HE’S GOT A POINT

Larry Wallberg, in his Aug. 20 review of Aldo Nadi’s book, “The Living Sword: A Fencer’s Autobiography,” failed to realize that maestro Nadi was in fact all that he claimed to be. In his publications, as in his everyday life, the maestro was completely candid, and this, not surprisingly, did not sit well with the majority of individuals he encountered in this country, since they already had been taught from childhood onward to assume a mask of false humility and to avoid being overly frank in their daily contact with others.

The reviewer characterizes Nadi as “a poor man’s Don Giovanni,” and he says that the master from Livorno “inadvertently” wrote a “hilarious autobiography.” Moreover, he calls Nadi “a larger-than-life blowhard,” and lumps him in with “overwrought men and women [who] glory and gloat, sob and sigh, getting righteously indignant over trifles while all around them the oh-so-sophisticated universe they inhabit is coming to its end.”

First, a genuine comparison between the legendary Spanish nobleman, Don Giovanni or Don Juan, and the Italian fencing master, Aldo Nadi, is obviously impossible; but to designate Nadi “a poor man’s Don Giovanni” truly does him an injustice. Nadi was in his youth unquestionably a womanizer; however, he was also the most formidable swordsman of the 20th Century. The record shows that he won approximately 60 Italian and international competitions. At 11 he became Junior Foil and Sabre Champion of Italy; at 14 he placed third in foil and sabre in an international tournament in Barcelona; and at 21 he won the Italian Foil Championship without a single defeat. At the Antwerp Olympic Games of 1920 he won the silver medal in sabre and three gold medals in the team events in foil, sabre and epee. Then he turned professional. He won the Professional Italian Championships in all three weapons without a single defeat in 1924, 1925 and 1927. Between 1923 and his retirement in 1935 he destroyed virtually every important swordsman in Europe. In fact, Aldo Nadi withdrew from competition because he had exhausted his supply of opponents.

Second, “blowhard” is not an expression that can be applied to an honest man like Nadi. He was blunt and at times tactless, but he did not have an exaggerated sense of his own worth as a fencer. Armand Massard, French Olympic epee champion (1920), called Nadi “certainly one of the greatest fencers of all times.” And Rene Haussy, French professional foil champion, added: “If God had desired to create a prototype of the perfect fencer, He would certainly have chosen Aldo Nadi as his model.”

And third, Maestro Nadi was in no way indifferent to the events taking place in Europe during the 1920s and ‘30s. He learned early to distrust extremists on both the ends of the political spectrum, and, as an Italian, he developed a particular dislike for fascism.

A measure of Aldo Nadi’s commitment to our democracy can be found on the back cover of the dust jacket of his book, “On Fencing” (1943); Nadi wrote: “The naturalized American does not take his citizenship for granted. It is quite impossible for him to forget the feelings experienced during that solemn moment when he gave his oath of allegiance to this great country. In this year 1943, he cannot help realizing that his American citizenship is one of the greatest riches man can covet. Without country in the midst of a war of survival from which ‘no matter how long it will take’ we shall emerge the victor. “

Yes, Aldo Nadi was a womanizer. He made love to many women, and he had a penchant for gambling, but he was also the finest swordsman of his generation, an outstanding teacher, and the author of the most complete technical work on foil fencing yet produced.

WILLIAM M. GAUGLER, DIRECTOR, MILITARY FENCING MASTERS PROGRAM, SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, SUNNYVALE Calif.

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I would like to thank you for doing a review of our book, “The Living Sword.” The problem is Larry Wallberg does not seem to have read the same book I and many other people did.

As to whether or not Aldo Nadi could write well, his first book was praised by the Los Angeles Mirror. Columnist Maxwell Stiles wrote on April 9, 1949: “Aldo once wrote a book, ‘On Fencing,’ which is the best written and the most interesting book on sports I have seen come from the pen of an expert. Most of the experts write pretty dull copy. Nadi’s book is alive with the fire of his intense devotion to his art.”

George Santelli, six-time U.S. Olympic team coach and one of Nadi’s contemporaries, wrote the following: “You know, with years gone by I have become a great admirer of yours, not only because I recognize you as the greatest contemporary fencer, but also because of your unbending an uncompromising integrity. You remind me somewhat of Don Quixote, who, although he has been written in a satirical way, will represent for time immemorial the knight who fought and died for causes he thought were right.”

LANCE C. LOBO, EDITOR, LAUREATE PRESS, SUNRISE, FLA.