Here, Archy learns about God and comes to despise him: “Why had he inflicted this pain upon me? Why wasn’t I a man? Hadn’t I sought him, hadn’t I been on his side?”
They begin with the business, keeping track of customers’ debts, but soon advance to the bible. In time, Solomon teaches Archy to read and write. Crippled Archy soon finds his place in Solomon and Joel’s routine, even venturing out with Joel to collect delinquent accounts. A fiercely loyal dog named Joel protects Solomon and their enterprise (Joel claims that Solomon rescued him from a wasp’s nest when he was an infant). Solomon’s ability to cipher makes him a market nexus for the animals of the forest, who come to him to trade in goods like chickens, eggs, and vegetables. The most important character in Archy’s life is Solomon, an old fox who has learned to read and write. I mentioned some names above, mostly of Archy’s family members, but we can dispense with them now. My Stupid Intentions is Archy’s life story-and it is crammed with life, with nerve, joy, terror, anger, and discovery. I enjoyed all 211 pages of it.Īrchy, the narrator of My Stupid Intentions is a beech marten, a kind of mustelid similar to a weasel or ferret. It won the 2022 Campiello Prize, and is now available in English thanks to translator Alex Andriesse and publisher NYRB. My Stupid Intentions ( I miei stupidi intenti) is Bernardo Zannoni’s first published novel. Perhaps, having put forth details in lieu of a bigger picture, I should backtrack: Archy is then sold into the service of a writer named Solomon for the low price of one and a half chickens.
And poor Otis? “I’m going to die because I’m not growing,” he declares at the family dinner.
He then engages in sexual intercourse with his sister Louise. A few pages later, Archy falls from a tree, leaving one leg permanently lame. Otis is small and weak, but his brothers ultimately elect to remain hungry and not consume him. A few pages into Bernardo Zannoni’s brash, brilliant novel My Stupid Intentions, our narrator Archy and his eldest brother Leroy have the following conversation about their youngest brother Otis:
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