Up in the alpine landscape of Peio, at the Trentino-Alto Adigio region, the last funeral of the First World War took place just a few years ago. Two young austrian soldiers who had fought in the third front had been found after the conflict's centenary, thanks to the melting of some glaciers. However, their identities will remain always lost.
It was at that moment that Laura Spinney, sent by the Daily Telegraph to write an article about it, began to think about the pain of the mothers whose sons were never retrieved. Moved as she was, she returned to her husband and told him about the impact the event had had on her. He reminded her that more people had died from the Spanish flu than in the First World War. Laura had to do some research to check the facts and the truth in her husband's statement had left her bewildered. From then onwards, she decided to study the 1918 pandemic that had changed the world and that nonetheless few people seemed to remember.
The purpose of her book Pale Rider is to put a human face to the disaster and the numbers behind it. The title comes from Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" (1939) and does not only refer to victims' suffering but also points out to the pale collective memory that surrounds the misfortune.
There are many memorials in the world that refer to the IWW and the IIWW but little or none to the most devastating epidemic of the "Spanish" flu. In the Jura mountains, the author could only find one dedicated to the soldiers who died of the flu. Civilians and other members of society remain in the shadows.
The question would be then: Why did we forget?
We could attempt some answers such as the difficulty to count the dead when there was a general lack of records and the struggle to diagnose a disease that was sharing its turn with others. Researchers and doctors didn't know what a virus was yet. The language barriers and the spread of the pandemic through time and space in three consecutive waves generated confusion and scarcity of information.
Laura Spinney admits the book to be highly selective in the cases she develops. One of the things that intrigued her was the storytelling issue around the flu. Starting by the name for which it is internationally known today.
Although there are three main theories that deal with the influenza's place of origin, none of those three point at Spain. The name is merely a political and historical injustice given that Spain wasn't at war at the time and had no censorship over its press, unlike France and Germany.
The fact that Alfonso XIII, Spain's king, became sick at the time was another cause of the name attributed due to its high visibility effect. Fashion in those days was to blame the neighbour.
Perhaps the most daunting of mysteries for Laura was why didn't artists pay more attention to such a catastrophic episode. The lack of paintings and writings portraying the flu's effects are baffling for people who felt very near the touch of death. Egon Schiele´s "The family" is probably one of the few.
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