Contemporary Italian Diversity in Critical and Fictional Narratives

Italy's unique geography as a peninsula makes it accessible to migrants, especially those coming from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. This volume, divided into two parts, explores migration. Part 1 covers “Diversity in Italy,” while Part 2 showcases “Diversity within Diversity,” or differences among immigrants, as in the “The Two of Me” by Gabriella Kuruvilla, where we meet a Black-looking girl living with an Indian-looking couple whom she refuses to accept as parents. In both parts of the book, we are provided a variety of accounts, ranging from critical essays, translations of poetry and of prose (Italian to English), as well as song. A unique and interesting chapter studies the texts of Hip Hop. In this latter chapter, we move from alienation or “alien-nation,” to the idea of the Afro-Italian nation-Hood.Migration to Italy continues to transform the country. Newcomers bring their accustomed ways of eating, dressing, worshipping, and working that contribute to new, transcultural thinking and behavior. Such processes serve as agents of change. What has been familiar to Italians is now somewhat different, whereas a poignant sense of not-belonging affects the immigrants. From Vera Lucia de Oliveira's poem “Ero fra calda gente in un caldo paese,” translated by Ashna Ali, we read: “[T]he eyes that keep vigil from the windows, polished by the winds and rains, are not mine. I was not born here, but the walls sniff me upon each encounter.”In Lucia Re's chapter, “Migration, the Novel, and the Power of Fear: A Dialogical Perspective from Bakhtin to Lakhous,” she deftly isolates Bakhtin's principle of the dialogic and mines this literary concept in her analysis of Lakhous's work. It is through the conversations, thoughts, and confessions of the characters, peppered with their humoristic viewpoints, which are woven into conversations so naturally, that the characters become less fearsome. When people are less fearsome, we begin to understand them more, and are more comfortable among them. Thus her conclusion, that the strategic application by Lakhous of Bakhtin's theories becomes a device to showcase an encounter of cultures and debunk fears generated by media, politicians, and social discourse.Lakhous receives lots of attention in Part 1. From his well-known novel Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore in Piazza Vittorio, we have in translation two selections that help us examine the question of identity. This chapter is followed by Ryan Calabretta-Sajder's “Gendering the ‘Giallo,’” which takes into consideration the entire opus of Lakhous. Calabretta-Sajder's strong analysis underscores the “truth about nationalism and the desires of migrants to integrate . . . ” (90). He further demonstrates Lakhous's use of performative gender theories as well as the author's deep knowledge of Italian culture.“Reading Albania in Italy” by Daniele Comberiati takes us to the need for an examination of the process of legitimization of novels by foreign-born authors. Two authors are considered: Elivira Dones and Ron Kubati. Comberiati advocates the study of the sociology of reception of literary works. He contends that specific cultural, political, and literary resistances obstruct foreign writers.Adrian Bravi's “When Jacopo da Fiore Watched the Monkeys in the Treetops,” translated by Kevin Regan Maglione, is a short story about a monk exiled by his community. Isolated in a jungle, his religious as well as his cultural formation bring him to conflict and misunderstanding in his encounters with a family of natives. Happily, they are a peaceful lot, and the monk's practices are seen as incongruities that engender much laughter.Part 2 offers the reader many examples of the complications that go with the issue of identity; how it is assigned and how inclusion is expressed. Caterina Romeo's discussion of Blackness and Italianness by authors Kym Ragusa and Igiaba Scego notes that both believe their Blackness and Italianness are coded socially as undesirable. For both authors, the “hypervisibility of their Blackness” leads them to seek some type of invisibility, while at the same time demanding a voice in shaping Italian and European identities.“Reconfiguring ‘la donna del Sud’: Trans-Mediterranean Narratives” by Marta Cariello points to patriarchal tradition and the limitations that it imposes on women, even as the women embody a “terrifying” power that must be controlled. Excerpts of Somali writer Igiaba Scebo's work appear in this article; Scebo is a writer who intentionally further complicates this plot to show where the power truly lies.Written directly in English, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel's “The Guest,” speaks of family animosities and a visit seen as a peace offering, but whose aftermath leaves many questions and a sense of despair: the guest has impregnated his cousin. The condition of their daughter would bring dishonor and shame to the family so the mother intervenes to save her daughter from disgrace by concocting potions to induce miscarriage. The guest has conveniently but mysteriously disappeared.Simone Brioni's chapter, “Questions of Authoriality and Literary Meticciato in Scrivere di Islam: Raccontare la diaspora,” urges inclusion for immigrant artists and intellectuals in Italy. To that end, he urges collaborative texts between immigrant writers and Italians, practices that will decolonize Italian Studies, the development of new theoretical standpoints, all leading to better ethical and cultural awareness.While Brioni takes a stand for inclusiveness, Lidia Curti's chapter “Beyond the Canon: Women's Italian Writing of Migration,” points to female migrant writers who have been doubly excluded from the canon as women and as non-national writers. In “Kinships: Relations of Care and Experiences of Locality in Transnational Italian Narrative,” Jennifer Burns looks through the lens of feminist theory at the idea of family. Family as a core unit is changing as new forms of relations among individuals are emerging.The book, as a whole, offers much for reflection and discussion. It seeks to consider diversity within the Italian nation as well as within the units of family, personal relationships, and the professional publishing world. The main message and quest related by many voices, in many styles, is to pursue and develop ways for artists, writers and intellectuals to become part of the canon by finding acceptance and recognition.