Yes, this is a microcosm, brilliantly realized by Ms. Dunant.
As in her other novels of that milieu, The
Birth of Venus and In the Company of
the Courtesan, she renders the lives of women in Renaissance Italy in high
relief. I have read Venus and as good
as it is, this is rather superior. For me, the characters are fuller, the plot
more suspenseful, and the stakes just as high. The Santa Caterina convent in Ferrara
and 1567 AD, form our setting. A convent enjoying perhaps its twilight of
privilege, the nuns there still entertain the nobility with theatrical
productions, and they have a deservedly high reputation for their choir. The
choir director even composes music for the Psalms and other sacred texts. But the
Protestant Reformation looms ever larger in the background, with its constant
push for purer devotion, less ostentation, and removal of the Church –
especially its convents – from the earthly realm.
Enter Serafina, a sweet-voiced young novice whose father forces
her into Santa Caterina against her will. Her background includes a forbidden
flirtation, and she panics at the incarceration, as she views it, and creates a
large disturbance. Suora (sister) Zuana, the convent’s dispensary sister
(healer), inherits the responsibility of trying to orient the young rebel to
her new life. It doesn’t work very well. The captivating, exceptional story that
follows embroils us in the power struggle within the convent walls. On one side
the abbess would maintain the freedoms and privileges so many other
establishments are losing. She is threatened by the nun in charge of training
the novices, who would focus the world on the glorious transports of a holy
ascetic sister, who inspires the rest of the community with her pious zeal.
Young Serafina catalyzes the conflict, and remains the focus of Zuana, whose
point of view serves as the novel’s center.
The characters and events of this novel will stay with you.
Ms. Dunant’s pacing is superb, and the story’s events flow as though
inevitable. There are surprises, and shocks, and enough intrigue to delight any
lover of internecine conflict. As odd as that sounds.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in noblewomen in
Renaissance Italy, in the practice of convent dowries, or in Reformation
politics. But most of all I recommend this book for its spot-on observations of
human nature in duress, for its lovely description of devotional chorale work,
and for its lively, full description of an insular place at a remote time. For the
first time in a long time, I find myself stumbling over all the thoughts I want
to express about this shining story. Take it up and enjoy it.
Posts
No comments
Post a Comment