Young painter Mario Minitti and several others--Fillide Meladrone, Archbishop Pietero Aldrobondini, Ranuccio Tomassoni, and Nunzio Pulzone--came to Rome at the turn of the century in 1600 to find fame and fortune. Their stories intersect as they fall in love with one another and share a common bond: they were painted by the great Caravaggio.
Poetry. Women's Studies. Translated from the Italian by Joan E. Borrelli. Bilingual Edition. Feminist, courtesan, playwright and a renowned virtuosa (soloist vocal performer) called to sing before Roman nobility and the courts of Florence and Paris, Margherita Costa is, moreover, the most Baroque of the Italian women poets of the seventeenth century. A prolific writer, she published six volumes of poetry, two prose works, three plays, two narrative poems, and a pageant in verse for knights on horseback. As a poet, she employs a variety of genres, using humor and irony to criticize prevailing attitudes towards women and to mock the politics of her times. Many poems reveal autobiographical references as she voices her personal struggles and her experiences as a woman of numerous roles, including wife, mother, widow, and, above all, writer, attempting to achieve recognition and respect for her literary endeavors. This anthology offers the first English translation from Margherita's extensive oeuvre and represents the first modern publication in Italian of a selection from seven of her books of verse, which have not seen print since their original editions in the 1600s. The volume includes a biographical and critical introduction, a comprehensive bibliography, and notes in both Italian and English.
Poetry. Italian American Studies. Maria Mazziotti Gillan's Ancestors' Song takes the reader on a journey, one in which she recognizes deep within herself "the voices of the women who came before," their words blending together, forming, as she tells the reader, "the beat I move to." This beat is very much a part of the narrative she weaves in her characteristically honest, intimate, and humorous voice. This beat is true, hard working, strong; a beat that began in the villages on the mountaintops in San Mauro, Italy, and continues to the present day, illuminating the path for those that will follow. These poems will move you to laughter, to tears, and a mixture of both, and are proof that Gillan is at the peak of her career. She is truly one of America's most beloved poets.
"Between 1910 and 1913 Antonio Vasquenz, a native of the Abruzzo village of Cerchio, wrote about forty letters totaling 25,000 words to his son Angelo, an immigrant working in the coal mines of western Pennsylvania. Unlike many contadini, Antonio was fully literate. He was also a talented writer and intelligent man. Over a four-year period he described in detail, with vivid and sometimes pungent prose, all the events and trials of his life: family illness and death, agricultural conditions, and always, always the financial burdens..." -- Publisher's description.
Literary Nonfiction. Italian American Studies. Women's Studies. "Since the 1960s Daniela Gioseffi has been an irrepressible and unforgettable voice in many of the key debates in American culture. Her...advocacy has given a special validity to her work in the fields of civil rights and of anti-war activism no less than in the struggles against mafia stereotypes and for an Italian American literary tradition. This book displays the depth and range of her commitment and contribution."--Robert Viscusi, Author: Astoria and Ellis Island, Founding President: The Italian American Writers Association
Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. On these pages, fans of Michael Parenti's insightful political and historical writings are given a revealing picture of his early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice. Written with style and dash, WAITING FOR YESTERDAY is devilishly enjoyable and sometimes very touching. It provides delightful vignettes about growing up in a three-generation, working-class, Italian family, along with the amusing predicaments of a street kid's life. The book offers a cast of diverse and colorful characters, brought to life on the gritty streets where Parenti played as a boy, set against a backdrop of impoverished tenements, stoops, punitive classrooms, and a neighborhood church with its ornate celestial offerings. This book is graced with both vivid imagery and sharp political observation. Parenti challenges many of the stereotypes faced by Italian Americans and other ethnic groups. Here is a story that is both personal and broad-ranging, often sweet and occasionally bitter, the human comedy at its best.
A wonderful introduction of genuine Apulian food to the non-Apulian. Accompanied by a series of vignettes and descriptions of the culinary culture of the region, this cookbook is also an introduction to the overall culture of Apulia, a rich and fascinating region of Italy.
Del Boca's work is a northerner's response to Pino Aprile's "Terroni." Both books add to the animated, century-old debate on the North-South question in Italy.
Literary Nonfiction. Italian American Studies. "In THE STORY OF MY PEOPLE, Mario Mignone gives eloquent testimony to the hopes, fears, struggles and ultimate triumph of his family's extraordinary journey from rural Italy to the American Dream. He also gives a poignant voice to the millions of other immigrants who left the Mezzogiorno for L'America. In the process, he shows how to perform the critical balancing act of embracing the future while preserving the past."-- Stanislao G. Pugliese, Hofstra University
Literary Nonfiction. George Guida's "Spectacles of Themselves" is a brilliant survey that reflects the workings of a subtle mind with a keen eye for the minutiae of expression in a charged field. He explains the dynamics of many levels of linguistic interference, and he shows how writers use style to create characters for themselves. He is able to compare fruitfully the manners of very different essayists and writers in order to shed light on the varieties and possibilities of expression available to writers who have relations with more than one language and culture."-- Robert Viscusi, author of Buried Caesars and Other Stories of Italian American Writing
Poetry. Italian American Studies. "Joey Nicoletti's book, REVERSE GRAFFITI, is dotted with images from popular culture--Captain Marvel, Spider Man, the Yankees--and these images are part of the story of his Italian-American family, his working class roots, his love for his family, his desire to escape. These are powerful, heartfelt poems that bring an era to life. Joey Nicoletti is an amazing poet, capable of moving us to laughter and tears."--Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Literary Nonfiction. "The reflections that are here published represent the synthesis of ILICA's mission: 'More reality and less rhetoric.' Civilization and culture flourish in well-defined cycles, and Italians have a unique history, a symbol in this world which is always more global."--Vincenzo Marra, President, ILICA ILICA, Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance, is a not for profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of the Italian language as an instrument of understanding and study of a culture in continuous evolution, and in constant dialogue with both Americans of Italian origin as well as all other ethnic groups that share interest in learning the Italian language as a key to understanding Italian culture within the context of the 21st century.
Fiction. A SEASON IN FLORIDA is Emanuele Pettener's debut book of fiction in English. Prolific in Italian with three novels, he now offers to the North American audience some of his delightfully funny, yet sober, short fiction, which nicely complements his previously published novels.
Poetry. "Lewis Turco... appears to have combined the longevity of Utnapishtim with the energy and industry of Gilgamesh: once seized with inspiration, he wrote THE HERO ENKIDU at white heat in his eightieth year. The inspiration itself is of the kind that, once someone has come up with it, makes us wonder why no one ever thought of it before, because in a number of ways Enkidu is a more interesting and attractive figure than Gilgamesh."--Michael Palma, from the Introduction
"First appeared in Italian as L'Italia bugiarda: smascherare le menzogne della storia per diventare finalmente un paese normale, Edizioni Piemme, 2013"--Title page verso.
Poetry. "As a poet, Stefanile presents a series of interesting paradoxes. He was both a nationalist and a cosmopolitan. Although he consciously worked in 'the American grain,' his poetry was nourished by deep roots in European literature. He championed free verse but also wrote in form. From his earliest work till his final publications, he was unwilling to give up one mode for the other. In The Dance at St. Gabriel's (1995), for instance, one finds a prose poem, a sonnet, free verse, blank verse, and rhymed quatrains side by side. A lifelong student of Italian Renaissance literature, Stefanile was an unapologetic traditionalist, but he was also an advocate of the avant- garde. He translated and published the first anthology of Italian Futurist poetry in English, The Blue Moustache (1981). Finally, Stefanile was a determined individualist who nonetheless always viewed himself as part of a community--ethnic, social, political, and cultural."--Dana Gioia, from his Afterword "For a long time now, Felix Stefanile has been among the most consistently interesting poets in America. His hard-hitting poems cry out to be spoken aloud. Readers who still need an introduction to them will find The Country of Absence an ideal point of entry. In memorable poems and an incisive essay, Stefanile sets out to retrace his roots, to understand those forces that make him a poet. In the process, he reveals a good deal about his readers, too."--X.J. Kennedy "Stefanile peoples his work with immigrants, bocce players, rowdy recruits and restless veterans, bringing all to life with compassion and eloquence. Besides offering reminders of the humanity behind history, he displays vitality and expertise in his craft as he allows each poem its own tempo and quiet refrain."--Elizabet
Poetry. "I STOP WAITING FOR YOU by Mary Jo Bona is an immensely moving meditation on grief for the twin brother who dies from AIDS; the ghosts of her other dead and lost populate this book as well. Those losses are balanced out by her poems that explore her Italian American heritage and her love poems. This book is a way of mourning her lost brother, a way of keeping him alive in her memory. It is also a celebration of the woman she loves who makes her own life worth living. What an accomplished, beautiful, amazing book! I read it all in one sitting and look forward to reading it again and again."--Maria Mazziotti Gillian
Poetry. From TOMATO PIES, 25 CENTS: "[A]t my Grandmother's restaurant in Trenton New Jersey. My grandfather is rolling meatballs in the back. He studied to be a priest in Sicily but saved his sister Maggie from marrying a bad guy by coming to America. Uncle Joey is rolling dough and spooning sauce. Uncle Joey is always scrubbed clean, sobered up, in a white starched shirt, after cops delivered him home just hours before."
Literary Nonfiction. Italian American History. "Luigi Del Bianco may not be a household name to many historians, but he should be. He played an integral role in the creation of Mount Rushmore, specifically, that of chief carver. Was Del Bianco slighted due to his Italian heritage? Gladstone more than suggests he was. This book will be an inspiration to Italian Americans everywhere, and sheds new light on the role of Italians in America's history."--Marilyn Borner
Literary Nonfiction. Edited by Dennis Barone and Peter Covino, this volume collects and expands on many of the ideas explored during the widely influential Italian American Discussion Group of the Modern Language Association, in existence ten-plus years. Scholarly writing about Italian American literature and culture has arguably entered its second fully and critically engaged decade of sustained conversation and inquiry. This collection of essays endeavors to highlight the vitality of these inquiries and offer suggestions for continuing research and enjoyment.Contributors: Michael AntonucciNancy Caronia, Jim Cocola, Joseph Conte, John Domini, Tracy Floreani, Kathleen McCormick, Gina Miele, and Roseanne Giannini Quinn.
This book deals with Giose Rimanelli's three American novels, which in turn deal with the political and societal perversion of the presidential years of Richard Nixon and the socio-political corruption that became part of the American fabric of life for years to come.
In this poem of 624 sonnets, " . . In the half-mad tradition of the Italian Futurists (Marinetti et al.), Ted Berrigan, and the brilliant scribblers of Oulipo, Viscusi has constructed a wonderful machine for generating sonnets, an effort that reproduces the equally demented project of Ellis Island itself."NMac Wellman..
O. . . reminds us who we were in the early 20th century, when our own emigrants were forced to earn their bread with the most menial and burdensome of work in an America that killed Sacco and Vanzetti.ONRenzo Cassigoli.
In a passionate and polemical manner, Aprile examines the effect that the unification of Italy has had on Southern Italy and analyzes what some of the ramifications are today. A bestseller in Italy, the book sold more than 200,000 copies in its first year of print.
(Pasquale) has an ability to create what the reader needs to feel and wants to know. He lifts us with an ecstatic imagination, placing us exactly there, happily at the center, as if we've found the right dream.--Grace Calavieri.
As a boy in the 1960s, Zweig had a rare opportunity: every summer, he would leave his home in America and make extended visits to his mother's birthplace of Naples, Italy. During each visit, he'd uncover new mysteries about the parents he thought he knew.
Literary Nonfiction. Politics. Years have passed since the Capaci and Via d'Amelio massacres, where the Sicilian judges Falcone and Borsellino were brutally assassinated by the Mafia. The presence of the Mafia continues to be strong, its influence on civil and political life increasingly more evident, and many areas of the southern Italy remain under the grip of Mafia clans. In the new world order, this form of organized crime has even succeeded in establishing links with other Mafia-type organizations, which have modified their means of operating to more closely resemble the Sicilian Mafia. These Mafia operations are interwoven with terrorist activities, and arms and narco-trafficking. The money laundering of proceeds from criminal activities has created an expanding "gray area," where the line between legality and criminality is blurred and interference has become increasingly violent.
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