The Girl on the Via Flaminia by Alfred Hayes
books January 3rd, 2010
Published in 1949.
This intriguing, though somewhat slight tale of Italy at the end of World War II was written by an American has a similar feel to many Italian post war neo-realist novels and films. Hayes actually participated in the movement, co-writing the films Paisan and the Bicycle Thief.
In “The Girl on the Via Flamina” an American serviceman, a “conqueror” named Robert is set up with a young Italian woman named Lisa. Lisa is prideful and does not trust Americans. She believes that Robert will leave her behind when he goes back to the U.S. and is using her much as he would a prostitute–which is exactly what she is mistaken for by the police.
Ultimately Hayes debt to Hemingway is too much to pay back satisfactorily.