The Power Of Conversation In Wartime

I just finished reading a remarkable book, one of those on the summer reading list from the Stanford alumni association.  I belong to an on-line reading group that is fascinating for many reasons, not the least of which is that although most of us have never met one another, the group has--simply form the conversations that take place online--formed into smaller cliques that reflect particular interests, opinions and the like. 

This particular book is entitled War in Val D'Orcia.  It's the journal kept for a two year period, from 1943 to 1944, by an Englishwoman married to an Italian landowner, while living in their manor named La Foce in Tuscany.  She chronicles their day to day life as she and her family cope with food shortages, threats from both the Fascists and the Germans, mined roads, illness, refugees, and much more.  The writer is Iris Origo who is a lyrical writer and able chronicler of life for non-combatants in this particular area of Tuscany that became a no-man's land, surrounded by both foreign invasion and civil war.

Val d'Orcia

What is particularly extraordinary to me is the ability of both Iris Origo and Antonio, her Italian husband to overcome one challenge after another by simply, well, talking with people. They make it a point to initiate and foster conversation with just about everyone, from the German officers whose decisions can determine whether they live or die--much less have enough food to eat, and keep their home to themselves as long as possible-- to the pro-Fascists, to the farmowners who live on their property and depend on them for leadership, and the villagers who can choose to provide them with necessary food and supplies, since everything is in short supply.

They are sincere and surprisingly non-judgmental in their treatment of the many people with whom they intersect.  Origo finds good things to say about the German officers as well as sympathy for the partisans these officers are hunting in the woods.  That her sympathies lie with the Allies is clear,and she doesn't hid that fact.  She's simply not at war; she is living in a war.  There's a difference, and thanks to her ability to project a high level of objectivity, she and her husband are trusted by people on all sides of the battle.  And most of the more than 20 children and other assorted refugees and escaped prisoners of war who find their way to her door survive, thanks to the shrewdness and kindness and generosity of this amazing woman and her gentlemanly husband.

Italian Partisans 

How I wish I could sit and engage in a conversation with Iris Origo.  She was a scholar, author, and woman of high intelligence and authority.  Alas, she died in 1988 at the age of 85. Before her death, one of many honors she received was being made Honorary Dame Commander of the British Empire.