The Confession by Mario Soldati, translated by Raymond Rosenthal (Knopf, 1958)
I’m fairly certain that I’ve read this book before, but my memory of it was vague and became no clearer as I read it: proof of how (almost) completely I now forget the books I read. That is sad to me, for I do feel that books enrich and expand one, and I believe they can only do that to the extent that they are assimilated and remembered. But perhaps assimilation and memory are two different things, and the first does not depend upon the second.
The Confession is a short novel about a very pious 14-year-old boy (Clemente) in Turin shortly after the WWII. He believes he is called to be a Jesuit priest, and this belief is supported and encouraged by his devout grandmother and the priests who educate him. And so, striving to remain pure and sin-free, he is constantly examining his conscious and confessing.
During a summer holiday at a villa on the beach he finds himself seriously attracted to and unsettled by Jeanette, a voluptuous and flirtatious friend of his mother, who is staying with the family. He manages to avoid the temptation of Jeanette (they spend the night in adjoining hotel rooms) only to fool around with a handsome boy he meets on the beach a few days later. Ironically, neither Clemente nor his grandmother nor his confessor consider this homosexual dalliance a sin: Clemente, because he feels it happened without him willing it; and the grandmother and the priest because they think that playing (chastely) with other boys his age will prevent him from other venal and mortal temptations.
It was interesting to read this book directly after reading Strait is the Gate, which also deals with the damaging and warping effects devout Catholicism can have upon adolescent psyches and sexualities.
A beautifully produced mid-century Knopf book, with decorated boards and a stunning cover illustration by Milton Glaser.
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