Those who leave and those who stay. Book those who leave and those who remain read online Those who remain or those who remain

All events, dialogues and characters presented in this novel are the fruit of the author's imagination. Any coincidence with real living or living people, facts of their lives or places of residence is a complete coincidence. Mention of cultural and historical realities serves only to create the necessary atmosphere.

STORIA DI CHI FUGGE E DI CHI RESTA

Copyright © 2013 by Edizioni e/o

Published in the Russian language by arrangement with Clementina Liuzzi Literary Agency and Edizioni e/o

This book was translated thanks to the financial support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Questro libro e’ stato tradotto grazie a un contributo fnanziario assegnato dal Ministero degli Afari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale d’Italia

© Publication in Russian, translation into Russian, design. Sinbad Publishing House, 2017

Legal support for the publishing house is provided by the law firm “Korpus Prava”

Characters and summary of the first and second books

Shoemaker Cerullo's family

Fernando Cerullo, shoemaker, Lila's father. Believes that primary education is quite enough for his daughter

Nunzia Cerullo, his wife. A loving mother, Nunzia is too weak of character to stand up to her husband and support her daughter

Raffaella Cerullo (Lina, Lila), born in August 1944. She lived all her life in Naples, but at the age of 66 she disappeared without a trace. A brilliant student, she wrote the story “The Blue Fairy” at the age of ten. After elementary school, at the insistence of her father, she dropped out of school and mastered shoemaking. She married Stefano Carracci early, successfully managed a sausage shop in the new quarter, then a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. During a summer holiday in Ischia, she fell in love with Nino Sarratore, for whom she left Stefano. Soon she broke up with Nino, from whom she had a son, Gennaro, aka Rino, and returned to her husband. Having learned that Ada Cappuccio was expecting a child from Stefano, she finally broke up with him, together with Enzo Scanno she moved to San Giovanni a Teduccio and got a job at a sausage factory owned by Bruno Soccavo's father

Rino Cerullo, Lila's older brother, a shoemaker. Thanks to financial investments, Stefano Carracci, together with his father, Fernando, opens the Cerullo shoe factory. Married to Stefano's sister, Pinuccia Carracci; They have a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino. Lila names her first child after her brother

Other children

Doorman Greco's family

Elena Greco (Lenuccia, Lený), born in August 1944. The story is told from her perspective. Elena begins writing this story when she learns about the disappearance of her childhood friend Lina Cerullo, whom she calls Lila. After elementary school, Elena successfully continues her education at the lyceum, where she comes into conflict with a theology teacher, challenging the role of the Holy Spirit, but thanks to her excellent academic performance and the support of Professor Galiani, this demarche passes for her without consequences. At the suggestion of Nino Sarratore, with whom she has been secretly in love since childhood, and with the help of Lila, Elena writes a note about this episode. Nino promises to publish it in the magazine with which he collaborates, but the editors, according to him, do not accept it. After graduating from the Lyceum, Elena enters the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, where she meets her future groom, Pietro Airota, and writes a story about the life of her neighborhood and her first sexual experience in Ischia

Father, doorman at city hall

Mother, housewife. He walks with a limp, which irritates Elena to no end.

Peppe, Gianni, Elisa - younger children

Carracci family (Don Achille):

Don Achille Carracci, fabulous ogre, speculator, moneylender. Dies a violent death

Maria Carracci, his wife, mother of Stefano, Pinucci and Alfonso. Works in a family sausage shop

Stefano Carracci, son of the late Don Achille, husband of Lila. After his father's death, he took his affairs into his own hands and quickly became a successful businessman. He manages two sausage shops that generate good income, and, together with the Solara brothers, is a co-owner of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. He quickly loses interest in his wife, irritated by her rebellious nature, and enters into a relationship with Ada Cappuccio. Ada becomes pregnant and, waiting for Lila to move to San Giovanni a Teduccio, goes to live with Stefano

Pinuccia, daughter of Don Achille. He works first in a family sausage shop, then in a shoe store. Married to Rino, Lila's brother, with whom she has a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino

Alfonso, son of Don Achille. He was friends with Elena, sat at the same desk with her at the lyceum. Engaged to Marisa Sarratore. After graduating from the Lyceum, he becomes the manager of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri

Carpenter Peluso's family

Alfredo Peluso, carpenter. Communist. Accused of murdering Don Achille, he is sentenced to prison, where he dies

Giuseppina Peluso, his wife. She works at a tobacco factory and is passionately devoted to her husband and children. After the death of her husband, he commits suicide

Pasquale Peluso, eldest son of Alfredo and Giuseppina. Bricklayer, communist. He was the first to notice Lila's beauty and confess his love to her. Hates the Solara brothers. Engaged to Ada Cappuccio

Carmela Peluso, she's the same Carmen, Pasquale's sister. She worked as a saleswoman in a haberdashery, then, thanks to Lila, she got a job in Stefano’s new sausage shop. She dated Enzo Scanno for a long time, but after serving in the army, he left her without explanation. After breaking up with Enzo, he gets engaged to a gas station worker.

Other children

Family of the crazy widow Cappuccio

Melina, relative of Nunzia Cerullo, widow. Works as a cleaner. She was the mistress of Donato Sarratore, Nino's father, which is why the Sarratore family had to leave their neighborhood. After this, Melina completely lost her mind

Melina's husband, during his lifetime a loader at a vegetable market, died under unclear circumstances

Ada Cappuccio, daughter of Melina. From an early age she helped her mother wash the entrances. Thanks to Lila, I got a job as a saleswoman in a sausage shop. She dated Pasquale Peluso, but then got involved with Stefano Carracci, became pregnant and moved in with him. They had a daughter, Maria

Antonio Cappuccio, her brother, a mechanic. He dated Elena and was jealous of her for Nino Sarratore. He waited with horror to be drafted into the army, but when he learned about Elena’s attempt to buy him off with the help of the Solara brothers, he was offended and broke up with her. During his service he developed a severe nervous disorder and was demobilized ahead of schedule. Upon returning home, due to extreme poverty, he was forced to contract to work for Michele Solar, who soon for some reason sent him to Germany

Other children

The family of the railway worker-poet Sarratore

Donato Sarratore, controller, poet, journalist. A famous womanizer, Melina's lover. When Elena spends her holidays on the island of Ischia and lives in the same house with the Sarratore family, she has to return home in a hurry to escape Donato's persecution. The next summer, having learned that Lila is dating Nino, and trying to drown out the pain of jealousy, Elena voluntarily gives herself to him on the beach. Later, escaping from obsessive memories of the humiliation she experienced, Elena describes this episode in her first story

Lydia Sarratore, Donato's wife

Nino Sarratore, the eldest of the children of Donato and Lidia. He hates and despises his father. All-round excellent student. Fell in love with Lila and secretly met with her. During their short relationship, Lila became pregnant

Marisa Sarratore, Nino's sister. Dating Alfonso Carracci

Pino, Clelia and Ciro - younger children

Fruit merchant Scanno's family

Nicola Scanno, fruit merchant. Died of pneumonia

Assunta Scanno, his wife. Died of cancer

Enzo Scanno, their son, is also a fruit merchant. Lila had been sympathetic to him since childhood. He dated Carmen Peluso, but upon returning from the army he left her for no apparent reason. I took courses as an external student and received a technician diploma. After Lila finally broke up with Stefano, he took care of her and her son Gennaro, settling with them in San Giovanni a Teduccio

Other children

Family of the owner of the Solara bar-patisserie

Silvio Solara, owner of a bar-patisserie. He adheres to monarchist-fascist views, is associated with the mafia and the black market. Tried to prevent the opening of the Cerullo shoe factory

Manuela Solara, his wife, a moneylender: residents of the quarter are afraid of getting into her “red book”

Marcello and Michele, sons of Silvio and Manuela. They behave defiantly, but despite this, they enjoy some success with girls. Lila despises them. Marcello was in love with her, but she rejected his advances. Michele is smarter, more reserved and tougher than his older brother. He dates the pastry chef's daughter Gigliola, but yearns to get Lila, and over the years this desire turns into an obsession.

Pastry chef Spagnuolo's family

Signor Spagnuolo, pastry chef at Solara

Rosa Spagnuolo, his wife

Gigliola Spagnuolo, their daughter, Michele Solara's girlfriend

Other children

Professor Airota's family

Airota, professor, teaches ancient literature

Adele, his wife. Works in a Milan publishing house, to which he offers for publication a story written by Elena

Mariarose Airota, their eldest daughter, teaches art history, lives in Milan

Pietro Airota, their youngest son. Meets Elena at the university. They get engaged. Everyone around is sure that Pietro will have a brilliant scientific career

Teachers

Ferraro, teacher and librarian. For their diligence in reading, he presented Lila and Elena with a certificate of honor.

Oliviero, teacher. The first guesses about the extraordinary abilities of Lila and Elena. When ten-year-old Lila writes the story “The Blue Fairy” and Elena shows it to her teacher, she, out of disappointment that the girl, at the insistence of her parents, will not continue her studies, does not find a word of praise for her, stops following her progress and gives all her attention to Elena. Falls seriously ill and dies shortly after Elena graduates from university.

Gerace, Lyceum teacher

Galiani, professor, lyceum teacher. Brilliantly educated and smart. Member of the Communist Party. He quickly singles Elena out from the crowd of other students, brings her books and protects her from the nagging of the theology teacher. He invites her to his house for a party and introduces her to his children. A cooling in her attitude towards Elena sets in after Nino leaves her daughter, Nadya, for the sake of Lila.

Other persons

Gino, son of a pharmacist. The first guy Elena dates

Nella Incardo, a relative of Oliviero's teacher. Lives in Barano d'Ischia, rents out part of the house to the Sarratore family for the summer. Here Elena spends her first vacation at sea

Armando, son of Professor Galiani, medical student

Nadia, daughter of Professor Galiani, a student, formerly engaged to Nino. Having fallen in love with Lila, Nino from Ischia writes a letter to Nadya announcing their breakup.

Bruno Soccavo, friend of Nino Sarratore, son of a wealthy businessman from San Giovanni a Teduccio. Hires Lila to work at the family sausage factory

Franco Marie, student, dated Elena during her early years at university

Youth

1

The last time I saw Lila was five years ago, in the winter of 2005. Early in the morning we walked along the highway and, as happened more and more often, we experienced mutual awkwardness. I remember I was the only one speaking, and she was humming something under her breath and greeting passers-by who did not answer her. If occasionally she addressed me, it was with some strange, out of place and out of place exclamations. Over the past years, a lot of bad things have happened, even terrible things, and in order to get closer again, we would have to confess a lot to each other. But I didn’t have the strength to look for the right words, and she may have had the strength, but she didn’t have the desire - or she didn’t see any benefit in it.

Despite everything, I loved her very much and every time I came to Naples, I tried to see her, although, to tell the truth, I was a little afraid of these meetings. She has changed a lot. Old age has not been kind to both of us. I waged a fierce struggle with excess weight, and she completely shrunk - skin and bones. She cut her short, completely gray hair herself - not because she liked it so much, but because she didn’t care what she looked like. Her facial features looked more and more like her father. She laughed nervously, almost shrilly, spoke too loudly and continuously waved her arms, as if she was cutting houses, the street, passers-by and me in two.

We were passing by an elementary school when an unfamiliar guy overtook us and, as he ran, shouted to Lila that a woman’s body had been found in a flowerbed near the church. We hurried towards the park, and Lila, working with her elbows, dragged me into the crowd of onlookers who filled the entire street. The woman, incredibly fat, dressed in an old-fashioned dark green raincoat, lay on her side. Lila recognized her immediately, but I didn’t. This was our childhood friend Gigliola Spagnuolo, the ex-wife of Michele Solara.

I haven't seen her for several decades. Not a trace remained of her former beauty: her face was puffy, her legs were swollen. Hair, once brown, but now dyed fiery red, as long as in childhood, but now very thin, scattered on the loose earth. One foot was in a worn low-heeled shoe, the other was in a gray woolen sock with a hole in the big toe. The shoe lay a meter away from the body, as if, before falling, Gigliola was trying to push away pain or fear with her foot. I cried, and Lila looked at me with a dissatisfied look.

We sat down on a bench nearby and began to silently wait for Gigliola to be taken away. What happened to her, why she died - we had no idea about it. Then we went to Lila’s, to her parents’ old cramped apartment, where she now lived with her son Rino. We remembered our deceased friend, and Lila said all sorts of nasty things about her, condemning her for vanity and meanness. But this time I was no longer able to concentrate on her words: the dead face was still standing before my eyes, the long hair scattered on the ground, the whitish bald spots on the back of my head. How many of our peers have already passed away, disappeared from the face of the earth, carried away by illness or grief; their souls could not stand it, they were worn down by misfortunes like sandpaper. And how many died a violent death! We sat in the kitchen for a long time, not daring to get up and clear the table, but then we went outside again.

Under the rays of the winter sun, our old quarter looked quiet and calm. Unlike us, he hasn't changed at all. All the same old gray houses, the same yard in which we once played, the same highway leading into the black mouth of the tunnel, and the same violence - everything here remains the same. But the landscape around became unrecognizable. The ponds covered with greenish duckweed disappeared, the canning factory disappeared. In their place, glass skyscrapers rose as a symbol of the radiant future that was about to come and in which no one actually ever believed. I observed these changes from afar - sometimes with curiosity, more often with indifference. As a child, it seemed to me that Naples, outside our neighborhood, was full of wonders. I remember how many decades ago I was amazed by the construction of a skyscraper on the square near the central station - it gradually, floor by floor, grew before our eyes and compared to our railway station it seemed huge to me. Every time I walked along Piazza Garibaldi, I gasped in admiration and exclaimed: “No, just look, this is the height!” - addressing Lila, Carmen, Pasquale, Ada or Antonio, my friends from those times when we went to the sea together or strolled near rich neighborhoods. Probably, there, at the very top, with a view of the entire city, angels live, I told myself. How I wanted to climb there, to the top. This was our skyscraper, although it stood outside the block. Then the construction was frozen. Later, when I was already studying in Pisa and returning home only for the holidays, I finally stopped imagining it as a symbol of social renewal; I realized that this was just another unprofitable construction project.

When I finished my studies and wrote a story, which unexpectedly became a book a few months later, the conviction grew stronger in me that the world that gave birth to me was heading into the abyss. I felt good in Pisa and Milan, at times I was even happy there, but every visit to my hometown turned into torture. I couldn't help but fear that something would happen that would cause me to be stuck here forever and lose everything I had achieved. I was afraid that I would never see Pietro, whom I was going to marry, that I would never again get into the wonderful world of publishing and that I would never meet the beautiful Adele - my future mother-in-law, the mother I had never had. I had always found Naples too densely populated: from Piazza Garibaldi to Via Forcella, Duchesca, Lavinaio and Rettifilo it was constantly crowded. In the late 1960s, it seemed to me that the streets became even more crowded, and the passers-by became even ruder and more aggressive. One morning I decided to walk to Via Mezzocannone, where I once worked as a saleswoman in a bookstore. I wanted to look at the place where I worked for pennies, and most importantly, to look at the university where I never had the chance to study, and compare it with the Pisa Normal School. Maybe, I thought, I would accidentally run into Armando and Nadia, the children of Professor Galiani, and I would have a reason to brag about my achievements. But what I saw at the university filled me with a feeling close to horror. The students who crowded the courtyard and scurried along the corridors were natives of Naples, its environs or other southern regions, some well dressed, noisy and self-confident, others uncouth and downtrodden. Cramped classrooms, near the dean's office there is a long, rowdy line. Three or four guys fought right in front of my eyes, for no reason at all, as if they didn’t even need a reason to fight: they just looked at each other - and mutual insults and slaps began to fall; hatred, reaching the point of bloodlust, poured out of them in a dialect that even I did not fully understand. I hurried to leave, as if I felt threatened - and this in a place that, in my opinion, should have been completely safe, because only goodness lived there.

In short, the situation worsened every year. During prolonged downpours, the soil in the city was so washed away that an entire house collapsed - falling on its side, like a man leaning on a rotten armrest of a chair. There were many dead and wounded. It seemed that the city was nurturing in its depths a malice that could not escape and corroded it from the inside or swelled on the surface with poisonous boils, poisoning children, adults, old people, residents of neighboring cities, Americans from the NATO base, tourists of all nationalities and the Neapolitans themselves. How could one survive here, in the midst of danger and unrest - on the outskirts or in the center, on the hills or at the foot of Vesuvius? San Giovanni a Teduccio and the road there made a terrible impression on me. I felt terrible at the sight of the factory where Lila worked, and at Lila herself, the new Lila, who lived in poverty with a small child and shared shelter with Enzo, although she did not sleep with him. She told me then that Enzo was interested in computers and was studying them, and she was helping him. Her voice is preserved in my memory, trying to shout out and cross out San Giovanni, the sausages, the factory stench, the conditions in which she lived and worked. With feigned casualness, as if casually, she mentioned the state cybernetic center in Milan, said that the Soviet Union was already using computers for research in the social sciences, and assured that the same would soon happen in Naples. “In Milan, perhaps,” I thought, “and even more so in the Soviet Union, but there will definitely not be any centers here. These are all your crazy inventions, you were always running around with something like that, and now you’re dragging the unhappy lover Enzo into it. You don't need to fantasize, but run away from here. Forever, away from this life we ​​lived since childhood. Settle down in some decent place where a normal life is really possible.” I believed it, that's why I ran away. Unfortunately, decades later I had to admit that I was wrong: there was nowhere to run. All these were links of one chain, differing only in size: our block - our city - Italy - Europe - our planet. Now I understand that it was not our neighborhood or Naples that was sick, but the entire globe, the entire Universe, all the universes, no matter how many of them there are in the world. And there’s nothing you can do here except bury your head deeper in the sand.

I expressed all this to Lila that winter evening in 2005. My speech sounded pathetic, but at the same time guilty. It finally dawned on me what she understood as a child, without leaving Naples. She should have admitted this, but I was ashamed: I didn’t want to look like an embittered, grumpy old woman in front of her - I knew that she couldn’t stand whiners. She smiled crookedly, showing teeth worn down over the years, and said:

- Okay, enough about trifles. What are you up to? Are you planning to write about us? About me?

- Do not lie.

– Even if I wanted to, it’s too difficult.

- But you thought about it. Yes, you still think so.

- Happens.

– Give up this idea, Lena. Leave me alone. Leave us all. We must disappear without a trace, we deserve nothing else: neither Gigliola, nor me, no one.

- Not true.

She grimaced with displeasure, glared at me and muttered through her teeth:

- Well, okay, since you can’t bear it, write. You can write whatever you want about Gigliola. Don't you dare talk about me! Give me your word that you won’t!

“I’m not going to write anything about anyone.” Including about you.

- Look, I'll check.

- Easily! I will hack your computer, find the file, read it and erase it.

- Come on.

– Do you think I can’t?

- You can, you can. No doubt. But I also know how to defend myself.

“Not from me,” she laughed ominously, as before.

Shoemaker Cerullo's family

Fernando Cerullo, shoemaker, Lila's father. Believes that primary education is quite enough for his daughter

Nunzia Cerullo, his wife. A loving mother, Nunzia is too weak of character to stand up to her husband and support her daughter

Raffaella Cerullo (Lina, Lila), born in August 1944. She lived all her life in Naples, but at the age of 66 she disappeared without a trace. A brilliant student, she wrote the story “The Blue Fairy” at the age of ten. After elementary school, at the insistence of her father, she dropped out of school and mastered shoemaking. She married Stefano Carracci early, successfully managed a sausage shop in the new quarter, then a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. During a summer holiday in Ischia, she fell in love with Nino Sarratore, for whom she left Stefano. Soon she broke up with Nino, from whom she had a son, Gennaro, aka Rino, and returned to her husband. Having learned that Ada Cappuccio was expecting a child from Stefano, she finally broke up with him, together with Enzo Scanno she moved to San Giovanni a Teduccio and got a job at a sausage factory owned by Bruno Soccavo's father

Rino Cerullo, Lila's older brother, is a shoemaker. Thanks to financial investments, Stefano Carracci, together with his father, Fernando, opens the Cerullo shoe factory. Married to Stefano's sister, Pinuccia Carracci; They have a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino. Lila names her first child after her brother

Other children

Doorman Greco's family

Elena Greco (Lenuccia, Lený), born in August 1944. The story is told from her perspective. Elena begins writing this story when she learns about the disappearance of her childhood friend Lina Cerullo, whom she calls Lila. After elementary school, Elena successfully continues her education at the lyceum, where she comes into conflict with a theology teacher, challenging the role of the Holy Spirit, but thanks to her excellent academic performance and the support of Professor Galiani, this demarche passes for her without consequences. At the suggestion of Nino Sarratore, with whom she has been secretly in love since childhood, and with the help of Lila, Elena writes a note about this episode. Nino promises to publish it in the magazine with which he collaborates, but the editors, according to him, do not accept it. After graduating from the Lyceum, Elena enters the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, where she meets her future groom, Pietro Airota, and writes a story about the life of her neighborhood and her first sexual experience in Ischia

Father, doorman at the municipality

Mother, housewife. He walks with a limp, which irritates Elena to no end.

Peppe, Gianni, Elisa - younger children

Carracci family (Don Achille):

Don Achille Carracci, fabulous ogre, speculator, moneylender. Dies a violent death

Maria Carracci, his wife, mother of Stefano, Pinucci and Alfonso. Works in a family sausage shop

Stefano Carracci, son of the late Don Achille, husband of Lila. After his father's death, he took his affairs into his own hands and quickly became a successful businessman. He manages two sausage shops that generate good income, and, together with the Solara brothers, is a co-owner of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. He quickly loses interest in his wife, irritated by her rebellious nature, and enters into a relationship with Ada Cappuccio. Ada becomes pregnant and, waiting for Lila to move to San Giovanni a Teduccio, goes to live with Stefano

Pinuccia, daughter of Don Achille. He works first in a family sausage shop, then in a shoe store. Married to Rino, Lila's brother, with whom she has a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino

Alfonso, son of Don Achille. He was friends with Elena, sat at the same desk with her at the lyceum. Engaged to Marisa Sarratore. After graduating from the Lyceum, he becomes the manager of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri

Carpenter Peluso's family

Alfredo Peluso, carpenter.

Neapolitan Quartet - 3

Characters and summary of the first and second books

Shoemaker Cerullo's family

Fernando Cerullo, shoemaker, Lila's father. Believes that primary education is quite enough for his daughter

Nunzia Cerullo, his wife. A loving mother, Nunzia is too weak of character to stand up to her husband and support her daughter

Raffaella Cerullo (Lina, Lila), born in August 1944. She lived all her life in Naples, but at the age of 66 she disappeared without a trace. A brilliant student, she wrote the story “The Blue Fairy” at the age of ten. After elementary school, at the insistence of her father, she dropped out of school and mastered shoemaking. She married Stefano Carracci early, successfully managed a sausage shop in the new quarter, then a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. During a summer holiday in Ischia, she fell in love with Nino Sarratore, for whom she left Stefano. Soon she broke up with Nino, from whom she had a son, Gennaro, aka Rino, and returned to her husband. Having learned that Ada Cappuccio was expecting a child from Stefano, she finally broke up with him, together with Enzo Scanno she moved to San Giovanni a Teduccio and got a job at a sausage factory owned by Bruno Soccavo's father

Rino Cerullo, Lila's older brother, is a shoemaker. Thanks to financial investments, Stefano Carracci, together with his father, Fernando, opens the Cerullo shoe factory. Married to Stefano's sister, Pinuccia Carracci; They have a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino. Lila names her first child after her brother

Other children

Doorman Greco's family

Elena Greco (Lenuccia, Lený), born in August 1944. The story is told from her perspective. Elena begins writing this story when she learns about the disappearance of her childhood friend Lina Cerullo, whom she calls Lila. After elementary school, Elena successfully continues her education at the lyceum, where she comes into conflict with a theology teacher, challenging the role of the Holy Spirit, but thanks to her excellent academic performance and the support of Professor Galiani, this demarche passes for her without consequences. At the suggestion of Nino Sarratore, with whom she has been secretly in love since childhood, and with the help of Lila, Elena writes a note about this episode. Nino promises to publish it in the magazine with which he collaborates, but the editors, according to him, do not accept it. After graduating from the Lyceum, Elena enters the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, where she meets her future groom, Pietro Airota, and writes a story about the life of her neighborhood and her first sexual experience in Ischia

Father, doorman at the municipality

Mother, housewife. He walks with a limp, which irritates Elena to no end.

Peppe, Gianni, Elisa - younger children

Carracci family (Don Achille):

Don Achille Carracci, fabulous ogre, speculator, moneylender. Dies a violent death

Maria Carracci, his wife, mother of Stefano, Pinucci and Alfonso. Works in a family sausage shop

Stefano Carracci, son of the late Don Achille, husband of Lila. After his father's death, he took his affairs into his own hands and quickly became a successful businessman. He manages two sausage shops that generate good income, and, together with the Solara brothers, is a co-owner of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. He quickly loses interest in his wife, irritated by her rebellious nature, and enters into a relationship with Ada Cappuccio. Ada becomes pregnant and, waiting for Lila to move to San Giovanni a Teduccio, goes to live with Stefano

Pinuccia, daughter of Don Achille. He works first in a family sausage shop, then in a shoe store. Married to Rino, Lila's brother, with whom she has a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino

Alfonso, son of Don Achille. He was friends with Elena, sat at the same desk with her at the lyceum. Engaged to Marisa Sarratore. After graduating from the Lyceum, he becomes the manager of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri

Carpenter Peluso's family

Alfredo Peluso, carpenter.

Current page: 1 (book has 31 pages in total) [available reading passage: 21 pages]

Elena Ferrante
Those who leave and those who stay

All events, dialogues and characters presented in this novel are the fruit of the author's imagination. Any coincidence with real living or living people, facts of their lives or places of residence is a complete coincidence. Mention of cultural and historical realities serves only to create the necessary atmosphere.

STORIA DI CHI FUGGE E DI CHI RESTA

Copyright © 2013 by Edizioni e/o

Published in the Russian language by arrangement with Clementina Liuzzi Literary Agency and Edizioni e/o

This book was translated thanks to the financial support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Questro libro e’ stato tradotto grazie a un contributo fnanziario assegnato dal Ministero degli Afari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale d’Italia

© Publication in Russian, translation into Russian, design. Sinbad Publishing House, 2017

Legal support for the publishing house is provided by the law firm “Korpus Prava”

Characters and summary of the first and second books

Shoemaker Cerullo's family

Fernando Cerullo, shoemaker, Lila's father. Believes that primary education is quite enough for his daughter

Nunzia Cerullo, his wife. A loving mother, Nunzia is too weak of character to stand up to her husband and support her daughter

Raffaella Cerullo (Lina, Lila), born in August 1944. She lived all her life in Naples, but at the age of 66 she disappeared without a trace. A brilliant student, she wrote the story “The Blue Fairy” at the age of ten. After elementary school, at the insistence of her father, she dropped out of school and mastered shoemaking. She married Stefano Carracci early, successfully managed a sausage shop in the new quarter, then a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. During a summer holiday in Ischia, she fell in love with Nino Sarratore, for whom she left Stefano. Soon she broke up with Nino, from whom she had a son, Gennaro, aka Rino, and returned to her husband. Having learned that Ada Cappuccio was expecting a child from Stefano, she finally broke up with him, together with Enzo Scanno she moved to San Giovanni a Teduccio and got a job at a sausage factory owned by Bruno Soccavo's father

Rino Cerullo, Lila's older brother, a shoemaker. Thanks to financial investments, Stefano Carracci, together with his father, Fernando, opens the Cerullo shoe factory. Married to Stefano's sister, Pinuccia Carracci; They have a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino. Lila names her first child after her brother

Other children

Doorman Greco's family

Elena Greco (Lenuccia, Lený), born in August 1944. The story is told from her perspective. Elena begins writing this story when she learns about the disappearance of her childhood friend Lina Cerullo, whom she calls Lila. After elementary school, Elena successfully continues her education at the lyceum, where she comes into conflict with a theology teacher, challenging the role of the Holy Spirit, but thanks to her excellent academic performance and the support of Professor Galiani, this demarche passes for her without consequences. At the suggestion of Nino Sarratore, with whom she has been secretly in love since childhood, and with the help of Lila, Elena writes a note about this episode. Nino promises to publish it in the magazine with which he collaborates, but the editors, according to him, do not accept it. After graduating from the Lyceum, Elena enters the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, where she meets her future groom, Pietro Airota, and writes a story about the life of her neighborhood and her first sexual experience in Ischia

Father, doorman at city hall

Mother, housewife. He walks with a limp, which irritates Elena to no end.

Peppe, Gianni, Elisa - younger children

Carracci family (Don Achille):

Don Achille Carracci, fabulous ogre, speculator, moneylender. Dies a violent death

Maria Carracci, his wife, mother of Stefano, Pinucci and Alfonso. Works in a family sausage shop

Stefano Carracci, son of the late Don Achille, husband of Lila. After his father's death, he took his affairs into his own hands and quickly became a successful businessman. He manages two sausage shops that generate good income, and, together with the Solara brothers, is a co-owner of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri. He quickly loses interest in his wife, irritated by her rebellious nature, and enters into a relationship with Ada Cappuccio. Ada becomes pregnant and, waiting for Lila to move to San Giovanni a Teduccio, goes to live with Stefano

Pinuccia, daughter of Don Achille. He works first in a family sausage shop, then in a shoe store. Married to Rino, Lila's brother, with whom she has a son, Ferdinando, aka Dino

Alfonso, son of Don Achille. He was friends with Elena, sat at the same desk with her at the lyceum. Engaged to Marisa Sarratore. After graduating from the Lyceum, he becomes the manager of a shoe store in Piazza Martiri

Carpenter Peluso's family

Alfredo Peluso, carpenter. Communist. Accused of murdering Don Achille, he is sentenced to prison, where he dies

Giuseppina Peluso, his wife. She works at a tobacco factory and is passionately devoted to her husband and children. After the death of her husband, he commits suicide

Pasquale Peluso, eldest son of Alfredo and Giuseppina. Bricklayer, communist. He was the first to notice Lila's beauty and confess his love to her. Hates the Solara brothers. Engaged to Ada Cappuccio

Carmela Peluso, she's the same Carmen, Pasquale's sister. She worked as a saleswoman in a haberdashery, then, thanks to Lila, she got a job in Stefano’s new sausage shop. She dated Enzo Scanno for a long time, but after serving in the army, he left her without explanation. After breaking up with Enzo, he gets engaged to a gas station worker.

Other children

Family of the crazy widow Cappuccio

Melina, relative of Nunzia Cerullo, widow. Works as a cleaner. She was the mistress of Donato Sarratore, Nino's father, which is why the Sarratore family had to leave their neighborhood. After this, Melina completely lost her mind

Melina's husband, during his lifetime a loader at a vegetable market, died under unclear circumstances

Ada Cappuccio, daughter of Melina. From an early age she helped her mother wash the entrances. Thanks to Lila, I got a job as a saleswoman in a sausage shop. She dated Pasquale Peluso, but then got involved with Stefano Carracci, became pregnant and moved in with him. They had a daughter, Maria

Antonio Cappuccio, her brother, a mechanic. He dated Elena and was jealous of her for Nino Sarratore. He waited with horror to be drafted into the army, but when he learned about Elena’s attempt to buy him off with the help of the Solara brothers, he was offended and broke up with her. During his service he developed a severe nervous disorder and was demobilized ahead of schedule. Upon returning home, due to extreme poverty, he was forced to contract to work for Michele Solar, who soon for some reason sent him to Germany

Other children

The family of the railway worker-poet Sarratore

Donato Sarratore, controller, poet, journalist. A famous womanizer, Melina's lover. When Elena spends her holidays on the island of Ischia and lives in the same house with the Sarratore family, she has to return home in a hurry to escape Donato's persecution. The next summer, having learned that Lila is dating Nino, and trying to drown out the pain of jealousy, Elena voluntarily gives herself to him on the beach. Later, escaping from obsessive memories of the humiliation she experienced, Elena describes this episode in her first story

Lydia Sarratore, Donato's wife

Nino Sarratore, the eldest of the children of Donato and Lidia. He hates and despises his father. All-round excellent student. Fell in love with Lila and secretly met with her. During their short relationship, Lila became pregnant

Marisa Sarratore, Nino's sister. Dating Alfonso Carracci

Pino, Clelia and Ciro - younger children

Fruit merchant Scanno's family

Nicola Scanno, fruit merchant. Died of pneumonia

Assunta Scanno, his wife. Died of cancer

Enzo Scanno, their son, is also a fruit merchant. Lila had been sympathetic to him since childhood. He dated Carmen Peluso, but upon returning from the army he left her for no apparent reason. I took courses as an external student and received a technician diploma. After Lila finally broke up with Stefano, he took care of her and her son Gennaro, settling with them in San Giovanni a Teduccio

Other children

Family of the owner of the Solara bar-patisserie

Silvio Solara, owner of a bar-patisserie. He adheres to monarchist-fascist views, is associated with the mafia and the black market. Tried to prevent the opening of the Cerullo shoe factory

Manuela Solara, his wife, a moneylender: residents of the quarter are afraid of getting into her “red book”

Marcello and Michele, sons of Silvio and Manuela. They behave defiantly, but despite this, they enjoy some success with girls. Lila despises them. Marcello was in love with her, but she rejected his advances. Michele is smarter, more reserved and tougher than his older brother. He dates the pastry chef's daughter Gigliola, but yearns to get Lila, and over the years this desire turns into an obsession.

Pastry chef Spagnuolo's family

Signor Spagnuolo, pastry chef at Solara

Rosa Spagnuolo, his wife

Gigliola Spagnuolo, their daughter, Michele Solara's girlfriend

Other children

Professor Airota's family

Airota, professor, teaches ancient literature

Adele, his wife. Works in a Milan publishing house, to which he offers for publication a story written by Elena

Mariarose Airota, their eldest daughter, teaches art history, lives in Milan

Pietro Airota, their youngest son. Meets Elena at the university. They get engaged. Everyone around is sure that Pietro will have a brilliant scientific career

Teachers

Ferraro, teacher and librarian. For their diligence in reading, he presented Lila and Elena with a certificate of honor.

Oliviero, teacher. The first guesses about the extraordinary abilities of Lila and Elena. When ten-year-old Lila writes the story “The Blue Fairy” and Elena shows it to her teacher, she, out of disappointment that the girl, at the insistence of her parents, will not continue her studies, does not find a word of praise for her, stops following her progress and gives all her attention to Elena. Falls seriously ill and dies shortly after Elena graduates from university.

Gerace, Lyceum teacher

Galiani, professor, lyceum teacher. Brilliantly educated and smart. Member of the Communist Party. He quickly singles Elena out from the crowd of other students, brings her books and protects her from the nagging of the theology teacher. He invites her to his house for a party and introduces her to his children. A cooling in her attitude towards Elena sets in after Nino leaves her daughter, Nadya, for the sake of Lila.

Other persons

Gino, son of a pharmacist. The first guy Elena dates

Nella Incardo, a relative of Oliviero's teacher. Lives in Barano d'Ischia, rents out part of the house to the Sarratore family for the summer. Here Elena spends her first vacation at sea

Armando, son of Professor Galiani, medical student

Nadia, daughter of Professor Galiani, a student, formerly engaged to Nino. Having fallen in love with Lila, Nino from Ischia writes a letter to Nadya announcing their breakup.

Bruno Soccavo, friend of Nino Sarratore, son of a wealthy businessman from San Giovanni a Teduccio. Hires Lila to work at the family sausage factory

Franco Marie, student, dated Elena during her early years at university

Youth

1

The last time I saw Lila was five years ago, in the winter of 2005. Early in the morning we walked along the highway and, as happened more and more often, we experienced mutual awkwardness. I remember I was the only one speaking, and she was humming something under her breath and greeting passers-by who did not answer her. If occasionally she addressed me, it was with some strange, out of place and out of place exclamations. Over the past years, a lot of bad things have happened, even terrible things, and in order to get closer again, we would have to confess a lot to each other. But I didn’t have the strength to look for the right words, and she may have had the strength, but she didn’t have the desire - or she didn’t see any benefit in it.

Despite everything, I loved her very much and every time I came to Naples, I tried to see her, although, to tell the truth, I was a little afraid of these meetings. She has changed a lot. Old age has not been kind to both of us. I waged a fierce struggle with excess weight, and she completely shrunk - skin and bones. She cut her short, completely gray hair herself - not because she liked it so much, but because she didn’t care what she looked like. Her facial features looked more and more like her father. She laughed nervously, almost shrilly, spoke too loudly and continuously waved her arms, as if she was cutting houses, the street, passers-by and me in two.

We were passing by an elementary school when an unfamiliar guy overtook us and, as he ran, shouted to Lila that a woman’s body had been found in a flowerbed near the church. We hurried towards the park, and Lila, working with her elbows, dragged me into the crowd of onlookers who filled the entire street. The woman, incredibly fat, dressed in an old-fashioned dark green raincoat, lay on her side. Lila recognized her immediately, but I didn’t. This was our childhood friend Gigliola Spagnuolo, the ex-wife of Michele Solara.

I haven't seen her for several decades. Not a trace remained of her former beauty: her face was puffy, her legs were swollen. Hair, once brown, but now dyed fiery red, as long as in childhood, but now very thin, scattered on the loose earth. One foot was in a worn low-heeled shoe, the other was in a gray woolen sock with a hole in the big toe. The shoe lay a meter away from the body, as if, before falling, Gigliola was trying to push away pain or fear with her foot. I cried, and Lila looked at me with a dissatisfied look.

We sat down on a bench nearby and began to silently wait for Gigliola to be taken away. What happened to her, why she died - we had no idea about it. Then we went to Lila’s, to her parents’ old cramped apartment, where she now lived with her son Rino. We remembered our deceased friend, and Lila said all sorts of nasty things about her, condemning her for vanity and meanness. But this time I was no longer able to concentrate on her words: the dead face was still standing before my eyes, the long hair scattered on the ground, the whitish bald spots on the back of my head. How many of our peers have already passed away, disappeared from the face of the earth, carried away by illness or grief; their souls could not stand it, they were worn down by misfortunes like sandpaper. And how many died a violent death! We sat in the kitchen for a long time, not daring to get up and clear the table, but then we went outside again.

Under the rays of the winter sun, our old quarter looked quiet and calm. Unlike us, he hasn't changed at all. All the same old gray houses, the same yard in which we once played, the same highway leading into the black mouth of the tunnel, and the same violence - everything here remains the same. But the landscape around became unrecognizable. The ponds covered with greenish duckweed disappeared, the canning factory disappeared. In their place, glass skyscrapers rose as a symbol of the radiant future that was about to come and in which no one actually ever believed. I observed these changes from afar - sometimes with curiosity, more often with indifference. As a child, it seemed to me that Naples, outside our neighborhood, was full of wonders. I remember how many decades ago I was amazed by the construction of a skyscraper on the square near the central station - it gradually, floor by floor, grew before our eyes and compared to our railway station it seemed huge to me. Every time I walked along Piazza Garibaldi, I gasped in admiration and exclaimed: “No, just look, this is the height!” - addressing Lila, Carmen, Pasquale, Ada or Antonio, my friends from those times when we went to the sea together or strolled near rich neighborhoods. Probably, there, at the very top, with a view of the entire city, angels live, I told myself. How I wanted to climb there, to the top. This was our skyscraper, although it stood outside the block. Then the construction was frozen. Later, when I was already studying in Pisa and returning home only for the holidays, I finally stopped imagining it as a symbol of social renewal; I realized that this was just another unprofitable construction project.

When I finished my studies and wrote a story, which unexpectedly became a book a few months later, the conviction grew stronger in me that the world that gave birth to me was heading into the abyss. I felt good in Pisa and Milan, at times I was even happy there, but every visit to my hometown turned into torture. I couldn't help but fear that something would happen that would cause me to be stuck here forever and lose everything I had achieved. I was afraid that I would never see Pietro, whom I was going to marry, that I would never again get into the wonderful world of publishing and that I would never meet the beautiful Adele - my future mother-in-law, the mother I had never had. I had always found Naples too densely populated: from Piazza Garibaldi to Via Forcella, Duchesca, Lavinaio and Rettifilo it was constantly crowded. In the late 1960s, it seemed to me that the streets became even more crowded, and the passers-by became even ruder and more aggressive. One morning I decided to walk to Via Mezzocannone, where I once worked as a saleswoman in a bookstore. I wanted to look at the place where I worked for pennies, and most importantly, to look at the university where I never had the chance to study, and compare it with the Pisa Normal School. Maybe, I thought, I would accidentally run into Armando and Nadia, the children of Professor Galiani, and I would have a reason to brag about my achievements. But what I saw at the university filled me with a feeling close to horror. The students who crowded the courtyard and scurried along the corridors were natives of Naples, its environs or other southern regions, some well dressed, noisy and self-confident, others uncouth and downtrodden. Cramped classrooms, near the dean's office there is a long, rowdy line. Three or four guys fought right in front of my eyes, for no reason at all, as if they didn’t even need a reason to fight: they just looked at each other - and mutual insults and slaps began to fall; hatred, reaching the point of bloodlust, poured out of them in a dialect that even I did not fully understand. I hurried to leave, as if I felt threatened - and this in a place that, in my opinion, should have been completely safe, because only goodness lived there.

In short, the situation worsened every year. During prolonged downpours, the soil in the city was so washed away that an entire house collapsed - falling on its side, like a man leaning on a rotten armrest of a chair. There were many dead and wounded. It seemed that the city was nurturing in its depths a malice that could not escape and corroded it from the inside or swelled on the surface with poisonous boils, poisoning children, adults, old people, residents of neighboring cities, Americans from the NATO base, tourists of all nationalities and the Neapolitans themselves. How could one survive here, in the midst of danger and unrest - on the outskirts or in the center, on the hills or at the foot of Vesuvius? San Giovanni a Teduccio and the road there made a terrible impression on me. I felt terrible at the sight of the factory where Lila worked, and at Lila herself, the new Lila, who lived in poverty with a small child and shared shelter with Enzo, although she did not sleep with him. She told me then that Enzo was interested in computers and was studying them, and she was helping him. Her voice is preserved in my memory, trying to shout out and cross out San Giovanni, the sausages, the factory stench, the conditions in which she lived and worked. With feigned casualness, as if casually, she mentioned the state cybernetic center in Milan, said that the Soviet Union was already using computers for research in the social sciences, and assured that the same would soon happen in Naples. “In Milan, perhaps,” I thought, “and even more so in the Soviet Union, but there will definitely not be any centers here. These are all your crazy inventions, you were always running around with something like that, and now you’re dragging the unhappy lover Enzo into it. You don't need to fantasize, but run away from here. Forever, away from this life we ​​lived since childhood. Settle down in some decent place where a normal life is really possible.” I believed it, that's why I ran away. Unfortunately, decades later I had to admit that I was wrong: there was nowhere to run. All these were links of one chain, differing only in size: our block - our city - Italy - Europe - our planet. Now I understand that it was not our neighborhood or Naples that was sick, but the entire globe, the entire Universe, all the universes, no matter how many of them there are in the world. And there’s nothing you can do here except bury your head deeper in the sand.

I expressed all this to Lila that winter evening in 2005. My speech sounded pathetic, but at the same time guilty. It finally dawned on me what she understood as a child, without leaving Naples. She should have admitted this, but I was ashamed: I didn’t want to look like an embittered, grumpy old woman in front of her - I knew that she couldn’t stand whiners. She smiled crookedly, showing teeth worn down over the years, and said:

- Okay, enough about trifles. What are you up to? Are you planning to write about us? About me?

- Do not lie.

– Even if I wanted to, it’s too difficult.

- But you thought about it. Yes, you still think so.

- Happens.

– Give up this idea, Lena. Leave me alone. Leave us all. We must disappear without a trace, we deserve nothing else: neither Gigliola, nor me, no one.

- Not true.

She grimaced with displeasure, glared at me and muttered through her teeth:

- Well, okay, since you can’t bear it, write. You can write whatever you want about Gigliola. Don't you dare talk about me! Give me your word that you won’t!

“I’m not going to write anything about anyone.” Including about you.

- Look, I'll check.

- Easily! I will hack your computer, find the file, read it and erase it.

- Come on.

– Do you think I can’t?

- You can, you can. No doubt. But I also know how to defend myself.

“Not from me,” she laughed ominously, as before.

Those who leave and those who stay Elena Ferrante

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Title: Those who leave and those who remain

About the book “Those who leave and those who remain” by Elena Ferrante

The third part of the Neapolitan quartet, already called “the best literary epic of our time,” takes place in the late 1960s and 1970s. The story of the friendship between Lenu Greco and Lila Cerullo continues against a turbulent historical background: student protests, street clashes, a growing trade union movement... After separating from her husband, Lila moved with her little son to a new housing area and works in a sausage factory. Lenu left Naples, graduated from an elite college, published a book, and is preparing to get married and become a member of an influential family. Life separates them further and further, they become for each other only voices on the other end of the line. Will their relationship withstand the test of change?

On our website about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read online the book “Those who leave and those who remain” by Elena Ferrante in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle . The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.