DOCSLIB.ORG

Copyright and Use of This Thesis This Thesis Must Be Used in Accordance with the Provisions of the Copyright Act 1968

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Copyright and Use of This Thesis This Thesis Must Be Used in Accordance with the Provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright 1 Identity on the Threshold: The Myth of Persephone in Italian American Women’s Memoirs Valentina Seffer A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 2015 2 Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... 6 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 12 The myth of Persephone .......................................................................................... 25 Re-visioning Persephone in Italian American women’s works .............................. 33 Structure of the thesis .............................................................................................. 44 Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................... 49 ‘No more masks! No more mythologies!’ .................................................................. 49 Persephone and Italian American Women Writers’ Memoirs .................................... 49 1. Memoir and nonfiction ........................................................................................ 52 2. Autobiography and memoir: a tug-of-war .......................................................... 55 3. The memoir: negotiating voice, form, and memory ............................................ 59 4. The literary marginality of Italian American women authors ............................. 66 5. The vessel of memory through orality and storytelling ...................................... 69 6. Abduction and departure ..................................................................................... 71 7. A journey in the dark realm of memory .............................................................. 75 8. Persephone returns: the power of writing ........................................................... 80 9. Travel and myth .................................................................................................. 83 10. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 91 Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................... 93 3 Routes and Roots of Empowerment in No Pictures In my Grave: A Spiritual Journey In Sicily by Susan Caperna Lloyd ............................................................................... 93 1. Writing travel and memories ........................................................................... 97 2. From Return to the Mother to No Pictures In my Grave: a title inversion ....... 102 3. A quest for identity through a quest for Carolina: the journey begins .............. 108 4. A physical and mythical journey of self-discovery ........................................... 112 5. Recovering memory through old myths and rituals .......................................... 121 6. Processional movements and patterns of inversion ........................................... 125 7. Procession and memory: the politics of circular narratives .............................. 129 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 134 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................... 139 Crossing the Threshold of the Skin through Persephone: Cultural Conflict in The Skin between Us by Kym Ragusa ..................................................................................... 139 1. The Skin between Us and the unstable border of skin ........................................... 143 2. Contesting: ‘The mythology Of East Harlem’ and practices of upward mobility ............................................................................................................................... 147 3. Disordering: the strategy of passing and the ideology of race .......................... 150 4. Connecting: building a transcultural bridge between Africa, America, and Europe ................................................................................................................... 159 5. Re-telling: re-inventing Persephone in Hades’ kingdom .................................. 167 6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 180 4 Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................... 184 The Ongoing Mythical Present in The Anarchist Bastard by Joanna Clapps Herman ................................................................................................................................... 184 1. The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America .................................. 186 2. Waterbury: an Italian American upbringing ..................................................... 190 3. Nostos: forms of homecoming .......................................................................... 195 4. Xenia: rules of hospitality ................................................................................. 201 5. Nekyia: the world of the dead and the ‘knowledge from beyond’ ..................... 206 6. Ascending and descending: Persephone’s abduction ........................................ 210 7. Persephone Περίφρωυ: the voice of wisdom .................................................... 216 8. An Italian American upbringing through the language of Dante and Persephone ............................................................................................................................... 221 10. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 228 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 232 The Final Departure .............................................................................................. 241 Classica Italian Americana .................................................................................... 244 Appendix ................................................................................................................... 247 Interview with Susan Caperna Lloyd .................................................................... 247 Interview with Kym Ragusa ..................................................................................... 270 Interview with Joanna Clapps Herman ................................................................. 277 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 308 5 Primary Sources .................................................................................................... 308 Secondary Sources ................................................................................................ 309 Online Resources ................................................................................................... 338 6 Acknowledgments It is an immense pleasure for me to acknowledge the Institutions and the people that have made possible the completion of this dissertation. Firstly, thanks to Sydney University. The writing of this thesis was supported by The University of Sydney International Scholarship. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Giorgia Alù, for her guidance throughout these four years. Thank you for believing in this project since day one. Words cannot express enough how much I appreciate her knowledge, support, advice, sense of humour, and her unique way of making me feel at ease. Thank you for taking us to the end of this journey. Thank you to my associate supervisors, Associate Professor Natalya Lusty and Professor Edvige Giunta; I could not have asked for anyone better. Thank you for reading horrible drafts of my work without judging me, but rather encouraging me to improve. To Professor Giunta, thank you also
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Alumni Revue! This Issue Was Created Since It Was Decided to Publish a New Edition Every Other Year Beginning with SP 2017
    AAlluummnnii RReevvuuee Ph.D. Program in Theatre The Graduate Center City University of New York Volume XIII (Updated) SP 2016 Welcome to the updated version of the thirteenth edition of our Alumni Revue! This issue was created since it was decided to publish a new edition every other year beginning with SP 2017. It once again expands our numbers and updates existing entries. Thanks to all of you who returned the forms that provided us with this information; please continue to urge your fellow alums to do the same so that the following editions will be even larger and more complete. For copies of the form, Alumni Information Questionnaire, please contact the editor of this revue, Lynette Gibson, Assistant Program Officer/Academic Program Coordinator, Ph.D. Program in Theatre, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309. You may also email her at [email protected]. Thank you again for staying in touch with us. We’re always delighted to hear from you! Jean Graham-Jones Executive Officer Hello Everyone: his is the updated version of the thirteenth edition of Alumni Revue. As always, I would like to thank our alumni for taking the time to send me T their updated information. I am, as always, very grateful to the Administrative Assistants, who are responsible for ensuring the entries are correctly edited. The Cover Page was done once again by James Armstrong, maybe he should be named honorary “cover-in-chief”. The photograph shows the exterior of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, England and was taken in August 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Novels of Return
    Novels of Return: Ethnic Space in Contemporary Greek-American and Italian-American Literature by Theodora D. Patrona A dissertation submitted to the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece February 2011 i στην οικογένειά μου, Ελισάβετ, Δημήτρη και Λεωνίδα που ενθάρρυνε και υποστήριξε αυτό το «ταξίδι» με όλους τους πιθανούς τρόπους… και στον Μάνο μου, που ήταν πάντα εκεί ξεπερνώντας τις δυσκολίες… ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the inspiration, support and kind help of numerous people. Firstly, my advisor, mentor, and, I dare say, friend, Professor Yiorgos Kalogeras who has always been my most enthusiastic supporter, guiding me with his depths of knowledge in ethnic literature, unfailingly encouraging me to keep going, and consoling me whenever I was disappointed. He has opened his home, his family and circle of scholarly friends, which I appreciate immensely. I would also like to warmly thank the other two members of my committee, Drs. Yiouli Theodosiadou and Nikolaos Kontos for their patience, feedback, thoroughness, and encouraging comments on my work. Moreover, I am indebted to Professor Fred Gardaphé who has welcomed me in the Italian-American literature and scholarship, pointing out new creative paths and outlets. All these years of research, I have been constantly assisted, advised and reassured by my Italian mentor and true friend, Professor Stefano Luconi without whom this dissertation would lack its Italian-American part, and would have probably been left incomplete every time I lost hope.
    [Show full text]
  • Raquel Z. Rivera Puerto Rican Artist & Scholar
    Fall–Winter 2013 Volume 39: 3–4 The Journal of New York Folklore Raquel Z. Rivera Puerto Rican Artist & Scholar Remembering Pete Seeger Irish Lace in Western NY Fair Fotos A Portrait of Karyl Denison Eaglefeathers (1952–2012) From the Director From the Editor On September 17, Henry’s nomination was supported by several What a blow to hear of 2014, Henry Arquette folklorists and folklore organizations, and it Peter Seeger’s death on received the highest was promoted by members of his Mohawk January 27, 2014 at the award that this na- community, in recognition of his importance age of 94. tion offers to folk and not only as a traditional artist but also for his I thought the man traditional artists. A prominence in teaching others to carry on would live forever. maker of utilitarian the tradition. One can’t say with certainty What a champion of so baskets held in high what the effect of this award will have for the many causes over the regard by his Haude- future. The youngest members in attendance, decades of his life, and nosaunee Mohawk community, Henry Ar- great grandchildren of Henry Arquette, made a master of weaving music into this activism. quette was one of nine award honorees for the nine-hour journey from Akwesasne to I’m so glad to have joined recent 2014, and the only artist from New York State Washington, DC, to witness the ceremony. celebrations of his life’s work. At last year’s to receive the National Endowment for the Their wide-eyed look at the ceremony and benefit concert at Proctors Theater in Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award for its trappings of splendor will without doubt Schenectady, I enthusiastically sang along 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wolfe Institute
    The Wolfe Institute The Ethyle R.Wolfe Institute for the Humanities, in cooperation with the Center for Italian American Studies, presents L is for Lion An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir Annie Rachele Lanzillotto is the author of L is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir (SUNY Press 2013), and the book of poetry Schistsong (Bordighera Press 2013). She is the songwriter and vocalist of the albums Blue Pill (Annie Lanzillotto Band / StreetCry Productions), a rock and blues collaboration with Adeel Salman, Eleven Recitations, (StreetCry), and Carry My Coffee, (StreetCry), a duet with cellist Lori Goldston. Lanzillotto was born and raised in the Westchester Square neighborhood of the Bronx, and in Yonkers, New York, of Barese heritage. She received a B.A. with honors in medical anthropology from Brown University and an MFA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poem “Triple Bypass” won the Italian American Writers Association Paolucci Award in Poetry, and was published in the 2002 anthology, The Milk of Almonds: Italian-American Women Writers on Food and Culture, edited by Edvige Giunta and Louise DeSalvo. Her poems “Manhattan Schist” and “My Grandmother’s Hands” both won Rose and John Petracca Awards second place from Philadelphia Poets. Lanzillotto made her acting debut in 1993 with her solo show, Confessions of a Bronx Tomboy: My Throwing Arm, This Useless Expertise at Under One Roof Theater and Manhattan Class Company in New York City. Lanzillotto has received fellowships and performance commissions from New York Foundation For The Arts, Dancing In The Streets, Dixon Place, Franklin Furnace, and The Rockefeller Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition
    A DICTIONARY OF Literary and Thematic Terms Second Edition EDWARD QUINN A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Edward Quinn All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Quinn, Edward, 1932– A dictionary of literary and thematic terms / Edward Quinn—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-8160-6243-9 (hc : alk. paper) 1. Criticism—Terminology. 2. Literature— Terminology. 3. Literature, Comparative—Themes, motives, etc.—Terminology. 4. English language—Terms and phrases. 5. Literary form—Terminology. I. Title. PN44.5.Q56 2006 803—dc22 2005029826 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can fi nd Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfi le.com Text design by Sandra Watanabe Cover design by Cathy Rincon Printed in the United States of America MP FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Preface v Literary and Thematic Terms 1 Index 453 Preface This book offers the student or general reader a guide through the thicket of liter- ary terms.
    [Show full text]
  • Preface Introduction
    Notes Preface 1. Luisa Pretolani's video, Things I Take, which deals with Indian women im­ migrants, speaks to the experience of emigration in ways that transcend the specific experience of a single ethnic group. The issues the women who appear in this video address relate to the significance of and repercussions on one's sense of self of the separation from one's homeland. 2. See Gilbert and Gubar's feminist classic The Madwoman in the Attic (1979), in which they ofTer adefinition of anxiety of authorship, which they jux­ tapose to the more masculine "anxiety of influence" (50), the title subject of Harold Bloom's study. 3. I began to study Italian American literature and minority literatures not in graduate school, but in the years following my graduation, in the early 1990s. 4. My first actual encounter with Italian American literature actually oc­ curred in 1983, at a conference on Italian American Studies of the AISNA (ItalianAssociation ofNorthAmerican Studies).The conference was orga­ nized by my then professor of American Literature at the University of Catania, Maria Vittoria D'Amico. I was one of a handful of undergraduate students involved in the organization of the conference. There, I met sev­ eral American professors, includingJohn Paul Russo, who would later ofTer me a teaching assistantship at the University of Miami. 5. Giunta, "The Quest forTrue Love: Nancy Savoca's Domestic Film Comedy." 6. In 1987, DeSalvo had also published-in England-Casting Off, an outra­ geous novel about Italian American women and adultery. 7. Oddly enough, much like other women and minority writers who, once they started looking, found literary sisters and ancestors, I, too, would later discover two other writers in my family, Giuseppe Minasola and Laura Emanuelita Minasola.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Cassette Books, CMLS,P.O
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 319 210 EC 230 900 TITLE Cassette ,looks. INSTITUTION Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. PUB DATE 8E) NOTE 422p. AVAILABLE FROMCassette Books, CMLS,P.O. Box 9150, M(tabourne, FL 32902-9150. PUB TYPE Reference Materials Directories/Catalogs (132) --- Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC17 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adults; *Audiotape Recordings; *Blindness; Books; *Physical Disabilities; Secondary Education; *Talking Books ABSTRACT This catalog lists cassette books produced by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped during 1989. Books are listed alphabetically within subject categories ander nonfiction and fiction headings. Nonfiction categories include: animals and wildlife, the arts, bestsellers, biography, blindness and physical handicaps, business andeconomics, career and job training, communication arts, consumerism, cooking and food, crime, diet and nutrition, education, government and politics, hobbies, humor, journalism and the media, literature, marriage and family, medicine and health, music, occult, philosophy, poetry, psychology, religion and inspiration, science and technology, social science, space, sports and recreation, stage and screen, traveland adventure, United States history, war, the West, women, and world history. Fiction categories includer adventure, bestsellers, classics, contemporary fiction, detective and mystery, espionage, family, fantasy, gothic, historical fiction,
    [Show full text]
  • Mixed Race’ and Resistance in Contemporary Australian Literature
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.ukbrought to you by CORE provided by Sydney eScholarship COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Intervening in the racial imaginary: ‘mixed race’ and resistance in contemporary Australian Literature Lyn Dickens A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Sydney 2014 This thesis is my own work and does not incorporate, without acknowledgement, any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Identity Classrooms As Turbulent Spaces: Exploring Student and Instructor Experiences with Identities, Privilege, and Power
    CRITICAL IDENTITY CLASSROOMS AS TURBULENT SPACES: EXPLORING STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCES WITH IDENTITIES, PRIVILEGE, AND POWER by Victoria Kannen A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Victoria Kannen (2011) CRITICAL IDENTITY CLASSROOMS AS TURBULENT SPACES: EXPLORING STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCES WITH IDENTITIES, PRIVILEGE, AND POWER Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Victoria Kannen Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This qualitative study focuses on students and instructors who study, teach, and learn critical concepts of identity, such as gender, race, and dis/ability. The participants’ reflections on these university classroom experiences are examined in order to explore the ways they understand their encounters with privilege and power. In classes that take up discussions of identity – critical identity classrooms – the intention is often to teach, study, and learn how (our) identity or identities manifest in social life, how these manifestations can be problematized, and how these explorations can lead to social change. Often, these courses centre on discussing identity in terms of oppression, rather than investigating the intersections of privilege and oppression. A major contention of this study is that a lack of discussion about privilege in the academy enables the pervasive invisibility of many unearned social advantages to remain under-theorized and ‘invisible.’ This study questions how it is that we come to understand concepts of identity to be one- dimensional, rather than understanding privilege as dynamic and situated.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity on the Threshold: the Myth of Persephone in Italian American
    1 Identity on the Threshold: The Myth of Persephone in Italian American Women’s Memoirs Valentina Seffer A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 2015 2 Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... 6 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 12 The myth of Persephone .......................................................................................... 25 Re-visioning Persephone in Italian American women’s works ............................... 33 Structure of the thesis .............................................................................................. 44 Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................... 49 ‘No more masks! No more mythologies!’ ................................................................... 49 Persephone and Italian American Women Writers’ Memoirs .................................... 49 1. Memoir and nonfiction ........................................................................................ 52 2. Autobiography and memoir: a tug-of-war ..........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • ITALIAN AMERICAN FEMALE AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Marta Piroli the Central Point of This Thesis Is the Recogniti
    ABSTRACT FINDING VOICES: ITALIAN AMERICAN FEMALE AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Marta Piroli The central point of this thesis is the recognition and exploration of the tradition of female Italian American autobiography, focusing on the choice of some Italian American writers to camouflage their Italian background and change their name. The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter explores a brief history of Italian migration in America during the nineteenth century. The second part of this chapter provides a literary discussion about the most important autobiographical theories over the twentieth century, focusing on the female self. The second chapter explores the role of Italian woman in Italian culture, and the first steps of emancipation of the children of the Italian immigrants. The third chapter will offer an approach to autobiography as a genre for expressing one’s self. The final chapter provides an analysis of significant Italian American women writers and their personal search for identity. FINDING VOICES: ITALIAN AMERICAN FEMALE AUTOBIOGRAPHY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English by Marta Piroli Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2006 Advisor____________________________ Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis Reader_____________________________ Cheryl Heckler Reader_____________________________ Sante Matteo CONTENTS Chapter I: Italian Immigration An Overview 1 1. Italian Migration in America 2 2. Claiming an Italian American Tradition 8 3. Claiming a Theoretical Tradition: Ego Psychology 10 4. The Language of the Subject 13 5. Contextualizing the Subject 14 6. Multiple Subjects: Race and Ethnicity 15 7. Conclusion 17 Chapter II: Italian Life in America 18 Chapter III: Autobiography As Exploration of The Self 31 8.
    [Show full text]