Crucifixes vs. Hammers and Sickles


BY CANSU ORANÇ (PSYC/IV)
oranc@ug.bilkent.edu.tr

Which topics mostly make a book matter of debate? Politics? Religion? Maybe humor? An Italian journalist, Giovanni Guareschi (1908-1968), combined all these and gave life to two characters, Don Camillo and Peppone, and turned them into protagonists of a book series telling the story of a Catholic priest and a communist mayor in a small Italian town in Po Valley, right after World War II. Guareschi was a committed anti-fascist. He was also an equal critic of communist, monarchist, and Christian democratic movements in postwar Italy.

Don Camillo is the Catholic priest of the town. He's a big man (physically) with a big heart (figuratively). Guareschi doesn't portray him as a "holy" guy though, he's still displays human characteristics like jealousy and revenge, and this realness is the reason why Don Camillo is one of my favorite protagonists ever. Comrade Peppone, the mayor of the town, is a Communist who tries to sustain the town's wellbeing. For me, a third protagonist of the books is Jesus Christ, or to be more precise, Don Camillo's Christ. He's the invisible "mentor" of Don Camillo who often talks to him in a humorous manner.

In the preface of each book, Guareschi says that "priests who object to my portrayal of Don Camillo may break their staffs over my head, and communists who object to my portrayal of Peppone may break a hammer and sickle across my back. But no one is to criticize me over Christ's voice, for that stands for my conscience." Personally, I appreciate Guareschi's approach to religion both with Don Camillo and Christ.

Guareschi's stories are evolved out of the contention between Don Camillo and Peppone. They are always in dispute about anything, it can be about the church bells or a visitor of the town. What makes Guareschi's books delightful is not the disputes themselves but how Don Camillo and Peppone behave within the context. They mostly dig a pit for each other and watch what happens with pleasure. Here comes the important point though, they also lend a hand to each other when there's a problem that concerns the whole town. Throughout the books, you can see how they nurture each other. They nurture each other's ideas, personalities, and attitudes. Don Camillo and Peppone exist with their opposites, otherwise they couldn't come into being. I believe that this is a lesson to take from Guareschi's books.

I read one of the Don Camillo books in high school. I liked it so much that I had a "brave" attempt to write some similar humor-ish short stories, but my experiment did not last long since I was awful. After lending the book to a friend of mine, I lost track of it and eventually, I lost my one and only Don Camillo book. For years, my father and I looked in any single second-hand book shop we came upon but it was always a disappointment. Then we just forgot about it. Here comes the happy ending: A friend of my father searched many second-hand book shops (apparently those we hadn't) and pieced all all the books together. My plan for the winter break is to read them all, and then maybe I can come up with a second column on Don Camillo.

If you're interested, I found one of the books on www.ideefixe.com, and you can also check some other online book shops. There are also two movies of Don Camillo, released in 1952 and 1983. I'll watch them as soon as possible. If you watch sooner then me, let me know what you think!