Italoamericana: The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880-1943

by Francesco Durante (Editor), Robert Viscusi (Editor)

Overview

Collected classic writings on, about, and from the formative years of the Italian-American experience, featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

To appreciate the life of the Italian immigrant enclave from the great heart of the Italian migration to its settlement in America requires that one come to know how these immigrants saw their communities as colonies of the mother country. Edited with extraordinary skill, Italoamericana: The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880-1943 brings to an English-speaking audience a definitive collection of classic writings on, about, and from the formative years of the Italian-American experience.

Originally published in Italian, this landmark collection of translated writings establishes a rich, diverse, and mature sense of Italian-American life by allowing readers to see American society through the eyes of Italian-speaking immigrants. Filled with the voices from the first generation of Italian-American life, the book presents a unique treasury of long-inaccessible writing that embodies a literary canon for Italian-American culture—poetry, drama, journalism, political advocacy, history, memoir, biography, and story—the greater part of which has never before been translated.

Italoamericana introduces a new generation of readers to the “Black Hand” and the organized crime of the 1920s, the incredible “pulp” novels by Bernardino Ciambelli, Paolo Pallavicini, Italo Stanco, Corrado Altavilla, the exhilarating “macchiette” by Eduardo Migliaccio (Farfariello) and Tony Ferrazzano, the comedies by Giovanni De Rosalia, Riccardo Cordiferro’s dramas and poems, the poetry of Fanny Vanzi-Mussini and Eduardo Migliaccio.

Edited by a leading journalist and scholar, Italoamericana presents an important but little-known, largely inaccessible Italian-language literary heritage that defined the Italian-American experience. Organized into five sections—”Annals of the Great Exodus,” “Colonial Chronicles,” “On Stage (and Off-Stage),” “Anarchists, Socialist, Fascists, Anti-Fascists,” and “Apocalyptic Integrated / Integrated Apocalyptic Intellectuals” —the volume distinguishes a literary, cultural, and intellectual history that engages the reader in all sorts of archaeological and genealogical work.

“An addition to the great tradition of Italian-American literature and culture, this anthology of fiction, poetry, plays memoir and articles features the writing of Italians in America, writing from the “Little Italys” of the period, in their mother tongue, and fills a huge gap in the canon. A sophisticated, critical look at the writings of Italian immigrants to America across all genres, includes social and political commentary, a long labor of love for American editor Robert Viscusi . . . . A massive work of extraordinary power, that while scholarly and comprehensive, will have wide appeal.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823260638
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	05/20/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1030
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Francesco Durante born in Anacapri, teaches the Culture and Literature of Italian Americans at the Università Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples. As one of Italy’s foremost journalists and literary critics, he has written for various Italian newspapers and journals. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including the groundbreaking Italoamericana. Storia e letteratura degli italiani negli Stati Uniti, 1776–1943, in two volumes (the second was published with the same title by Fordham University Press in 2014); Figli di due mondi. Fante, DiDonato & C: narratori italoamericani degli anni Trenta e Quaranta; Scuorno (vergogna); I napoletani; and, together with the late Rudolph J. Vecoli, Oh Capitano! La vita favolosa di Celso Cesare Moreno in quattro continenti. He has edited two volumes of Mondadori’s prestigious Meridiani series on John Fante and Domenico Rea. In addition to various editions of mannerist and baroque poets and American writers, he has translated seven volumes of John Fante, two by Bret Easton Ellis, and other writers such as William Somerset Maugham, George Arnold, and William Dean Howells. Durante is the artistic director of the annual Salerno Literary Festival. His latest book is La letteratura italoamericana (2017).

Robert Viscusi, Ph.D., is Professor of English and executive officer of the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College, president of the Italian American Writers Association, novelist, critic, scholar of Italian-American literature and culture, and author of the epic poem “Ellis Island.”

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Chronicle of the Great Exodus Introduction Carlo Barsotti To the Readers Ferdinando Fontana Shine? . . . Shine? Luigi Roversi For Humanity Rocco Corresca Biography of a Bootblack Gaetano Conte Little Italy Gino Carlo Speranza How It Feels to Represent a Problem Alberto Pecorini The Children of Emigrants Alberto Tarchiani Neither Foreigners nor Americans Al Capone Public Service Is My Motto Part II. Colonial Reports Introduction Luigi Donato Ventura Peppino Fanny Vanzi-Mussini The Destruction of San Francisco, April 18, 1906 Adolfo Rossi The Five Points Giuseppe Antonio Cadicamo To Giuseppe Giacosa Edoardo Michelangeli Two Stories Bernardino Ciambelli A Story, Sketches, and a Play Camillo Cianfarra An Emigrant's Diary Thomas Fragale Two Poems Antonio Calitri Two Poems Angelo Rosati Three Poems Calicchiu Pucciu The Poor Woman Paolo Pallavicini The Little Madonna of the Italians Italo Stanco Bohemian and Detective Ernesto Valentini Brunori's Fortune Eugenio Camillo Branchi Hold Up! Dora Colonna The Two Girlfriends Caterina Maria Avella The Flapper Severina Magni Seven Poems Antonio Marinoni The Hula Hula Flag Corrado Altavilla The Verdict Part III. On Stage (and Off) Introduction Francesco Ricciardi The Interrogation of Pulcinella Riccardo Cordiferro Four Poems and a Dramatic Play Eduardo Migliaccio Five Poems Tony Ferrazzano Three Poems Giovanni De Rosalia Nofrio on the Telephone Armando Cennerazzo Child Abductors, or The Black Hand Gino Calza Two Poems Michele Pane The Americanized Calabrian Achille Almerini Dante's Colony Pasquale Seneca The Pichinicco Vincenzo Campora Spaghetti House Alfredo Borgianini Two Poems Rodolfo Valentino Six Poems Silvio Picchianti Domestic Court Ario Flamma Leaves in the Whirlwind Part IV. Anarchists, Socialists, Fascists, and Antifascists Introduction Giuseppe Ciancabilla The First of May Simplicio Righi Two Poems Luigi Galleani Methods of the Socialist Struggle Umberto Postiglione An Editorial and a Dramatic Play Ludovico M. Caminita A Letter and a Story Giuseppe Bertelli Six Poems Alberico Molinari Brief Discourses Arturo Giovannitti Four Poems Efrem Bartoletti Four Poems Vincenzo Vacirca The Fire Onorio RuotoloIn Union Square Park Agostino De Biasi Fascism in America Rosario Ingargiola The Lighthouse Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni To Mussolini, the Immortal Rosario Di Vita Two Poems 000 Umberto Liberatore Two Poems Armando Borghi The Failed Ambush Virgilia D'Andrea Remembering Michele Schirru Raffaele Schiavina What to Do? Carlo Tresca Two Articles Ezio Taddei Once Again Tresca Part V. Integrated Apocalyptics Introduction Lisi Cecilia Cipriani A Story and a Poem Angelo Patri A Schoolmaster of the Great City Silvio VillaViola Constantine PanunzioIn an Immigrant Community Emanuel Carnevali The Day of Summer Pascal D'Angelo Son of Italy Francesco Ventresca Incipit Vita Nova Louis Forgione The Torture of the Soul Giuseppe Cautela Miracle Edward Corsi A Picture of 1907 Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2014
This volume is a comprehensive compilation of writings by Italian American authors. First published in Italy, edited by journalist and literary scholar Durante, the anthology covers the mass migration of Italians to the United States up to World War II. An earlier volume, encompassing the period 1776–1880, is not yet available in English. Besides the works included—essays, journalism, poetry, fiction and poetry, among other genres—this American edition has an extensive introduction by Robert Viscusi, one of its U.S. editors (additional editors include Anthony Julian Tamburri and James J. Periconi; all three are known for their research and expertise), as well as comprehensive introductions to each of its five sections: "Chronicle of the Great Exodus"; "Colonial Chronicles"; "On Stage (and Off)"; "Anarchists, Socialists, Fascists, and Antifascists"; and "Integrated Apocalyptics." There is also a brief but informative biography of each author in the anthology. Most of the pieces are from obscure Italian American sources—newspapers, journals, ephemeral literature, anthologies, etc.—housed in various libraries and archives. Not every selection, of course, is great literature (the drama inclusions, for example, are less than stellar), but plenty of well-written pieces provide literary as well as historical pleasures to anyone who dips into this anthology or reads it from beginning to end. The translations are uniformly excellent. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone interested in immigrant literature and an essential purchase for any collection of Italian American literature and culture.—Morris Hounion, New York City Coll. of Technology, Brooklyn

Library Journal

★ 05/26/2014
An addition to the great tradition of Italian-American literature and culture, this anthology of fiction, poetry, plays memoir and articles features the writing of Italians in America, writing from the "Little Italys" of the period, in their mother tongue, and fills a huge gap in the canon. A sophisticated, critical look at the writings of Italian immigrants to America across all genres, includes social and political commentary, a long labor of love for American editor Robert Viscusi. This volume is a major work and forms an invaluable testament to a forgotten era of Italian literary history in the new world. As Viscusi notes in his introduction: "The dawn of legible memory for the English-speaking people who now call themselves Italian Americans mostly begins around the time they abandoned the Italian language as their primary means of verbal expression." The Italians who are represented here, spoke and wrote in Italian and all of its rich dialects. They are here, now, in English, and finally, not forgotten .A massive work of extraordinary power, that while scholarly and comprehensive, will have wide appeal. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Robert Viscusi's American edition of Francesco Durante's anthology fills an enormous gap in Italian and Italian American studies. This is the first English-language edition of a collection of journalistic, literary and critical texts to offer deep and sweeping insight into the social lives and psychology of Italian immigrants up to the watershed years of World War II."-George Guida, New York City College of Technology, The City University of New York and President of the Italian American Studies Association

"Italoamericana is a supreme work of scholarship-an archive unto itself in the form of a meticulously researched and scrupulously glossed and documented historical anthology of the literary creation of the Italian migration."-Pellegrino D'Acierno, Hofstra University

"A sophisticated, critical look at the writings of Italian immigrants to America across all genres. . . This volume is a major work and forms an invaluable testament to a forgotten era of Italian literary history in the new world. . . A massive work of extraordinary power, that while scholarly and comprehensive, will have wide appeal."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

" . . . [A] kaleidoscopic, thousand-page anthology of memoirs, poetry, political commentary and newspaper excerpts . . ."—Sam Roberts, The New York Times

"This volume is a comprehensive compilation of writings by Italian American authors. First published in Italy, edited by journalist and literary scholar Durante, the anthology covers the mass migration of Italians to the United States up to World War II. . . VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone interested in immigrant literature and an essential purchase for any collection of Italian American literature and culture."—Morris Hounion, New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn, Library Journal

"This massive anthology rings out with the voices of legions of Italians and Italian Americans over six decades. From it flows their poetry, drama, stories, memories, novels, speeches, oral histories and more."—Doce Italiana

"In its girth, the volume is a metaphorical feast, suggesting both the collective heft of the rediscovered output and the unique works still waiting to be discovered. . . highly recommended." -Choice

"It is not an exaggeration to characterize this work as monumental, not only for the large number of original sources it includes in its nearly one thousand pages but also for its variety and organization." -Italian American Review

"Italoamericana spotlights, through a broad variety of literary work, the distinct culture and history of Italian Americans, while showing the universality of the immigrant story. It should find a place in every Italian American household, as a touchstone to a reality few of us know anything about."-Feile-Festa

From the Publisher

This massive anthology rings out with the voices of legions of Italians and Italian Americans over six decades. From it flows their poetry, drama, stories, memories, novels, speeches, oral histories and more.

Voce Italiana

Italoamericana is a supreme work of scholarship—an archive unto itself in the form of a meticulously researched and scrupulously glossed and documented historical anthology of the literary creation of the Italian migration. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Fordham UniversityPress for having the vision and gumption to have undertaken the monumental task of preparing the American edition and for making available to the English readership Francesco Durante’s inclusive retrieval of the lost and marginalized literature of the Great Immigration. That retrieval constituted a powerful act of cultural and historical memory by which the texts of the diaspora (of the “colony” as comprising all of the Little Italies) were “repatriated” and re-inscribed within the literary history of the Italian nation. The American edition enacts a homecoming for these texts of and in exile that returns them to their rightful place in the Italian American narrative.

Hofstra University Pelligrino D'Acierno

It is not an exaggeration to characterize this work as monumental, not only for the large number of original sources it includes in its nearly one thousand pages but also for its variety and organization.

Italian American Review

. . . [A] kaleidoscopic, thousand-page anthology of memoirs, poetry, political commentary and newspaper excerpts . . .

The New York Times Sam Roberts

Italoamericana spotlights, through a broad variety of literary work, the distinct culture and history of Italian Americans, while showing the universality of the immigrant story. It should find a place in every Italian American household, as a touchstone to a reality few of us know anything about.

Feile-Festa

In its girth, the volume is a metaphorical feast, suggesting both the collective heft of the rediscovered output and the unique works still waiting to be discovered. . . highly recommended.

Choice

Italoamericana is a supreme work of scholarship—an archive unto itself in the form of a meticulously researched and scrupulously glossed and documented historical anthology of the literary creation of the Italian migration.

Hofstra University - Pellegrino D'Acierno