Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere

A fusty, benign look at a very, VERY specific part of the world, which misses ONE IMPORTANT POINT (more below).

I read this because my “native place” is a small town just outside of Trieste. It's where both my parents are from, and their parents, and their parents, and their... you get the idea. I honestly cannot believe this book would be of interest to people who don't have a personal connection to this place, since (a) Trieste is basically boring and (b) this book is just OK.

But for me, it was thrilling - THRILLING - to have an English-language book about this very specific posto, and I'll admit, firstly, that the book faithfully captures the narrative that Triestines tell themselves about themselves. That is, a narrative that (1) pities itself for being, old, aging, forgotten by time and the world, and dull, (2) prides itself on its Hapsburgian past (in a super reactionary/monarchist way - glorious Kaiserlich und Königlich blah blah), and (3) recognizes the inherent lies of 19th century European nationalism/patriotism. That Morris accurately captured what I had previously believed were specific attributes of how my FAMILY sees the world, and that these attributes are, instead, specifically cultural, was eye-opening. And interesting in a meta way.

On (1), Trieste is one of the oldest cities (demographically) of an already (urgently) aging country (Italy). I think the birthrate is, like, -0.7. JK. But it is bad. I landed at the Trieste airport recently and was the youngest person at the Arrivals gate by about 30 years. I am 34 years old.

On (2), many in my fam considers themselves proudly Austro-Hungarian, though they hold Italian passports, speak Italian (and no German), and Franz Ferdinand died 104 years ago. Reminder: the year is 2018. Nonetheless, every person in my fam has a picture of our great great uncle when he met Franz Josef in the 1910s. SO KAISERLICH!

On (3), ah yes, this is the most interesting bit. Trieste has changed nationality so many times in living memory (Austro-Hungarian until WW1, Italian until WW2, debated “Free City” under the US in the 50s, Italian from 1953, split by the Iron Curtain) and it's been such a perennial mix of cultures (Friulan, Slovenian, Croatian, Italian, Austrian, etc) and mix of ideologies (monarchists, Italian irredentists, Tito Communists, Fascists), that “official nationality” has come to mean very little in the local mindset. National fervor is seen with an arched eyebrow. What nation? DO YOU KNOW HOW EASILY NATIONS CAN CHANGE? Morris makes good points on this, and juxtaposes it interestingly with her background as Welsh-English, brought up during GLORIOUS BRITISH EMPIRE days, and then traveling the world.

But! BUT! And this is the big failing of the book (and, of course, of Trieste itself): Morris JUST BARELY acknowledges the very modern, very not-Hapsburg, very NOT-WHITE reality of modern Trieste: that is, the enormous late 20th century and Refugee Crisis migrations that have rocked this region.

Morris was writing in 2000 or so. But even then (and always!), Trieste - as a port city on the edge of the Balkans and western Europe - has seen many, many, MANY immigrants and refugees. I found it appalling, in a way, that Morris (who clearly romanticized the K u K/old Europe multi-culturalism) was so willfully blind to Trieste's modern (and problematic) history with people of color. Her one acknowledgement that you see a lot of black dudes selling baubles in Piazza Unita is to say that those dudes are from Italy's Ethiopian/Abyssinian colonies?!?!!? My head exploded here. Wwwwhaaaat? Lady, those dudes are not long-ago immigrants from (romantic?!) 1930s Italian/Fascist would-be colonies, they're almost certainly fresh off the frickin' literal boat - the one that almost sunk in the Mediterranean! Similarly, she notes the growing Chinese presence - but doesn't investigate their history in the city - and she completely ignores the enormous Bangladeshi presence in Trieste's ship-building industry (ostensibly it's main thing).

To be fair, Morris doesn't write about this stuff because Triestine culture also doesn't acknowledge this stuff as an integral part of its history. Indeed, Morris does a great job of writing a book that panders to Triestine's self-image - but not their ACTUAL image. Don't even get me started. It's absurd to me that Triestines (and Morris... and my fam...) pompously celebrate the vibrant ethnic stew that this city has always been by noting the Italians! Slovenians! Austrians! But then everyone's panties get bunched up when they see a, gasp, non-white Triestine community. And there is ZERO curiosity. I mean, it's stupid. STUPIDLY RACIST.

Note: The current mayor was supported by Lega Nord (now just “Lega”), the far-right, xenophobic, Euro-skeptic Italian party that hates refugees, hates the Euro, and wants to “make Italy great again”. The pressures of the refugee crisis on local politics, local culture, are HUGE here. I would have LOVED to see Morris - or any author, really, Italian or English-language - contextualize Trieste's narrowly-focused romanticization of its (only white) history with its ACTUAL history as a port along numerous international migration routes. HMM. PERHAPS I SHALL ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE.