| Description |
xiii, 260 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Contents |
Introduction: Many missing stones -- What does it mean to be italian?: Quando sono Italiana: when I am Italian -- Waterbury, Connecticut, My Ancestral Village: Up the farm ; What crawls around inside ; Housing memory ; Blue ; What we remember ; Go fish -- Food, Food, Food and Work: Creature life ; My mother's letter to her sister ; Hard work and good food ; Sunday on the farm ; My only Irish aunt ; Minestra means soup -- Move to America: Chiesta ca or this one here ; After Eden ; My first New York story, 1965 ; 200 square feet in the village, or my soluble fortunes ; My friend Elizabeth ; On not writing my thesis -- Italia, Sempre Italia: Part one: Southern italy ; The stones of dialect ; Siamo arrivati ; " That winter evening" ; My Neapolitan wedding ; Part two: The opposite of southern italy ; After the manner of women -- The Grief Estate: Visiting our dead ; My father's bones ; Voglio bene ; Somewhere my Bill. |
| Summary |
"My American ancestral Italian village was in Waterbury, Connecticut." In this sentence, Joanna Clapps Herman raises the central question of this book: To what extent can a person born outside of Italy be considered Italian? The granddaughter of Italian immigrants who arrived in the United States in the early 1900s, Herman takes a complicated and nuanced look at the question of to whom and to which culture she ultimately belongs. Sometimes the Italian part of her identity--her Italianità--feels so aboriginal as to be inchoate, unexpressible. Sometimes it finds its expression in the rhythms of daily life. Sometimes it is embraced and enhanced; at others, it feels attenuated. "If, like me," Herman writes, "you are from one of Italy's overseas colonies, at least some of this Italianità will be in your skin, bones, and heart: other pieces have to be understood, considered, called to ourselves through study, travel, reading. How do we know which pieces are which?"--Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Herman, Joanna Clapps.
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Herman, Joanna Clapps -- Family.
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Herman, Joanna Clapps -- Travel -- Italy.
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Italian Americans -- Biography.
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Italian American women -- Biography.
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Italian Americans -- Ethnic identity.
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Italian Americans -- Connecticut -- Waterbury -- Social life and customs.
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Waterbury (Conn.) -- Biography.
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Herman, Joanna Clapps. (OCoLC)fst01933502
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Families. (OCoLC)fst01728849
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Italian American women. (OCoLC)fst00980414
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Italian Americans. (OCoLC)fst00980419
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Italian Americans -- Ethnic identity.
(OCoLC)fst00980427
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Italian Americans -- Social life and customs.
(OCoLC)fst00980444
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Travel. (OCoLC)fst01155558
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Connecticut -- Waterbury.
(OCoLC)fst01206504
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Italy. (OCoLC)fst01204565
|
| Genre/Form |
Biographies. (OCoLC)fst01919896
|
| ISBN |
9781438477183 paperback alkaline paper |
|
143847718X paperback alkaline paper |
|
9781438477190 electronic book |
|
1438477198 electronic book |
| Standard No. |
40029555734 |
|
