Rewriting ancient sacred history

Nino Ricci's latest book Testament looks at the life of Jesus Christ from different perspectives

Many may have thought that Nino Ricci has changed his direction. Others say his latest work is 'controversial'. He disagrees with the former opinion; as to the latter, he shrugs.
Testament, published by Doubleday Canada, has become one of Canada's bestsellers in just a few weeks. The subject is the same that inspired so many authors over the past 2000 years: Jesus Christ. This time, however, the story begins with a rape. Ricci, in fact, "rewrites" the Madonna, her story and her myth.
And yet, Ricci does not feel like desecrating anything or anyone. "I imagined that this book would raise a debate, that was unavoidable, but that was not the main purpose, if a novel has to have a purpose in addition to telling a story."
Testament does precisely that, borrowing the rhythm and the voices of the New Testament, and having different narrators appear in different parts of the book. As the Italian-Canadian author explains, this was made to give the reader a chance to detach from the story itself as it is known, told, assumed in collective imagination, and hear it afresh through other voices.
Set in a remote backwater of the Roman empire in a period of spiritual and political fervour and uncertainty, Testament is the story of a man who "dares" to feel compassion, understanding and acceptance. He's a charismatic and complex man whom Ricci calls Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) and whose travels in the desert are much rumoured about. Some people attribute him the ability to perform miracles. Others claim he has healing powers. Still more are struck by his words of hope. At the same time, some call him blasphemous, accusing him of undermining Jewish law and Roman rule.
It is a multifaceted portrait, where Jesus is seen and described from the points of view of those who know him: his mother Miryam (Mary), Yihuda (Judas), Miryam of Migdal (Mary Magdalene).
Ricci adds his voice to those, resuming the thread of the trilogy that gave him fame with Canadian readers, stories of emigration in Lives of the Saints (which gained him the prestigious Governor General's Award in 1991), In a Glass House, and Where She Has Gone. In those works he sees emigration as travel, as a spiritual quest. "I've always been fascinated by the 'story of stories', starting with the expulsion from Eden and aiming to return there. The character who most incarnates this story, this myth, is Jesus Christ, a myth in his own right".
Ricci's emigration stories are no different: they tell of the quest for paradise, the departure from known difficulties in search of a better world. That's why people leave. "But then," adds Ricci, "the memory of home, of a place where everything made sense, never leaves you. Disappointment upon return is also unavoidable. From this standpoint, also this book, by telling the myth of a return to Paradise through Jesus, follows the same path."
Ricci began writing Testament in 1998, and he did so with the intention of drawing the profile of a historical person turned myth. He visited biblical sites in Israel, drew from period documents, and of course from his own experience of life and spirituality. "I could never have written this book had I not been, at some point in my life, a Catholic. Today I can't call myself a believer, but like many Italian kids I was raised as a Catholic, immediately initiated to the Church, and up to a point I truly believed. I was never indifferent to the figure of Jesus Christ. A charismatic figure, and a myth in the true sense of the word. He was portrayed that way, with all the classic traits: a mysterious conception, a resurrection. That was necessary to make him a myth, not to make him true.
"By 'unravelling,' in a novelist's way, the mystery behind his conception, I did not want to diminish the man and his real role in the history of mankind. So, this time I told the story myself." This is not a justification, just an explanation. "My choice has been heavily criticized, but I don't see why. There is no intention to offend or desecrate," clarifies the author, "and if one has a strong and stable faith, my novel will not shake it. Even if I enjoyed strong sales, I doubt I could 'beat' the Bible."
Ricci calls his book "the description of a path through Jesus' story. The same path of our inner life, of our spiritual side that leads us to investigate and always ask the same questions." He has no intention of abandoning this path, either. "I'm working at a story that will continue this one, but with no reference to religion. It's a sequel because it deals with the same quest, the same voyage, forward. As I said, it's the 'story of stories' that maybe we all tell, always in different ways."

Publication Date: 2002-06-02
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1411