Christ Stopped at Eboli


"All of a sudden everyone rose and moved toward the post office.  The old woman letter-carrier appeared on the crest of the road with the sack of letters and papers that she fetched every day with a mule from the crossroad at the Sauro River where, after a series of jolts and hairpin turns, a rattling bus deposited travelers from faraway Matera to the Agri Valley.  To the post office, then, went all those who had crowded the square, to wait for Don Cosimino, a keen-faced hunchback, to open the sacks and distribute the mail.  This was the evening ceremony, which no one ever missed and in which I, too, was to participate every day the year around."

Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli, 1945

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