Italoamericana

"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." -Publishers Weekly Starred Review "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." -Morris Hounion, New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn, Library Journal "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." -Italian American Review " ... [A] kaleidoscopic, thousand-page anthology of memoirs, poetry, political commentary and newspaper excerpts ..." -Sam Roberts, The New York Times "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." -- -Pellegrino D'Acierno Hofstra University "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." -Choice "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." -Pelligrino D'Acierno, Hofstra University "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." -Voce Italiana "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." -Feile-Festa