'late one evening early last december, soon after the earthquake...' - gustaw herling, may 1981
gustaw has been invited by one of his military friends to witness the relief operation by the italian military. in lucarna and irpinia - the epicentre was eboli (he says) at the gateway to the region - this was relatively untouched, but the village of tora alta has been entirely destroyed. the few standing structures were to be demolished and the ground sown with lime to dissolve the corpses that can not be safely dug out for fear of further collapses.
'handwritten leaflets appeared here and there discussing un evento escatologico... the precise details were to be found in the bible, and it had to be 'prepared for with unceasing prayer'. the area was swarming with magicians, palmists, fortune-tellers, and preachers...the shepherds of sottomonte fled with their sheep to the snow-covered heights, straight into a trap they took for a promise of salvation. 'the whole world won't perish... god would not allow it'.'
after experiencing the earthquake in naples gustaw had taken to staying up all night, he was not sleeping, spending his nights sitting up reading crime and punishment. the opportunity to go and see instead was a relief. they drive up into the mountains largely in silence 'people do not realize how insidiously, in certain circumstances, they can be infected by the rhetorical.'
and yet he is a writer. this is (often) precisely his job.
when he gets there he promptly comes down with a fever. he is soon sent home. he is no longer a young man. he sees the ruins. the sees the villagers return to stare at the ruins of their town.
his military friend finds himself attempting to teach the dead-eyed village children to keep them from going back to look - he reads them fables and fairy stories, in a corner they reconstruct a nativity scene with the damaged and dusty materials that come to hand.
it is the notion that 'the whole world won't perish... god would not allow it' that gustaw criticizes.
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