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The gangster, in the hands of the Italian American artist, becomes a telling figure in the tale of American race, gender, and ethnicity - a figure that reflects the autobiography of an immigrant group just as it reflects the fantasy of a native population. From Wiseguys to Wise Men studies the figure of the gangster and explores its social function in the construction and projection of masculinity in the United States. By looking at the cultural icon of the gangster through the lens of gender, this book presents new insights into material that has been part of American culture for close to 100 years.
While this figure has been a part of American literature since even before Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it has only been with the revolution in cinema, and the work of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese that the figure of the gangster has been humanized and disseminated on a large scale. Gardaphe investigates the role of the gangster in their films, as well as the literature of such great Italian American writers as Mario Puzo and Gay Talese. By looking at the cultural icon of the gangster through the lens of gender and masculinity From Wiseguys to Wise Men presents new insights into material that has been part of American culture for close to 100 years.
In the first major critical reading of Italian American narrative literature in two decades, Fred L. Gardaphé presents an interpretive overview of Italian American literary history. Examining works from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, he develops a new perspective--variously historical, philosophical, and cultural--by which American writers of Italian descent can be read, increasing the discursive power of an ethnic literature that has received too little serious critical attention. Gardaphé draws on Vico's concept of history, as well as the work of Gramsci, to establish a culture-specific approach to reading Italian American literature. He begins his historical reading w...
Leaving Little Italy explores the various forces that have shaped and continue to mold Italian American culture. Early chapters offer a historical survey of major developments in Italian American culture, from the early mass immigration period to the present day, situating these developments within the larger framework of American culture as a whole. Subsequent chapters examine particular works of Italian American literature and film from a variety of perspectives, including literary history, gender, social class, autobiography, and race. Paying particular attention to how the individual artist's personality has intersected with community in the shaping of Italian American culture, the book reveals how and why Italian America was invented and why Little Italys must ultimately disappear.
Penfield Books showcases Italian Touches: Recipes and Traditions by Fred L. Gardaphe. Italian Touches incorporates Italian contributors: Mary Beth (Menna) Specht, Joeann (La Sorella) Tesar, David Wright, Don Fiore, Joseph Sciorra, PhD, and Jerome Krase, PhD, to explore Italian ways and traditions. Between 1870 and 1924, twelve million Italians left their native land. Nearly half of them came to America, seeking a new life that would be better than the grinding poverty of southern Italy. Now almost sixteen million Americans claim Italian descent with the third, fourth, and fifth generations of Italian Americans retaining many of the values and the charm of their grandparents and great-grandpa...
The lives of millions of fellow Americans.
The third collection of Fred Gardaphé's "Fra Noi" reviews of Italian American authors and literature.
This book examines what literature and film reveal about the urban USA. Subjects include culture, class, race, crime, and disaster.
A colorful ethnography of an Italian ladies' club, this book explores the historical and linguistic importance of the women's language and behavior.
This book is the first part of Gianna Patriarca's trilogy on Italian women. Winner of the Milton Acorn award, the collection remains popular today almost 20 years after it was first published.