Major Sannia adds stories of Italian deserters with strange reasons. The chapter sets the tone: the war is fought with fear, jokes and a hunger for life.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about L’alcova d’acciaio
What is The Steel Alcove about?
It is Marinetti's diary of the last months of the First World War on the Italian Front in 1918, from the Austrian offensive in June to the victory in early November, told in a loud Futurist style.
Who is Marinetti and what is Futurism?
Marinetti was an Italian poet who founded Futurism, an artistic movement that celebrated speed, machines, youth and war, and rejected old traditions in art, writing and politics.
What does the steel alcove mean in the book?
It is Marinetti's name for the inside of his armored machine-gun car, number 74, which he describes as a gleaming bridal chamber where he imagines Italy herself coming to lie in his arms.
Is The Steel Alcove a true story?
It is presented as a real war diary of an officer in the Eighth Squadron of armored cars, with real places, generals and battles, though the author shapes events with imagination and exaggeration.
What is the writing style like?
The prose is lively and sound-filled, with machine guns, echoes and engines spelled out in noise, short scenes, many characters and sudden jumps between jokes, speeches, love scenes and battle.