Buried Caesars, and other secrets of Italian American writing / Robert Viscusi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Viscusi, Robert.

Series:

SUNY series in Italian/American culture.

SUNY series in Italian/American culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Italian American authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--Italian influences.

Italian Americans--Intellectual life.

Italian Americans.

Italian Americans in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Winner of the 2006 Pietro Di Donato and John Fante Literary Award from The Grand Lodge of the Sons of Italy, New York StateRobert Viscusi takes a comprehensive look at Italian American writing by exploring the connections between language and culture in Italian American experience and major literary texts. Italian immigrants, Viscusi argues, considered even their English to be a dialect of Italian, and therefore attempted to create an American English fully reflective of their historical, social, and cultural positions. This approach allows us to see Italian American purposes as profoundly situated in relation not only to American language and culture but also to Italian nationalist narratives in literary history as well as linguistic practice. Viscusi also situates Italian American writing within the "eccentric design" of American literature, and uses a multidisciplinary approach to read not only novels and poems, but also houses, maps, processions, videos, and other artifacts as texts.

Contents:

Intro

Buried Caesars,and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Secrets of Italian American Writing

1. English as a Dialect of Italian

2. De vulgari eloquentia: Ordinary Eloquence in Italian America

3. Il caso della casa: Stories of Houses in Italian America

4. Immigrant Ambitionsand American Literature

5. The Text in the Dust Writing Italy across America

6. The Semiology of Semen: Questioning the Father

7. Circles of the Cyclopes: Concentric History

8. A Literature Considering Itself: The Allegory of Italian America

9. The Italian American Sign

10.The Imperial Sopranos

Notes

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780791482421

0791482421

9781423766247

1423766245

OCLC:

461443066