by Oonagh Stransky

A recovered gem from the Italian postcolonial literary canon, this heartrending and kaleidoscopic work of creative non-fiction by Erminia Dell’Oro was originally published in 1991 by Einaudi.

Twelve-year-old Sellass undertakes the dangerous journey to Massawa in search of a better life, going on to become a water carrier. Carlo musters up the courage to leave his impoverished family in Pavia, Italy, to work on the railroad in Eritrea at a time when the country was an Italian colony. They meet, fall in love, and have two children, Marianna and Gianfranco; the family lives together peacefully until the Second World War breaks out. At that point, not only does Carlo desert them but they are ostracized by both the local and Italian communities. Sellass, suddenly in need of a way to provide the bare essentials for her children, begins to take her accumulated anger and frustration out on her daughter. Young Marianna grows up in solitude, looking with curiosity at the world around her, breaking the rules imposed on her by her mother, befriending animals, plants, and outcasts, and wondering constantly about her origins and her father.

Dell’Oro writes lyrically of the characters’ hardships and dreams, their visions and hopes – both sustained and dashed. She gives voice to their worlds, their mythologies, their parallel realities, their friends; we feel the tug of the ocean and earth, the power of plants and animals, the majesty of Eritrea in both the grand and microscopic; we feel the thrum of the vibrant cities of Massawa and Asmara. Time passes, stories risk fading, but the translation of this book saves a portion of history that deserves to be shared.  

The events described in this novel – itself a unique history of Eritrea – unfold over several decades, from the 1920s through the Second World War and into the 1950s. The book concludes with two letters dated 1989: one written by the actual Marianna and a letter of reply to her. Marianna, in turn, shared them with author Erminia Dell’Oro. Among Dell’Oro’s many other publications is a memoir of life growing up in Eritrea, Asmara Addio.

I first read L’abbandono in 2002 and knew right away that I wanted to translate it. I wrote to the author and was able to meet her in 2003, in Milan; Dell’Oro’s warmth, kindness, and unassuming manner only reinforced my commitment to finding a publisher for the work. Over the years I tried submitting it to numerous publishers, but either they couldn’t justify the expense of translating it or they just didn’t see how it fit into the big picture – their big picture. When I heard about Héloïse Press from fellow translators, at first I felt hopeful, and then when editor-in-chief Aina Marti-Balcells accepted to publish it, I felt a billowing sense of achievement.

In my long search for a home for the English version of Abandonment, I reached out to a number of scholars who have written about the book for their support. All of them were keen to see it in English. One of them, Erica Johnson, author of Home, Maison, Casa: The Politics of Location in Works by Jean Rhys, Marguerite Duras, and Erminia Dell’Oro, called the book “a game-changer in postcolonial studies.” And even very recently, in the spring of 2024, I was contacted by Joseph Perna, professor of Italian at NYU, who had included L’abbandono in his syllabus for a graduate seminar entitled “Italian Journeys.” Some of his students couldn’t read the original Italian; would I share a chapter with him? Moments like this confirmed the path I had carved for myself. Now, on the eve of its release in English, I see this book as a conversation starter, a door that opens onto a world that has yet to be discovered by many, a book that can lead to awareness – and possibly to healing.  

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Abandonment

• by Erminia Dell’Oro
• Translated from the Italian by Oonagh Stransky
• Original title: L’abbandono: Una storia eritrea (Einaudi, 1991)
• 256 pages
• Héloïse Press
• ISBN: 9781738459407
• Publication date: September 19, 2024
• Treat your bookshelf to a taste of Italy! Order the book here.

• English PEN Award Winner
• Asymptote Blog article by Oonagh Stransky
• Translators Aloud reading by Oonagh Stransky
• Héloïse Press: @heloisepress for X and @pressheloise for Instagram

This book has been translated thanks to a contribution awarded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

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“I have always considered it a great honor to translate Italian literature, but without a doubt translating Abandonment, by Erminia Dell’Oro, has been one of the most powerful and meaningful experiences of my career.” —Oonagh Stransky

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