The House on the Hill by Cesare Pavese
"The House on the Hill" is a novel by Cesare Pavese that explores themes of isolation, war, and self-discovery set against the backdrop of World War II in Italy. The protagonist, Corrado, is a solitary schoolteacher living in Turin whose only companion is his dog, Belbo. As the war intensifies, Corrado seeks refuge in an inn called Le Fontane, where he finds camaraderie with fellow refugees and reconnects with a former lover, Cate, who complicates his life by not disclosing whether her son, Dino, is his child.
The novel captures Corrado's internal struggle as he observes the political fervor around him, particularly the activities of anti-Fascist partisans, while himself remaining detached and hesitant to engage in direct action. His journey leads him to a monastery during a chaotic period, where he contemplates the cyclical nature of human suffering and the impact of war on his life. Ultimately, the narrative reflects on themes of belonging, the complexities of love and parenthood, and the existential questions that arise in times of turmoil. The story concludes with Corrado returning to his childhood home, contemplating his experiences and the choices he has made.
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The House on the Hill by Cesare Pavese
First published:La casa in collina, 1949 (English translation, 1956)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: 1943-1945
Locale: Northern Italy
Principal characters
Corrado , a schoolteacher, about forty years oldElvira , the daughter of Corrado’s landladyCate , a woman with whom Corrado once had a love affairDino , Cate’s son and possibly Corrado’s as wellFonso , a passionate young partisan
The Story:
Corrado is a teacher in Turin, Italy. A man alone, whose parents live in their distant village in the northern Italian countryside, he stays in a rented room in a house owned by an aged woman and her middle-aged, unmarried daughter. Corrado has no friends, and his only honest confidant is his dog, Belbo. As World War II continues into its fourth year, Allied air attacks increase in frequency and intensity, and during the nighttime air raids Corrado leaves his rented room in the city to find refuge in the hills outside Turin. It is during one of these air raids that Corrado by seeming accident stumbles upon an inn, Le Fontane, the house on the hill, where a convivial band of fellow refugees amuse one another with songs and stories. In the nights that follow, and soon after during the days, Corrado returns often to Le Fontane, finally making it his real residence, returning to Turin only to teach at his school and to stop by his rented room for necessities. It is also at Le Fontane that Corrado discovers Cate, a former lover. He learns that she has a son and that the boy, known as Dino, is also named Corrado; however, Cate stubbornly refuses to reveal whether the boy is indeed Corrado’s son.
Although his behavior displeases his Turin landlady and her daughter, Elvira, Corrado continues to spend more and more time at the inn, discussing politics and the war with the young and passionate Fonso, who supports the anti-Fascist partisans, conversing with Cate, and roaming the hills with Dino. It seems to Corrado as if his life has begun again, but while the others, especially Fonso, become active in the partisan movement, Corrado remains unconnected and essentially uncommitted, a talker rather than a participant. One day the Germans arrive and arrest everyone at the inn while Corrado and Dino are away. In panic, Corrado leaves Dino with Elvira and finds refuge in a neighboring monastery, a cloistered school. When, after a time, Elvira brings Dino to the cloister, Corrado and the boy pretend not to know each other; their only interactions are brief, whispered conversations snatched in odd moments.
At the monastery, Corrado reverts to his role of teacher and takes over a study hall of students. He reads from the breviary of Father Felice and learns that human suffering and sorrow seem to be an eternal cycle, and that no terrors or tortures inflicted by the Nazis or their Fascist allies are new to the world, just as the retaliations of the partisans are set in an endless, recurring pattern. However, while Corrado can accept such thoughts intellectually, when his own safety is threatened he reacts from his instincts rather than from his philosophy.
An alarm spreads through the monastery that the Germans and the pro-Fascist Italians are coming, so Corrado flees. When he learns that it was a false alarm, he returns to find that Dino has also gone, most likely to join Fonso and the other partisans. Corrado leaves the cloister and makes his way at night through the war-torn countryside to his parents’ house in the small village of Belbo in northern Italy. Once there, safely away from the war but also removed from contact with Dino, Cate, and the others, Corrado reflects on what has happened and writes his story.
Bibliography
Biasin, Gian-Paolo. The Smile of the Gods: A Thematic Study of Cesare Pavese’s Works. Translated by Yvonne Freccero. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1968. Excellent study focuses on the importance of mythology in Pavese’s thinking and provides a guide to the major themes in the author’s work.
Bondanella, Peter, and Andrea Ciccarelli, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Collection of essays presents a historical overview of the Italian novel and includes many references to Pavese, with the majority of information about his novels found in chapter 7, “Neorealist Narrative: Experience and Experiment.”
Flint, R. W. Introduction to The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese. Translated by R. W. Flint. 1968. Reprint. New York: New York Review of Books, 1996. Introduction by the translator of the standard edition of Pavese’s works in English helps to establish the parameters for judging the writer’s works.
Lajolo, Davide. An Absurd Vice: A Biography of Cesare Pavese. Translated and edited by Mario Pietralunga and Mark Pietralunga. New York: New Directions, 1983. An intensely personal view of Pavese’s life and career is presented by a friend of the author. Some scholars have questioned Lajolo’s prejudices, but he provides some interesting insights into The House on the Hill.
O’Healy, Áine. Cesare Pavese. Boston: Twayne, 1988. Short, excellent biography clears away many of the myths about Pavese. Recommended as a good place for students to begin learning about Pavese and his work.
Simborowski, Nicoletta. Secrets and Puzzles: Silence and the Unsaid in Contemporary Italian Writing. Oxford, England: Legenda and European Humanities Research Centre, 2003. Examines post-World War II works by Pavese and three other Italian writers, focusing on the issue of self-censorship. These writers were alive during the Fascist era, and although that era’s censorship no longer existed after the war, Simborowski describes how the writers chose to omit parts of their texts.
Thompson, Doug. Cesare Pavese: A Study of the Major Novels and Poems. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Examines The House on the Hill in the light of Pavese’s ambivalent relationship with the Italian Communist Party and his refusal, or perhaps inability, to translate his own anti-Fascist views into action.
Ward, David. Antifascisms: Cultural Politics in Italy, 1943-46—Benedetto Croce and the Liberals, Carlo Levi and the “Actionists.” Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996. Pavese’s novels Il carcere (1949; The Political Prisoner, 1959) and The House on the Hill are among the books, films, and other media discussed in this study of the significant political changes that occurred in Italy during the mid-1940’s.