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Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy
by: Norman Lewis

Price: £14.77

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Used Price: £5.65
Third Party New Price: £14.77

Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.53
EAN: 9780786714384
ISBN: 0786714387
Label: Carroll & Graf Publishing
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: December 13, 2004
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishing
Studio: Carroll & Graf Publishing
Sales Rank: 259524

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Editorial Review:

Review:
We oldies who remember the war in Italy know that Naples '44 is the real thing, pure gold. It has all the qualifications to become a classic: the ring of truth, superb writing and the magical lure of a book you cannot put down. --Martha Gelhorn, Daily Mail

Naples '44 is quite simply one of the great books to emerge from WW2. --Time Out

Richard West, The Spectator:
A wonderful book

Graham Greene:
As unique an experience for the reader as it must have been a unique experience for the writer

Bruce Palling, Time Out:
The secret of Naples '44 is Lewis' extraordinary charm as a storyteller

Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Daily Mail:
Naples '44 is the best single British memoir of that war

Book Description:
Norman Lewis arrived in Naples as an Intelligence Officer attached to the American Fifth Army. By 1944 the city’s inhabitants were so destitute that all the tropical fish in the aquarium had been devoured, and numbers of respectable women had been driven to prostitution. The mafia gradually became so indispensable to the occupying forces that it succeeded in regaining its former power.
Lewis finds little to admire in his fellow soldiers, but gains sustenance from the extraordinary vivacity of the Italians. There is the lawyer who earns his living bringing a touch of Roman class to funerals, the gynaecologist who 'specialises in the restoration of lost virginity' and the widowed housewife who times her english lover against the clock. Despite the cruelty and suffering he encountered, Norman Lewis writes in the diary, ‘A year among Italians has converted me to such an admiration for their humanity and culture that were I given the chance to be born again, Italy would be the country of my choice’.

Synopsis:
A memoir of war-ravaged Italy explores the disillusionment, hysteria, and escapism that greets the Americans when they arrive on Italian shores, focusing on both the chaos of war and the strange psycho-social foment raised by foreign occupation. Reprint.

Excerpted from Naples '44: An Intelligence Officer in the Italian Labyrinth by Norman Lewis. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
Neapolitans take their sex lives very seriously indeed. A woman called Lola, whom I met at the dinner-party given by Signora Gentile, arrived at HQ with some denunciation which went into the waste-paper basket as soon as her back was turned. She then asked if I could help her. It turned out she had taken a lover who is a captain in the RASC, but as he speaks no single word of Italian, communication can only be carried on by signs, and this gives rise to misunderstanding. Would I agree to interpret for them and settle certain basic matters?

Captain Frazer turned out to be a tall and handsome man some years Lola’s junior. Having his hands on military supplies, he could keep her happy with unlimited quantities of white bread, which for Neapolitans in general - who have been deprived of decent bread for two years - has come to symbolize all the luxury and abundance of peace. She was also much impressed by his appearance. The Captain was a striking figure. His greatcoat had been specially made for him and it was the most handsome coat I had ever seen. His hat was pushed up in front and straightened with some kind of stiffener. This, although Frazer worked at a desk, made him look like an officer in a crack German SS formation. She wanted to know all about his marital status and he hers, and they lied to each other to their hearts’ content while I kept a straight face and interpreted.

She asked me to mention to him in as tactful a way as possible that comment had been caused among her neighbours because he never called on her during the day. Conjugal visits at midday are de rigeur in Naples. This I explained, and Frazer promised to do better.

When the meeting was over we went off for a drink, and he confided to me that something was worrying him too. On inspecting her buttocks he had found them covered with hundreds of pinpoint marks, some clearly very small scars. What could they be? I put his mind at rest. These were the marks left by iniezione reconstituenti: injections which are given in many pharmacies of Naples and which many middle-class women receive daily to keep their sexual powers at their peak. Frequently the needle is not too clean, hence the scars.

She had made him understand by gestures one could only shudderingly imagine that her late husband - although half-starved, and even when in the early stages of tuberculosis from which he died - never failed to have intercourse with her less than six times a night. She also had a habit, which terrified Frazer, of keeping an eye on the bedside clock while he performed. I recommended him to drink - as the locals did - marsala with the yolks of eggs stirred into it, and to wear a medal of San Rocco, patron of coitus reservatus, which could be had in any religious-supplies shop.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A wonderful book
Norman Lewis's son is a friend of mine and has been for twenty years. For twenty years I've drunk beer, watched football, told jokes and (in the dim & distant past) chased girls with the son. I even met the father once. It was not until I read the back of a Norman Lewis book last year & saw the picture, that I put two and two together. "Yep, that's my Dad". Astonishing!

I read that book,A Dragon Apparent, and enjoyed it, but not really enough to run out & buy others. I dont read much travel writing in general but it was undeniably well written, interesting & felt it was doing me good. On a whim I bought this one, Naples 44, last week and it is a real step up. Dressed up as a diary of a place in time (there's a clue ... Read More:

Rating:

- Effortless prose depicts an incredible culture and period
Naples '44 is simply an incredible, brilliantly-written diary of an intelligence officer that is at times shocking and moving.

Armed with modesty, unfailing politness and, perhaps most impressively, a military pass allowing him to be anywhere at any time and in any uniform, Norman Lewis moves through the murky, dangerous world of wartime Naples.

Lewis, who died in July 2003, was a London-born Welshmen whose diamond-sharp eye for observation and subtle satire and humour depicts with warmth and accuracy the idiosyncrasies of Italian culture, and a city that has descended into chaos.

For Lewis, his stay in Naples was an unforgettable experience. Thanks to his writing talent it is also an unforgettable experience for ... Read More:

Rating:

- A Diamond In The Rough
Perhaps that's a little harsh. There's plenty on Amazon that isn't rough - indeed, there's plenty of diamonds too. The most dazzling of them all though is Naples '44, a gemstone which reflects one man's mastery of fluid yet taut prose and his knack for surfacing in the singular circumstance. (While serving with the Intelligence Corp, Lewis was issued the government pass which bore the legend, 'The bearer is entitled to be in any place and wearing any uniform he chooses. All persons subject to military law are required to give any assistance he needs.') The kind of book that makes you wish that every person alive was aware of it.

I'd be a cretin if I didn't praise the publisher, Eland of London. Their commitment to a list of unexceptionable ... Read More:

Rating:

- Well written, atmospheric, rivetting and rings true.
I was hooked from page 1. This diary of a British Field Security sergeant in recently liberated Naples rings true in every respect. It is especially good in the way it tells how the chaotic situation among the Allies allowed the Mafia to reassert its influence. Of course, it was the poor liberated Italians who suffered most. Any person who has been in the Forces will recognize the truth of Lewis' stories of the complex relationships between the transient troops and their reluctant hosts. I had not enjoyed a book so much for a long time and have recommended it to friends.

Rating:

- A true insight into the History of modern Naples
I have lived in Naples for 7 months and this book really answers a lot of questions visitors may have when then come to Naples. Naples is a unique city an Normal Lewis gets right into the heart of the Neopolitans.

Well worth reading.

Books : Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy