Il Mio Carso by Scipio Slataper

Trieste has been a city bound by ever changing boundaries, rulers and territory since the 18th century. It has constantly been confused and altered by rulers like Tito, empires like Austria-Hungary and the struggles between the Eastern and Western bloc of Europe post Second World War. The city has succumbed to this confusion, reflecting great ambiguity to the identity and national belonging of its people. Trieste embodied the boundaries placed upon them along with the limitations these boundaries placed on its people, and created the meeting place of artists and writers through the 18th and 19th centuries. The ambiguity of Trieste, and question of identity that this ambiguity inspires, is reflected and explored in Triestine literature and stories set in this historical town. The physical and metaphorical boundaries of Trieste diminish in literature, culture and life, and become beginnings rather than endings. As Debbie Allen once said, “out of limitations comes creativity.” (SOURCE).

Trieste lies on a narrow strip of Italian land, just between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. Before World War I, the city of Trieste had a distinctive metropolitan environment. As one of the most prosperous seaports in the Mediterranean region, Trieste was financially powerful and cosmopolitan – a destination of desire for people all around the world. Ethnic and border problems, however, became vast and difficult post World War I. Boundaries continuously fluctuated until finally allocating Trieste to Italy in 1954.

These countless changes to the region created an ethnically and historically confused, irresolute city and population. The prevalent impermanent status of it’s borders, the ideological constancies and the conflicts this generated left th...

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...with identity, with unclear boundaries of where one culture begins and where the other ends. But it is in these boundaries and the challenge of these boundaries, that they are able to realize a sense of unity in not only their home personalities and cultures, but with their outside personalities and lives as well.

Moving boundaries and instability on the outside, such as the ones seen in Trieste, can strengthen and resolve identity on the inside. A sense of identity is always a boundary, but in some cases it can be the beginning of something else – a sense of self and personal identity, as well as national belonging. As seen in Il Mio Carso and the short stories in Amiche per la Pelle, it is this inner identity that ties people together within the boundaries of their city, values and culture. Out of limitations comes creativity, and out of creativity comes unity.