Buried Caesars, and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing

Contents

Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xix Introduction: Secrets of Italian American Writing 1 1. English as a Dialect of Italian 25 2. De vulgari eloquentia: Ordinary Eloquence in Italian America 39 3. Il caso della casa: Stories of Houses in Italian America 59 4. Immigrant Ambitions and American Literature 69 5. The Text in the Dust: Writing Italy across America 81 6. The Semiology of Semen: Questioning the Father 95 7. Circles of the Cyclopes: Concentric History 111 8. A Literature Considering Itself: The Allegory of Italian America 139 9. The Italian American Sign 161 10. The Imperial Sopranos 189 Notes 219 Index 249 vii ...