Today on Project Gutenberg: "Sterminator Vesevo"
Today on Project Gutenberg, we have…
Sterminator Vesevo, AKA Vesuvius the Great Exterminator by Matilde Serao
Most of us know a little bit about Mount Vesuvius. At the very least, you probably know that this infamous Italian volcano erupted in 79 AD and lay waste to the large settlements that surrounded it, most notably Pompeii. But perhaps you didn’t know that Vesuvius has continued to cause trouble for centuries, its last major eruption being in 1944.
The book we’re discussing today describes the eruption that occurred on April 5th, 1906. This particular eruption killed more than 100 people, caused severe damage to the city of Naples and resulted in the 1908 Summer Olympics being moved from Rome to London. One of the people who was near Vesuvius during this event and survived the chaos was Matilde Serao, a famous writer who had already published several novels and ran multiple newspapers. Serao recorded her experiences during the eruption itself and its aftermath, and she published them as a book in 1907. That’s what we’re looking at today, albeit translated into English.
“Do not ask of these pages the prestige of art,” Serao writes in the book’s introduction. “They were written, each night on returning from the country where the exterminating fury of the mountain had destroyed men and things, and while still under the horror of the terrible vision.” That horror is palpable in her writing, as she describes not only the devastation of the Italian countryside but also the surreal, often contradictory way that people around her react to the eruption. As the ash and lava begin to emerge, thousands of people head not away from Vesuvius but towards it. They want to visit the towns being affected and see the lava flow, as though this life-threatening event was just the subject of a weekend trip. As Serao and her companions get closer to the volcano, however, they start to understand just what they’ve gotten themselves into.
But while we climb up towards the lava, the mouth of Vesuvius above our heads, roars and thunders. A great column of white, gray, and black smoke stands erect on the cone, and notwithstanding the full day light, we see through those dark and light clouds, long flames arising as through a veil, and showers of sparkles fall in a mass of fire around the mouth, towards our right. The mountain thunders, and breathes as a colossus, it sparkles terribly, dashing stones of fire, masses of fire, rocks of fire every where.
The merriness of the trip seems subdued, and the frivolous chattering is hushed altogether. People going towards the lava walk in awe, and silent wonder. Every path either steep or easy, is now getting black with people.
But in the great silence of this crowd, in that immense silence, only the roaring of the Vulcano tells the story of this great telluric cataclism. Are we not feeling, perhaps, the earth trembling under our steps? The mountain lightens in flames, getting redder and redder, more brilliant and dazzling every moment. Here in this great valley, once formed by another eruption, here were vines, and olives grew on old lavas of remote times, here is the lava of yesterday. Amazing spectacle! The gigantic black mass rises powerful and straight, quite at a few steps from us, and it looks like a dark sea petrified in its foaming waves, a stormy black sea, magically transformed in stone or rocky substance, a hardened, dead sea. Ah! why isn't it dead? Fire and flames are still living within, and now and then it blazes, burns out, shows its incandescence. Under our feet the earth is warm, but a little further it is burning.
Pages 34-36
From there, Serao goes on to describe many other somber sights: towns completely abandoned, homes destroyed, the land covered in ash, stories of people being crushed in their beds, those who survive having nothing left. She describes the destruction in epic terms but never forgets to give it a human face. In fact, the latter sections of the book are mostly about the people of the region processing what’s happened to them and preparing to rebuild their lives. Serao commends those who did their part to help others during the crisis and calls out those who neglected their duties and allowed misinformation to spread. It’s compelling stuff.
I’m quite happy to have found this little book. This is an incident in history that I didn’t know about, and Serao’s account of the event and its aftermath really brings the history to life in vivid detail. You should definitely spend some time looking through this and appreciating the writing.
And that’s what we found today on Project Gutenberg!
— Dana