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

Description

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 Cover Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction to the American Edition PART I. Chronicle of the Great Exodus Introduction To the Readers Shine? . . . Shine? For Humanity The Biography of a Bootblack Little Italy How It Feels to Represent a Problem The Children of Emigrants Neither Foreigners nor Americans Public Service Is My Motto PART II. Colonial Chronicles Introduction Peppino The Destruction of San Francisco, April 18, 1906 The Five Points To Giuseppe Giacosa Two Stories A Story, Sketches, and a Play An Emigrant’s Diary Two Poems Two Poems Three Poems The Poor Woman The Little Madonna of the Italians Bohemian and Detective Brunori’s Fortune Hold Up! The Two Girlfriends The Flapper Seven Poems The Hula Hula Flag The Verdict PART III. On Stage (and Off) Introduction The Interrogation of Pulcinella Four Poems and a Dramatic Play Five Poems Three Poems Nofrio on the Telephone Child Abductors, or, The Black Hand Two Poems The Americanized Calabrian Dante’s Colony The Pichinicco Spaghetti House Two Poems Six Poems Domestic Court Leaves in the Whirlwind PART IV. Anarchists, Socialists, Fascists, and Antifascists Introduction The First of May Two Poems Methods of the Socialist Struggle An Editorial and a Dramatic Play A Letter and a Story Six Poems Brief Discourses Four Poems Four Poems The Fire In Union Square Park Fascism in America The Lighthouse To Mussolini, the Immortal Two Poems Two Poems The Failed Ambush Remembering Michele Schirru What to Do? Two Articles Once Again Tresca PART V. Integrated Apocalyptics Introduction A Story and a Poem A Schoolmaster of the Great City Viola In an Immigrant Community The Day of Summer Son of Italy Incipit Vita Nova The Torture of the Soul Miracle A Picture of 1907 Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z