Edmondo De Amicis - - In this comic masterpiece timid little Mr Celzani is consumed by love for the disdainful Miss Pedani, an Amazonian gymnast. He finds his romantic efforts repeatedly thwarted by his beloved’s single-minded focus on her rigorous physical discipline

Edmondo De Amicis, Love and Gymnastics, Trans. by David Chapman, Hesperus Press, 2011. [1892.] 

‘Great God, how beautiful she was! He had never seen her looking so well as she had that evening, sitting there with an erect torso like an empress on a throne with that ample bosom quivering with life… He had observed her hand, which was a bit thickened by gymnastic exercise, resting on the table; still it was long and beautiful, full of strength and elegance, and he had wanted to swoop down upon it like a vulture on a turtledove.’

In this comic masterpiece from 1892, timid little Mr Celzani is consumed by love for the disdainful Miss Pedani, an Amazonian gymnast with whom he shares an apartment block.The machinations of their fellow inhabitants notwithstanding, he finds his romantic efforts repeatedly thwarted by his beloved’s single-minded focus on her rigorous physical discipline.Through the intertwining themes of the title, De Amicis proposes a timeless meditation on devotion, hope, persistence and the need for balance in all human relations.

Rediscovered by Italo Calvino, this rare novella by one of Italy’s best-loved literary talents links the themes of romantic love and sportsmanship. It is published here for the first time in English.

'David Chapman’s translation, the first into English, is clean and sprightly, and shows De Amicis as a master of the skewering one-liner which fixes a character to a page... Best of all is his portrait of Celzani, which astutely traces the surging hopes and withering self-delusions of this thwarted no-hoper as he tries to persuade “la Pedani” that he’s more worthwhile than a “simple jumping half-step.” It delivers fistfuls of cruelty, but always with a smile. This edition comes with a foreword by Italo Calvino, who thought it was the best thing De Amicis ever wrote, and you can see why.'– Intelligent Life, The Economist

"All this is very funny, as is the bland, light-hearted satire of the infatuation for physical training which was sweeping Italy at the time. (...) (H)e has a real gift for accurate observation of both characters and scenes. (...) Amore e ginnastica (...) still makes for delightful reading, and one would not be surprised if it becomes as popular as Cuore." - Times Literary Supplement

Love and Gymnastics is set largely in a single house of six apartments, one of the oldest in Turin -- and one which: "suited itself well to intrigues and to the secrets of amorous passions". The time is the late nineteenth century, as a gymnastics-craze is sweeping Italy -- not competitive gymnastics, but rather as a fitness- and wellness-exercise, suitable for all to participate in; as presented here it's perhaps most comparable to the present-day yoga fad, complete with competing schools of what are the best forms of the exercise and devotees who swear by it.

Several of the tenants of the house are very wrapped up in this gymnastics enthusiasm, with the third floor being: "all scholastic and gymnastics". It is there that Maria Pedani -- a: "tall and strong lass of twenty-seven" -- lives with Miss Zibelli, who is nearly a decade older and "the physical opposite of her friend".

Miss Pedani is completely devoted to gymnastics -- obsessed with it: "She lived with one thought alone: gymnastics". Her life revolves entirely around it: she practices and she preaches it; she is a teacher as well as an ardent proponent of the activity and she follows all the latest news and trends; she also writes about it, to spread the word and share her expertise, including for professional journals. If not a classic beauty -- her facial expression and gait are a bit too manly, for one --, she is, thanks to her lifestyle, still quite a figure: she "was of statuesque proportions, breathed health and strength from her entire body" (and she has: "the flexibility of a ten-year-old child"). And so she of course attracts some attention, including from one of the sons of a family in the building, as well as from the landlord's nephew, employed by his uncle as secretary after he decided that the path to priesthood he had previously embarked upon wasn't quite for him after all -- though he's not allowed to forget it, as: "all the tenants of the house had for years called him 'Reverend' Celzani in jest".

It is Celzani's passion for Miss Pedani that dominates the story. As is perhaps to be expected from a priest-manqué, he is not just not a ladies' man -- he really doesn't even know how to approach one, and so his is fumbling actions around Miss Pedani are a source of much of the comedy in the novel. He might only be: "a few years past his thirtieth birthday, but he had the bearing and behaviour of a man of fifty". But it isn't only his bearing and hapless approach -- which includes first making his feelings known by sending her a letter -- that hinder his hopes for romantic happiness: there's that problem that Miss Pedani doesn't even think of romance, her entire being taken up by gymnastics.

De Amicis' tale is an enjoyable romantic and gymnastic romp. Celzani's first letter quickly makes the rounds, and many of the tenants get pulled into the affair to some extent. It doesn't develop into much of a romantic affair -- Miss Pedani makes her position clear, time and again -- but Celzani is the sort of deluded would-be lover who refuses to give up. De Amicis presents this very well, right down to Celzani's voyeurism, which sees him gaze down longingly into Miss Pedani's rooms from an attic perch, as well as how Celzani goes to pieces when his suit fails, again and again:

When she had first arrived at that house, he was wise, hard-working, calm, good, and liked by all. And everything had fallen apart from there.

Miss Pedani doesn't even seem to think of romance, trying to explain to him: "For my occupation I need to be free; I have decided to be free". And De Amicis convincingly presents her as completely wrapped up in what is her true passion -- hilariously over the top, down to the enthusiasm with which she immerses herself in the reports coming hour by hour from a gymnastics-meet in distant Frankfurt.

The basic story of Love and Gymnastics is a fairly familiar one, but De Amicis makes of it one that is quite the cut above the usual variation. For one, he deftly ties in Italy's enthusiasm of the day for gymnastics into the story -- "The teachers of gymnastics will become the nation's elite", one enthusiast insists --, gently, rather than harshly, mocking it; his characters are all sincere in their engagement with it (though there is the occasional exaggeration-for-purposes-of-flattery). It's this sincerity, that extends beyond gymnastics, and the true-to-life depiction of the characters' behavior and attitudes which De Amicis pulls off particularly, with his well-drawn characters and his presentation of the house, and the interaction of the tenants.

These strong supporting characters, and their own issues and interests, work particularly well in the story, especially in relation to the in many ways oblivious-seeming Miss Pedani, whose interests are so specific and limited. So, for example, her flatmate seesaws in her intense feelings for Miss Pedani, in a relationship where it is at one point suggested: "one would assume that she was a husband rather than a friend". Similarly, the different ways Celzani is treated by the others in the house, including his uncle, as he falls apart in his failed courtship is very well-handled.

Love and Gymnastics is a surprisingly rich work, with even the satire of the gymnastics craze of the day holding up very well. It is an accomplished novella, in all respects -- and it's very good entertainment too.

- M.A.Orthofer

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/italia/deamicis.htm

 Edmondo De Amicis (1843–1908) was one of Italy's most popular writers, and perhaps more than any other figure in post-Risorgimento Italy, he reflected the common hopes, dreams and prejudices of his countrymen. De Amicis was particularly interested in gymnastics and physical education, and he wrote about them frequently. His most famous work on these subjects is his novella Amore e ginnastica [Love and Gymnastics] (1892) which explores female fitness, sexual stereotypes and gender roles in nineteenth-century Italy. This opus, along with two others (a lecture and a magazine article), can help modern readers understand the role of female sport and gender expectations in post-Risorgimento Italy. In addition to exploring women's gymnastics, De Amicis was also interested in female mountain climbing. By examining the activities and physical appearance of lady mountaineers, the author reveals his personal criteria for the perfect woman. When these are combined with the gymnasts in the earlier work, we can distill the writer's own particular attitudes toward gender and female perfection. For De Amicis a woman was required to be athletic, beautiful, modest, faithful, loving and with just a soupçon of uncertainty about her sexuality to make her interesting. - David Chapman

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2010.494390