Hi, it’s me again with another entry about literature. Let’s go!
I have no clue why I didn’t write about John Fante and his Arturo Bandini this long. I mean, I read all the books in the series about Arturo Bandini, and finished them a while ago. And I was left under a lasting impression, I mean, no wonder Charles Bukowski found those books so relatable, and important in his writing career. Every book about Arturo Bandini just hits it right when you read it.
John Fante wasn’t a well-known author for the majority of his life, which is a shame, since people keep talking about Bukowski and that fame came late to him, yet forget about Fante who almost didn’t see fame until he was on his deathbed from diabetes complications. I find it very ironic, in some way, since the man who could write, and wrote like no one else, wasn’t recognized as a treasure till it was too late. And post-mortem recognition actually looks like a fucking joke by fucking morons to give some peace of mind to their tiny brains and take the weight of responsibility off their shoulders. Society, right?
Anyway, John Fante wrote four books about Arturo Bandini. He wrote many more, but those are the most important books in his career, and they tell the story of a young author, Arturo Bandini, fighting for his future as a writer in Los Angeles. Well, partially. If we’re going to go chronologically, it starts with his childhood, and proceeds to a point where he almost makes it as a writer.
Arturo Bandini is loud, chaotic, full of bullshit, he lies, he steals, he offends people out of personal insecurities, he’s horny, he’s a brave coward, yet somehow he manages to remain a fairly likable character. Fante wrote the first novel (which is chronologically is the second) before his departure to Hollywood and screenplay writing. This novel was largely unknown until it was uncovered after his death, if I’m not mistaking it. This novel is called The Road to LA, and it introduces us to Arturo.
As I’ve already mentioned, he is a chaotic character. In this book he’s a young guy, who lives with his mother and sister (funny thing about his family, it always changes… all the damn time, I think there’s no book where his family is consistent with previous novels), and while he tries to do small-time hack jobs, his primary dream is to be a writer.
The funny thing about his dream is that he has all the worst and terrible ideas of what it means to be a writer. He can’t shut up about Zarathustra. Every sentence he says is full of big words, and in general he tries to sound like he ate a damn dictionary, compensating for the lack of life experience. All the while, he tries to find himself and understand who he wants to be. That’s actually a really relatable thing, since Arturo wants to be a painter, then an architect, then a writer, all while working the minimum-wage jobs, getting in petty arguments with coworkers who are simple blue-collar guys who want to get the job done, get paid, and go home. He is also terribly bad with money and keeps wasting it left and right to a point where he’s broke all the time. The final moment of this book is when he decides to write an epic story of a man in search of love. And he writes a self-insert erotic fan fiction about a rich guy going on the sexual journey to find the one (while basically banging every other woman he meets, typical Deep Throat reverse story). Badly written, too. And this book of his turns into a giant quarrel with his family, gives him a motivation to steal mother’s gold, pawn it, and buy tickets to LA. The end.
He’s a very unlikeable character in that regard, but surprisingly, this is what actually makes him relatable. Arturo is young and stupid, he’s hotheaded, and with no money, no achievements, and no real experience, he tries to compensate for it with attitude and promises of making it big to everyone who’s ready to listen. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was an angsty teenager. Reminds me of me at my worst when I was less than zero, yet wanted to be perceived as somebody. At that young age, when the hormones are going through the roof, and you see more lucky peers with money to waste, you want to stick out, too. And that’s when you do shit you’re going to regret in the future. Very cringy, yet very relatable nonetheless.
The second novel (which is the third, I guess) is Ask the Dust. It follows Arturo in LA, as he lives in some roomhouse, published one story he’s too proud of, and falls in weird love-hate relations with waitress in the restaurant. This time Arturo’s family looks different, since his mother and father are alive, and I don’t remember any mentions about his brothers or sister (and yes, he had brothers). While he got a little older here, he’s still the same dumb fuck we knew from the previous book. Only now he finally learned how to write, and the next challenge for him is to understand what to write. And also to bang this waitress. I won’t spoil all the plot here, since this novel is one of those I can recommend reading just to see John Fante. The novel is also very relatable, and at certain moments it turns much darker, too. I think this is one of the best novels from Arturo Bandini Fante ever wrote.
The third novel (which is the first) is Wait Till Spring Bandini, and it differs completely from what we saw before. It tells the story of the Bandini family, and Arturo there is just one of the heroes. It tells about the times when he was a kid living with his father, mother, and two brothers. Sister was lost somewhere this time. The books have this well-refined style Fante had in his later books. Apparently here he already found his voice, since previous books about Bandini were more chaotic, and we have to see the story of the family. It follows several plots at once, and Arturo is even less likable in this novel than in the previous two. The most funny and yet dark moment is when, thanks to Arturo’s effort, the girl he liked died from pneumonia, and he instead of visiting funerals just decided to have a sunbath in the yard. In February. True Bandini. In fact, in the third book, the entire family of Bandini is dysfunctional to a point that this clan of raging psychos just has no other option but to live together. Also, I think, it indicates on why Arturo is so fucked up in his grown life, and also why he’s so terrible with money. He had outstanding teachers on how to waste money.
The fourth, and the final novel, is The Dreams from Bunker Hill, and somehow it impressed me the most. While the second one is the one I can recommend to anyone who wants to get into Fante, the fourth one is my personal favorite. It just tells a different story of Bandini going through metamorphosis. He is already an established writer and even earns with his writing. He is less hotheaded, yet still one horny bastard who thinks with his dick and just can’t help it but ruin everything. However, what is important in this novel is his writer’s path. As a person who already found his voice and earning money is no longer a problem either, and I think it has something to do with Fante finding his voice, he now has another problem, and it is somewhat related to finding himself. The fourth novel is in my opinion dedicated to Bandini’s attempts to understand what kind of writer he is, what he does with his life, is he happy with what he’s doing. He’s going through the emotional rollercoaster, but can’t stop in one place. He gets into dumb conflicts over his artistic vision; he gets into fights because he feels not taken seriously; he ignores money-making opportunities and entire career in Hollywood because he doesn’t want to be associated with something he doesn’t like. This is a journey of an artist. The journey of a boy, who through the challenges overcomes his childish ambitions, and goes through metamorphoses to understand what he wants to write in the end. Very powerful novel. I don’t know, maybe it is powerful for me because I am in this place, but I was left under the impression.
I also read other Fante books, but as I already said it, Bandini Saga is the most important work of literature he did. I don’t know how he did it, but Fante managed to write a compelling saga of youth, of being dumb, and reckless, but at the same time frustrated by the simple question, what do you want to achieve? I think those are very relatable novels for anyone who asks the same questions or went through the similar challenges (and I believe the majority of us had the similar experience, since teenage years are pretty much similar for all of us in terms of angst, and dumb reckless behavior). And also, he wrote a story of becoming a writer with all its shortcomings and struggles. A story of true passion that moves man to become the best version of himself. Passion for the craft, where money is not the cornerstone of it all, and where hard decisions should be made.
And this is it. I’ve written about all four books in one entry. Now I feel like I should’ve made four entries instead of one, but whatever. Just had to write about John Fante and Arturo Bandini. It is really strange I didn’t do it much earlier. Thank you for reading and see you tomorrow. Bye!