Foreword
Because of the controversial nature of the subjects raised by this novel, A Father's Love has had an extensive pre-publication history. The author, Stephan Rawlins, is an American writer who has spent the last decade living in Western Sicily, a poverty-wracked, crime-ridden region rarely visited by tourists and not well studied by scholars and sociologists. As Mr. Rawlins was finishing the final chapters of this absorbing novel, he permitted an Italian translation to be made by a well-known Sicilian author who innocently allowed friends in government circles to read sections of the work. When word that the book would be published spread, certain highly placed government officials became disturbed and undertook to use the time-honored technique of claiming that the book was pornographic and obscene to prevent its release.
While plans for the publication of the English edition progressed, a court action was fought to prevent the Italian translation from being distributed. However as this edition goes to press, we have been informed that this crude attempt at censorship has been rejected by the courts and that A Father's Love can now be released to our Italian readers.
Publication of A Father's Love has also raised considerable controversy in legislative circles. While the above mentioned court case was still in progress, a Sicilian deputy to the Italian Parliament denounced the book in a speech to the assembly. During the sharp debate which followed, this deputy was challenged by representatives from other parts of the country and forced to admit that the facts as stated by Mr. Rawlins were correct and accurate.
What were the causes of this violent reaction? The novel tells the story of a young woman falling into an incestuous relationship with her father and this drama is told with a degree of frankness and sincerity which can only mean obscenity to the narrow-minded. Certainly many scenes in this book are remarkably erotic and may shock certain readers, but the publishers believe that A Father's Love is a work of true art.
But beyond the sexual content of this book, the authorities were disturbed by Mr. Rawlins' frank revelations concerning the aphrodisiac qualities of certain of the wines produced in Western Sicily. The fact that some of these locally manufactured wines were capable of stimulating the sexual appetite (particularly among women) and destroying the capacity for clear thought had long been known by the residents of the area. Under an informal but severe restriction by local authorities, exportation of this wine has been forbidden for decades and frequent attempts have been made to prohibit the peasants in these areas even from raising grapes. Since police and government officials have been unwilling to admit the existence of these wines, there has been a minimum of scientific research into the subject, but some preliminary studies at the University of Rome seem to indicate that the spring water used to irrigate the vineyards contains some as yet unidentified mineral which reacts only during the fermentation process to create one of the world's few known aphrodisiacs.
The editors regard publication of this book as a two-fold public service. First of all, it is an absorbing and stimulating psychological study of a father-daughter incestuous relationship, a subject which has been avoided by less courageous writers despite mounting evidence that relationships of this kind become more numerous each year. Secondly, it is a bold exploration of the curious properties of this strange Sicilian wine, an investigation carried out despite harassment and opposition by those attempting to conceal the facts and prevent a scientific examination of a serious subject.