In this 2024 I must have read over two hundred books, I am a devourer of texts, between novels and non-fiction, they offer me a different and broad look at life. Among those this year I place on an altar “Fragments of Brussels” by Elena Basile. It’s the book of the year, no ifs or buts. Another book, but not the usual novel, even if those written by Elena Basile are of a high literary achievement. Now it’s time to “Fragments of Brussels” (Sandro Teti Editore, 2024, pages 201), a collection of ten stories (which the writer called “fragments”) by the Italian Ambassador Elena Basile, who now delights us as a fiction writer, but also a precious expert on international geopolitics. The Author knows the Belgian capital, Brussels, which is also home to the European Parliament, perfectly, having led the diplomatic headquarters from 2017 to 2021, as the first woman to do so. Even now, although he no longer holds the position, having abandoned his diplomatic career a few years early, he often goes at different times of the year. The book consists of a series of ten stand-alone stories, but has as its common thread a modern and cosmopolitan Brussels, the destination and dream of many people who intend to make a leap in quality in their lives. Elena Basile writes: “For those who love Brussels. For those who want to see snapshots of the European Parliament, of socialism, of the liberal and proud bourgeoisie, of its dogmas. Irony, lightness, but I hope to have portrayed stories full of humanity with tender and sometimes bitter characters.” A pleasant work with ideas that encourage careful reflection, capable of being framed in a framework of renewed “realism”, with a language that smacks of the great Verga. Civil writings that characterize the political realities in Brussels considered the de facto capital of the European Union as it is the seat of various institutions, including the European Commission, the European Council, the Council of the European Union; the texts also highlight ironic and light tones, depicting human types, a little particular and almost coming from the pen of Emile Zola, and also grim or comical, the result of closed worlds, taken by laws and little laws, painted with squalid social conformism. And as an analyst, even the European Parliament does not emerge unscathed from his sharp pen, as when it turns lights and spotlights on a certain liberal bourgeoisie, no longer noble, but often possessed as if by miracle, who believe in a fairy tale divorced from reality, yet fully convinced that they are doing a good service to Europe and the world. The stories are set in a story that unravels past and present, points the finger at ideologies, the failures of socialism and the societies now transformed and buried by party politics. It would seem that Brussels brings together all the evils of the West and of Europe, which even makes use of “Politico”, the “Brussels bible”. No less so for institutions such as Embassies and cultural institutes (see the story “Don Abbondio”), which have become clubs for pensioners, futile places from another era; including the cliques of the university world. The book is truly a mine of history and stories, written not only by an excellent writer but by a superlative political scientist. Brussels against the light, with its atmospheres and its seasons, the rain and the greyness, a city that collects evaporated dreams, disappointments, but also fears and resentments of a betrayed humanity. Also in this book of stories the feminine is explored – just think of Klara – leaping between a thousand hidden nuances, and also poetically showing the loneliness that accompanies the relationship between the two sexes.
The first of the stories is “the Doctor”, a character “elected to the European Parliament by popular acclaim for the many services rendered by practicing his profession as a doctor in particular circumstances, when his beautiful island had been the refuge of many derelicts”. The story unfolds between the Luxembourg Parliament building, the parliamentary commissions and the chocolaterie, and the town of an island lost in the Mediterranean – Sicily is thought to be – from which the protagonist comes; a back and forth between the country of origins and the return to Belgium, so much so that after having “provided with humanity, provided with suffering, he could return recharged among the automatons of Brussels.” There is a strong contrast between the life and nature of the island and the formal environment of the European Parliament, this is clearly shown in the difficulties of the Italian MEP in settling in and accepting the dynamics of a politician distant from the interests of the citizens; this sentence is indicative: “It’s my third mandate and not a leaf moves,” Letizia, who was sitting next to him, whispered to him. “If I had absented myself from all the previous meetings and returned today for the first time, I would pick up the thread of the discussion exactly where I left it years ago”. A bitter judgment but one that touches closely on what is done – little and badly – in the European Parliament. From the first story and then gradually in the others, intense and little
the description of the Luxembourg climate and atmospheric landscape is ethical, with pages of refined writing. Here you are: “He had learned that in Brussels there were four seasons in a day and the morning clouds could transform into a clear sky for a few hours and then return more convinced and melt into heavy rain”. And again: “The black clouds were moved by the wind and suddenly the pale and dark moon peeked out, illuminating the rue Royale for a few brief moments. Carmelita stopped. He pointed to the sky, which looked like a fine painting, to his companion. “He reminds me of John Constable but the colors are darker” he murmured.
In the story “Flowers in the manure” it tells of the love between a European intern and a naive and innocent sixteen-year-old Hungarian girl who flees from prostitution, given that the sidewalks of Brussels are invaded by girls from the East who sell themselves at the exits of restaurants and luxury shops; “Maurizio knew nothing more about Klara even though at times he seemed to see her silhouette and the oval of her wax face among the crowd of the historic centre, from afar, like a mirage hidden behind a Madonna or a Pulcinella mask. He didn’t forget her even when he met new loves. Klara remained the face of the other, of “that other” that many didn’t even suspect…..”. In “Ordinary bourgeois sadness” Elena Basile gives us the picture of a romantic relationship and the aristocratic environment of Brussels; everything develops in the meeting-clash between the naive sensitivity of the protagonist who declares “I fell in love with her at first sight” and Jean Jacques who lived in a world full of hypocrisies and conventions, the result of a declining class, passing over authenticity of feelings; “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. The phrase rang in my ears as I remained behind the windows of the study contemplating with Minou the bare and poorly cared for garden in the barely mentioned spring. There is no salvation outside the church. I seemed to vaguely remember that the communists in the Seventies had uttered similar words against those who wanted to renew the party, supporting the rights of the individual against reason of state. Aristocrats, clericals, communists, there was no escape! Each microcosm defended itself like an organism equipped with an internal program that it activated for its own survival.” The titled story cannot fail to stand out “Talking around”which tells of an imaginary socialist leader who was the focal protagonist of the end of the hopes of one of the most prestigious European political traditions; the politician is told in his moods, in his states of mind, in his murky relationships with his party comrades and with a young Moroccan woman whose lover he is (“The Flemish remained standing at the window. Little by little he calmed down. His breathing slowed. He felt a small pain in his chest and thought it would end like this, a heart attack in his lover’s room. What a baboon ending! He sensed Aisha’s surrender and knew that she would soon be his. He remembered one evening when Van Bever, the only person he had respected in his long life, had told him how the lionesses, a moment after the lion had defeated the pride leader and killed their children, went into heat and were ready for intercourse with the victorious murderer. “These are the females, you know?”. He turned to look at him with good, clear eyes. He added: “Females, not women”). It certainly seems clear how the party has changed, and the political spaces have narrowed, political jargon dominates, and without giving up plots to maintain power, it manages to express the regret of times gone by. The story of “Said” closes the collection, but I think included only because – referring to a new realism – it highlights the Moroccan immigration neighborhood in Brussels, the largest and most integrated community; the protagonists are two brothers, their estrangement in the patriarchal family, the slow and painful discovery of a city that attracts and repels them until they embrace freedom and revolt against their parents’ sadness, the dogmas and taboos left behind.
I read on the back cover: “(…) In its many facets, the Belgian city is the theater for ten stories, ten fragments, in which each of the protagonists, victim or executioner of a social system distant from reality, tries to carve out his own space in a world governed by interest individual…”. Elena Basile, once again, had the courage to describe the profound, describe the truth, tell the truth, and the truth, if not in compliance with canons or powers, hurts and very often those who tell it are offended. Also very beautiful is the experience of the passing of the seasons in all the stories, together with the ages of life lived here in Belgium, indulging in particular states of mind; “he had now learned that in Brussels there were four seasons in a day”.
Carlo Franza