| Saving Rome by Megan K. Williams is not your typical summer fare.
Far from creating an idealized, escapist beach read about the Eternal City, Williams delves into the lives of women searching for meaning (and survival) in an ancient place, coming to terms with the reality of Rome while trying to make sense of their own lives.
Characters find themselves in a variety of circumstances, both funny and moving. The collection opens with "Home," the story of a young mother stuck in traffic, who furiously flips off a traffic official who then follows her to her apartment. "Motion" involves a translator and her husband on a cross-country bicycling trip, travelling with a smug couple that likes to sing nursery rhymes in the rain to boost morale. A lonely lesbian diplomat experiences her first two-piece bathing suit in "The Girls in Bikinis" and a woman who has followed her husband to Rome finds herself obsessed with a soulful local pet store owner in "Pets." All provide a unique perspective that makes Rome seem at once familiar and completely unknown.
Williams is a journalist and correspondent who produces essays and documentaries on Italian culture, politics and daily life that air regularly on CBC, America Public Radio's Marketplace and Deutche Welle radio. She lives in Rome with her husband and two children.
FFWD: Saving Rome is much more than a collection of short stories about expatriates. Was that always your intention? What prompted you to write these short stories?
Megan K. Williams: I knew some of the stories – almost all, it turned out to be – would be set in Rome, but I didn’t set out to write specifically about ex-pat life in Rome. I think what interested me most was writing about how people change and adapt, and even fail to adapt in foreign situations. I’ve lived in a number of different places over the years, so I’ve gone through the experience of being a foreigner and witnessed all the expectations people bring with them to a new place and how those expectations, both of themselves in this new place and of the place itself, eventually unravel. It’s how people cope with the unravelling when things get interesting.
In the case of Italy, it’s especially fascinating because the country is such a place of fantasy. The delicious food and wine, the exquisite settings, traces of history everywhere, the casual elegance and friendliness of the people – all that combined makes for very potent escapist material in the imagination. And, of course, there’s a whole body of literature that exploits it, that eagerly serves up that fantasy to North American readers. You know, the woman who leaves behind her workaday life in North America to find true love and meaning in Tuscany or Umbria or Venice or Turin. It’s been done to death.
Part of what I wanted to do with Saving Rome, apart from write stories that were emotionally compelling and funny at times, was to respond to the pretentiousness of so much of the writing that’s out there about Italy. Italy is a place of extraordinary beauty and history, sure, but it’s also an incredibly complicated country with social codes that can take years to decipher. As a writer, it’s much more interesting and truthful, I think, to move beyond the recycled observations about just how delicious that slice of melon is and just how well-dressed and sexy the men are to grapple with all the nuances and not so pleasant stuff.
On a different level, being a foreigner is simply a metaphor for the human condition. The ups and downs the characters in Saving Rome go through when dealing with a foreign place reflect the search and the struggles everybody experiences regardless of place, age, nationality. In this sense, the book is more than a collection about expatriates.
FFWD: You note in a recent interview that "To… make the city your own, you have to get past the publicity phase. Enjoy the beauty, but quit saying to yourself, ‘Oh, look where I am, ah, I’m just a gal from Canada; hey, look where I am." Did it take you long to get over the "publicity phase"?
Williams: Yes and no. I work in the city, so I deal with the things all working people deal with – the traffic problems, the frustrations with trying to reach people in offices (the concept of leaving a message and having someone return a call is all too abstract here), the bureaucracy (six visits to the police station to renew my passport!). It goes on and on. When you actually have to get things done, you quickly come up against all the obstacles. That, to say the least, can take the sheen off the publicity stills in your mind. At the same time, every corner you turn in Rome, something of incredible beauty jumps out at you – an old statue, a pot of geraniums on a windowsill, a stretch of antique wall. So while I may not be pinching myself anymore at my good fortune to live in such a magnificent city, I do feel it is a privilege to live here, hassles and all.
FFWD: You have mentioned that you are influenced by the voices of Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant. Any other writers who have inspired you?
Williams: Munro and Gallant are both writers I’ve immensely admired. Munro has been an especially strong presence, beginning with Lives of Girls and Women, which I read in high school and experienced as a kind of artistic awakening. I tend to read more short stories than novels. Chekhov, Grace Paley, Collette, Joy Williams, Katherine Mansfield, Lorrie Moore – they’re all amazing. There’s a collection I recently reread called Come to Africa and Save your Marriage by Maria Thomas (who died shortly after it was published) that still blew me away.
FFWD: Any of the stories to which you have a particular connection?
Williams: Well, writing consists mainly of plodding and back-tracking and doubt, but occasionally you do amuse yourself as you go along. I had fun writing "Saving Rome for Someone Special" and "Pets," both of which get pretty silly in parts. "Motion" was one of my favourites for a while, as was "Romeo Gone," two stories that resonated emotionally for me. But I’d have to say once the stories are published, the connection weakens. It’s a tiny bit like raising kids – you do your best and hope they’ll be loved or at least appreciated by others. That’s all you can do.
FFWD: You divide your time between Italy and Canada. What is your favourite thing about Rome? How about your hometown of Toronto?
Williams: My favorite thing about Rome is stepping off the train at Termini station and out into the chaos of the city and no matter where I’ve come from, feeling so glad to be back in Rome. Part of it is the great weather – the weather is always better in Rome than where I’ve just been (not counting July and August!). Part of it is the kind of gentle chaos and improvisation that keeps the city going. There’s very little hostility here.
My sister lives in Calgary and most of my relatives are from the Prairies, so I’m aware of just how popular Toronto is with Westerners. But allow me to expose myself to instant scorn by saying that I think Toronto is a fabulous city. It’s full of fascinating people from all over the world, it’s tolerant, it’s functional. It may not be stunningly gorgeous and yes, the lakefront is awful, but it has lovely neighbourhoods where, for the most part, people feel safe. For many years I lived in Kensington Market, a historic downtown immigrants’ market, and you can’t get much better than that when it comes to great energy and cultural mix. Canada on the whole is such a thoughtful, progressive, tolerant country by world standards. It’s something you only fully appreciate once you leave, I think. |
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