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Sardinian Silver
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Sardinian Silver (2010) (edit title/settings)

by Anthony Colin Wright (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

To Arthur Fraser, a young Englishman, Sardinia in 1960 is perfect. It's an island filled with Roman ruins, exotic scenery, local customs, and morally traditional values-he loves everything. To assimilate into the strange and belong to a society different from his own has always been his... read more

Summary edit see section history

A. Colin Wright: SARDINIAN SILVER
Synopsis
A first-person, literary novel of about 73,000 words. The title is the name of an actual Sardinian wine, described as “slightly sad, more like the memory of a Sardinian summer” after the glories of its sweeter counterpart, “Sardinian Gold.”... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

A. Colin Wright: SARDINIAN SILVER
Synopsis
A first-person, literary novel of about 73,000 words. The title is the name of an actual Sardinian wine, described as “slightly sad, more like the memory of a Sardinian summer” after the glories of its sweeter counterpart, “Sardinian Gold.” Essentially a love story, the novel also evokes the “mystery” atmosphere of Sardinia as I knew it in the 1960s, including such things as carnival, Easter, the famous “Cavalcata Sarda” (a bit like a Sard version of an Indian pow-wow), the “bandit village” of Orgosolo, the glory of the Mediterranean summer and some of the contradictions which still exist in a relatively uncivilized society.

A 24-year old Englishman, Arthur Fraser, arrives in the resort town of Alghero as representative for a tourist company. Here, among others, he meets a friendly but sullenly introspective lawyer, Gavino; the staff of his hotel, particularly a tempestuous local maid, Teresa; a pedantically Catholic schoolteacher; and two representatives of rival companies: a phlegmatic Englishman (with a Sard girl-friend) and a flamboyant American, Isabelle, who constantly offends local sensibilities. Arthur’s main problem in a repressive society is to find a girl for himself but, except with English tourists, he is unsuccessful.
After the arrival of his fun-loving superior, Maurice Winter, Arthur briefly returns with him to Rome to meet Margaret Morley, who is to be a new representative in another Sardinian resort, Olbia. With her there develops a bantering “flirting” relationship, but on the ship back to Sardinia Arthur meets and falls in love with a Sard now living in Rome, Anna Lorcas. After a week, however, she has to return to Rome.

Learning later that Gavino has to go there, Arthur asks him to take Anna a present, with the result that she falls in love with Gavino. The eventual arrival of Margaret in Sardinia, various excursions (Cagliari, Isola Rossa, Orgosolo), and the childlike devotion of a teen-age girl, Caterina, only make Arthur more determined to win Anna back again.

When Anna finally returns to Sardinia, Arthur finds her in her own town of Tempio, but she remains committed to Gavino, who himself comes home shortly afterwards, avoiding any attempt of Arthur’s to meet. Arthur finds distraction in various girls, including at long last the maid Teresa, who is a huge, hilarious disappointment. Other events—threatening letters from a boy jealous of Caterina, a scandal created by Isabelle and her subsequent suicide attempt—make the rest of his time there uncomfortable.

Finally he leaves, regretting that he has lost not only Anna but also his former friend Gavino. At the end it is revealed that he has married Margaret: happily, although, looking back, he is still nostalgic for the spirit of adventure he once had.

Characters edit see section history

Show all 28 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “To assimilate the strange and belong, in a society different from my own, had always been my desire.”
    Arthur
  • “Rather the beer-swilling debauchees every time (even if, alas, I'm too fastidious to be one myself) than the coercive, terrible respectability of ordinary people, who assure you that maturity and conformity are identical and confuse religion with being "nice, good people like us."”
    Arthur
  • “Hug and hold tightly in a dance, but be satisfied with this brief, despairing feel of another body, for it's all you<'re going to get unless you pay a prostitute for more: southern Italy in a nutshell.”
    Arthur
  • “How much time and energy was spent on this so often fruitless pursuit of sex? Had I, in Sardinia, no other thoughts? Of course I had. I had a love for literature and art, for the mystery of life, for the wonder of the universe glimpsed on any starry night above. But the torment of desire outweighed all this. Hasn't the erotic always been a sultry-sweet urge of mankind, worthy of glorification alongside our so-called higher instincts?”
    Arthur
  • “"I honestly don't know how much I'd want to change things. There's still a lot to be said for our simple lives. I think we're happier, even if one sometimes wants the freedom they have on the continent. ... So many of our desires just lead us into trouble.""But life IS trouble."”
    Maria, Arthur
  • “But will I ever return, I think, to the Sardinia of my soul?”
    Arthur

First Sentence edit see section history

A quarter to seven on a fresh, blustery morning in February.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Twenty chapters plus and Epilogue and an Afterword

Glossary edit see section history

  • Sardinian Silver: The name of a Vernaccia wine, which, with its sweeter counterpart, Sardinian Gold, was produced under that name in the 1960s.
  • Sard: The usual term for someone living in, or coming from, Sardinia
  • Nuraghe: One of hundreds of towers in Sardinia dating from the earliest known civilization there.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • sexual longings: A young man in search of sex and love has difficulty finding it because of the restrictions of a primitive society
  • portrayal of Sardinia as it was in the 1960s: Things have now changed. A background of violence and banditry.
  • Religion: Religion plus the meaning of life: a rather anti-catholic viewpoint. What is it all about?

Errata edit see section history

p.11 "Scorregiare" should be "scoreggiare"
p.17 "Teresa took no noticed" should be "Teresa took no notice"

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Anthony Colin Wright (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: iUniverse
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 9780595481002
Page Count: 200

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS8645.R5187 S27 2008
  • Dewey: 813

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Sardinian Silver: The main website for the novel Sardinian Silver
  • A. Colin Wright: All of A. Colin Wright's writing, including fiction, academic works, and articles
  • Authors Den: Articles, blogs, stories, excerpts from novel, etc.

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