Buried Caesars, and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing (Suny Series in Italian/American Studies)
Robert 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."Avoiding the jargon that often accompanies treatments of language, form, and meaning, Viscusi admits personal experience as well as analytic skill into the toolbox he uses to explore particular texts and social issues. The result is a book that is not only an important look at the role of language in creating and sustaining both the tie to Italy and American self-construction, but also an astute meditation on how cultures can be connected through language." — Josephine G. Hendin, author ofHeartbreakers: Women and Violence in Contemporary Culture and Literature"Viscusi’s ability to interpret Italian American literature through the lens of classical rhetoric, Greek myth, Dantean vernacular eloquence, and Freudian psychology increases our appreciation of the links between European and American literary cultures." — Mary Jo Bona, author ofClaiming a Tradition: Italian American Women Writers--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.