The Red Horse

by Eugenio Corti

Book Overview

Eugenio Corti A literary phenomenon in Italy, The Red Horse a European bast-seller, was voted the best Italian novel of the decade in a public survey. Its success had gone far beyond Italy, as the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898707471
• ISBN13: 9780898707472
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 1015 Pages
• Weight: 3.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The barbarism at the heart of materialism

This is a novel about the consequences of an idea common to the Nazi, Communist and Fascist forces that contested the ground between Berlin and Moscow during WWII, manifesting itself in the horrific barbarity woven through Mr. Corti's narrative. It is that by material methods elites can change the nature of man and his consciousness. But it turns out that reducing man to matter makes him merely meat. Juxtaposed against this view is that of the rural Catholic family whose sons are called up to fight for Italy. They go, but they take with them their crucial religious idea that man is spirit suffusing matter, and attempt to understand the immense suffering and cruelty they are caught up in under that interpretive principle. The despiritualization of the race renders the individual valueless. Mr. Corti has produced something of lasting value, championing, as it does, the human person before the disintegrating influence of the collectivist stupidity of our time.

A dynamic historical novel of World War II and its aftermath

The Red Horse is a dynamic historical novel of World War II and its aftermath. The author, Eugenio Corti, drew upon his own experiences as an Italian Freedom Fighter and actual events to bring realism to not only his narrative and characters, but the background events of the Russian campaign, Nazi barbarism, the Communist gulag, the North Italian resistance, and two decades of political life after the war's conclusion. The Red Horse is a compelling, highly recommended story of faith and hope amidst the barbarism and cruelty of war and its aftermath.

One of the best WW2 novels in recent Years

Recently I was sent a copy of Eugenio Corti's novel `The Red Horse' to read. This looked like a daunting task as the book is over 1,000 pages in length. However I was amazed that the pages just seem to fly by. The novel is set in Italy during the Second World War and tells the story of how the war affected Italy and its people through the eyes of some of the participants. The first hundred pages may seem a little boring but I must tell you that after that the narrative moves along at an exciting pace. The story of the Italian soldiers fighting in Russia was magnificent and I don't think that I could go to far wrong in comparing this section of the book to Guy Sajer's `The Forgotten Soldier'. The descriptions of the men and fighting were excellent and I found it hard to put the book down. I know that many historical authors tend to dismiss the Italian fighting soldier of World War Two but when consideration is given to the weapons and equipment used by the Italian Army it is understandable why they are compared in such bad light to the German soldier or the Allies. I must admit that this book opened my eyes to the misery suffered by the Italian soldiers in Russia and it also fired a desire to read more about the Italian Alpine troops and their campaigns during World War Two, especially in Russia. As I mentioned earlier the first hundred pages may seem boring initially but when you get into the book it makes sense why the author went into such detail about the central characters as we follow them and their families through the war and into the final peace. I cannot help but feel how the author has used his personal experience of serving on the Russian Front to make this such a great story; it is compelling reading. The accounts of the retreat during the Stalingrad battle are magnificent; you can actually picture the frozen wasteland as the soldiers tiredly trudge through the wind swept villages being hounded by the advancing Soviet troops. The accounts of the many rearguard actions are excellent and I really felt for the men who fell during the fighting. Many other reviews have mentioned that this is a powerful and moving novel of World War Two and I must concur with those sentiments. This is a great story and anyone who has an interest in the fighting on the Russian Front will be truly taken by this account.The book continues on another level with the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 and the subsequent campaign in Italy. We follow accounts of the Italian partisans, Communists, Royalist and bandits. This again is another interesting level of the story and one, which I had very little knowledge of. I enjoyed this section of the book as much as the account of the Russian Front. The book does not finish with the war's end in 1945 but continues with the surviving characters through the harsh years of peace and political turmoil that Italy found itself in with the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Communist Party. Overall this book was a del

Drama and the hope during World War II

This is the best book I have ever read! Corti gives us an incredibly deep insight into the Second World War and the immediately following years, the years of the "rebirth" in Italy. His characters' point of view starts always from the deepest and most human desires in a time where destruction and havoc seem to be dominating the world, reducing men to war machines. The pages of the Russian campaign will glue you to the book and will give you a sense of real drama. This book helped me to understand more the meaning of life and provoked me with more questions. Corti gives you a sense of real hope and, at the same time, of real commitment to life, even in the most dramatic circumstances. The size of the book is just an indication of how much you are going to get out of it and, except for a few pages at the beginning, never gets boring.