A Circular Journey

Title Page, Copyright Page

a circular journey by the same author Rome Burning, poetry Umbertina, a novel The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian American Women Love in the Middle Ages, a novel More Italian Hours, short fiction Festa: Recipes & Recollections of Italian Holidays Aldus and His Dream Book Chiaroscuro: Essays of Identity a circular journey Helen Barolini Fordham University Press new york 2006 Copyright 䉷 2006 Fordham University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barolini, Helen, 1925– A circular journey / by Helen Barolini. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-8232-2615-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8232-2615-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Barolini, Helen, 1925– 2. Authors, American—20th century— Biography. 3. Italian American women—Intellectual life. 4. American literature—Italian influences. 5. Italian Americans in literature. I. Title. PS3552.A725Z46 2006 818⬘.5409—dc22 2006007964 These essays originally appeared in the following publications: ‘‘A Classical Excursion’’ and ‘‘Sicily, Light and Dark,’’ Kenyon Review; ‘‘The Spinsters of Taos,’’ Prairie Schooner; ‘‘Neruda vs. Sartre,’’ Paris Review; ‘‘A Circular Journey,’’ Texas Quarterly; ‘‘Souvenirs of Venice,’’ ‘‘My Mother’s Wedding Day,’’ ‘‘Shutting the Door on Someone,’’ and ‘‘Montale and Mosca in a Train,’’ Southwest Review; ‘‘Paris in the Boondocks,’’ Antioch Review; ‘‘Zio Filippo at Summer Camp,’’ New Letters; ‘‘A Fish Tale,’’ Missouri Review. Printed in the United States of America 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1 First edition. For Frank Gado, amico a tutta prova . . . every end is a beginning. . . . life . . . is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end. —Ralph Waldo Emerson ...