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

Published by Fordham University Press 2014

Italoamericana

The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880-1943

Edited by: Francesco Durante , Robert Viscusi and Anthony Julian Tamburri
In collaboration with: James J. Periconi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823260645

Overview
Contents

About this book

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 introduces 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.

The original volume in Italian:

Italoamericana Vol II: Storia e Letteratura degli Italiani negli Stati Uniti 1880-1943

Author / Editor information

Durante Francesco :

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).Viscusi Robert :

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.”Tamburri Anthony Julian :

Anthony Julian Tamburri is Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College, CUNY. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He is codirector of Bordighera Press and past president of the American Italian Historical Association and of the American Association of Teachers of Italian. His books include Narrare altrove: diverse segnalature letterarie (2007); Una semiotica dell’etnicità: nuove segnalature per la letteratura italiano / americana (2010); Re- viewing Italian Americana: Generalities and Specificities on Cinema (2011); and Re- reading Italian Americana: Specificities and Generalities on Literature and Criticism (2014). He is a cofounder of the Italian American Digital Project. Since 2007, he has been the executive producer of the TV program Italics.Periconi James J. :

James J. Periconi, a Manhattan attorney, exhibited his collection of more than one hundred Italian-language American imprints of authors whose works are excerpted in Italoamericana at New York’s Grolier Club in 2012 and extensively catalogued these works in Strangers in a Strange Land.

Reviews

—Pellegrino D'Acierno:
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.

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

“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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 University Press 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.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction to the American Edition Robert Viscusi Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Part I. Chronicle of the Great Exodus
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
To the Readers Carlo Barsotti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Shine? . . . Shine? Ferdinando Fontana Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
For Humanity Luigi Roversi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
The Biography of a Bootblack Rocco Corresca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Little Italy Gaetano Conte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
How It Feels to Represent a Problem Gino Carlo Speranza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
The Children of Emigrants Alberto Pecorini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Neither Foreigners nor Americans Alberto Tarchiani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Public Service Is My Motto Al Capone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Part II. Colonial Chronicles
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Peppino Luigi Donato Ventura Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
The Destruction of San Francisco, April 18, 1906 Fanny Vanzi-Mussini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
The Five Points Adolfo Rossi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
To Giuseppe Giacosa Giuseppe Antonio Cadicamo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Two Stories Edoardo Michelangeli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
A Story, Sketches, and a Play Bernardino Ciambelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
An Emigrant’s Diary Camillo Cianfarra Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
Two Poems Thomas Fragale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Two Poems Antonio Calitri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
Three Poems Angelo Rosati Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
The Poor Woman Calicchiu Pucciu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
The Little Madonna of the Italians Paolo Pallavicini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Bohemian and Detective Italo Stanco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	284
Brunori’s Fortune Ernesto Valentini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	294
Hold Up! Eugenio Camillo Branchi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
The Two Girlfriends Dora Colonna Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
The Flapper Caterina Maria Avella Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
Seven Poems Severina Magni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
The Hula Hula Flag Antonio Marinoni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	346
The Verdict Corrado Altavilla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
Part III. On Stage (and Off )
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	369
The Interrogation of Pulcinella Francesco Ricciardi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	395
Four Poems and a Dramatic Play Riccardo Cordiferro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	405
Five Poems Eduardo Migliaccio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	445
Three Poems Tony Ferrazzano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Nofrio on the Telephone Giovanni De Rosalia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
Child Abductors, or, The Black Hand Armando Cennerazzo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	488
Two Poems Gino Calza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	499
The Americanized Calabrian Michele Pane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	502
Dante’s Colony Achille Almerini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	512
The Pichinicco Pasquale Seneca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	516
Spaghetti House Vincenzo Campora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	522
Two Poems Alfredo Borgianini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	524
Six Poems Rodolfo Valentino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	527
Domestic Court Silvio Picchianti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	531
Leaves in the Whirlwind Ario Flamma Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	536
Part IV. Anarchists, Socialists, Fascists, and Antifascists
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	551
The First of May Giuseppe Ciancabilla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	605
Two Poems Simplicio Righi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	610
Methods of the Socialist Struggle Luigi Galleani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	613
An Editorial and a Dramatic Play Umberto Postiglione Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	626
A Letter and a Story Ludovico M. Caminita Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	643
Six Poems Giuseppe Bertelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	658
Brief Discourses Alberico Molinari Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	665
Four Poems Arturo Giovannitti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	675
Four Poems Efrem Bartoletti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	689
The Fire Vincenzo Vacirca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	697
In Union Square Park Onorio Ruotolo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	708
Fascism in America Agostino De Biasi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	715
The Lighthouse Rosario Ingargiola Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	723
To Mussolini, the Immortal Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	726
Two Poems Rosario Di Vita Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	728
Two Poems Umberto Liberatore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	731
The Failed Ambush Armando Borghi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	736
Remembering Michele Schirru Virgilia D’Andrea Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	748
What to Do? Raffaele Schiavina Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	758
Two Articles Carlo Tresca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	764
Once Again Tresca Ezio Taddei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	779
Part V. Integrated Apocalyptics
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	791
A Story and a Poem Lisi Cecilia Cipriani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	801
A Schoolmaster of the Great City Angelo Patri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	811
Viola Silvio Villa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	820
In an Immigrant Community Constantine Maria Panunzio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	853
The Day of Summer Emanuel Carnevali Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	867
Son of Italy Pascal D’Angelo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	877
Incipit Vita Nova Francesco Ventresca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	896
The Torture of the Soul Louis Forgione Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	909
Miracle Giuseppe Cautela Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	914
A Picture of 1907 Edward Corsi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	927
Bibliography James J. Periconi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	939
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	987

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Pages
- Main content: 1032

eBook

Published: April 15, 2014
ISBN: 9780823260645