February 20, 2012   5 notes
gibsonssyllabus: Desert Boots in Literature 1 : Any Human Face by Charles Lambert (2010) The face with one day’s beard, the clothes smart-casual, English-looking, shoes, not sneakers, he’d noticed that at once, the desert boots Italian intellectuals of the left used to wear and maybe still do away from the capital; the kind Michel used to wear. Lambert’s book is a superior crime novel, set in Rome over a period of three decades. A British writer, based largely in Italy since 1976, Lambert has a feel for the little details that create atmosphere, mood and authenticity. He successfully combines both the sensibility of the outsider and the knowingness of one immersed in the subtleties of a national culture. When the culture is as inscrutable as the Italian one anything which reveals the essence beyond the obvious is most welcome. The desert boot, known throughout Italy as I Clarks, is less visible in Italy than it once was, but is still regularly spotted over there, normally in the warmer Cola shade as opposed to the British rather moddy inclination towards the sand colour. I bow to superior Italian taste in most matters sartorial and find their love of Clarks, corduroy in all manifestations, and shirts in any colour as long as they’re blue, gloriously rigid and always correct. The Italian desert bootista is normally heavily bearded and has a copy of La Repubblica in his aged tan leather briefcase. An affiliation with the Italian communist party of the 60s and 70s and a contemporary sense of bewildered political impotence are further traditional trappings of this stereotype. The best case study is film maker Nanni Moretti, rarely seen around Rome in anything other than baggy chinos or cords and dark brown Clarks.  Another insightful post from JP Gaul.

gibsonssyllabus:

Desert Boots in Literature 1 : Any Human Face by Charles Lambert (2010)

The face with one day’s beard, the clothes smart-casual, English-looking, shoes, not sneakers, he’d noticed that at once, the desert boots Italian intellectuals of the left used to wear and maybe still do away from the capital; the kind Michel used to wear.

Lambert’s book is a superior crime novel, set in Rome over a period of three decades. A British writer, based largely in Italy since 1976, Lambert has a feel for the little details that create atmosphere, mood and authenticity. He successfully combines both the sensibility of the outsider and the knowingness of one immersed in the subtleties of a national culture. When the culture is as inscrutable as the Italian one anything which reveals the essence beyond the obvious is most welcome. The desert boot, known throughout Italy as I Clarks, is less visible in Italy than it once was, but is still regularly spotted over there, normally in the warmer Cola shade as opposed to the British rather moddy inclination towards the sand colour. I bow to superior Italian taste in most matters sartorial and find their love of Clarks, corduroy in all manifestations, and shirts in any colour as long as they’re blue, gloriously rigid and always correct. The Italian desert bootista is normally heavily bearded and has a copy of La Repubblica in his aged tan leather briefcase. An affiliation with the Italian communist party of the 60s and 70s and a contemporary sense of bewildered political impotence are further traditional trappings of this stereotype. The best case study is film maker Nanni Moretti, rarely seen around Rome in anything other than baggy chinos or cords and dark brown Clarks. 

Another insightful post from JP Gaul.

  1. personaltake reblogged this from theweejun
  2. theweejun reblogged this from gibsonssyllabus and added:
    Another insightful post from JP Gaul.
  3. gibsonssyllabus posted this