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. Grazie, Stefano. At the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, I have been taken under the wings of Dr. Smaragda Yemenedtzi-Malathouni who has always found the best in me and my work even when, in my opinion, all hell broke loose. Dr Elke Sturm-Trigonakis has been most helpful in the final stages of this project pointing out loopholes and clarifying questions. Professor Ruth Parkin-Gounelas should also be included for patiently reading the first pages of my project and kindly commenting on it and, Professor Karin Bocklund-Lagopolou for her faith and moral support in a time of scholarly despair. I would also like to extend my thanks to the warm staff of the secretariat Eirini, Effie, and especially Tasos Paschalis, Chrissoula and Daphne, for being true friends, with a sense of humor, in times of need and panic. Tasos with his IT expertise saved my work and years of effort more than once. For this I am extremely grateful. Furthermore, I gained important knowledge from the school librarians Ms. Foteini iii Stavrou and Kleoniki Skoularika who have eagerly and patiently helped me discover new ways of research. Special thanks to Caroline Turner, who with her native-speaker skills “polished” my work. I should also mention that this dissertation has profited, among others, from three MESEA conferences and a MESEA symposium in a wonderful atmosphere of intellectual stimuli and friendship. Thanks to all MESEA friends, and especially Drs. Eleftheria Arapoglou, Jopi Nyman and Giorgos Anagnostou. The Umbertina chapter was presented and positively accepted by Professors Edvige Giunta, Mary Jo Bona, Anthony Tamburri and Paolo Giordano in the 2006 American Italian Historical Association conference in Orlando, a catalytic start for my work, given their welcome. Additionally, the AIHA committee awarded “Novels of Return” with its 2010 Memorial Scholarship on account of its originality and contribution to Italian-American scholarship. My warmest thanks to my good friend and brilliant scholar Maria Ristani for her endless positive energy, her belief in me and my endeavor, her essential practical help with books and articles, and our endless cups of coffee and theatre nights. To my colleagues at the Aristotle, especially Despoina K, Anna P. and Giorgos D. for their companionship. I am grateful to Maria Perifanou, for our long walks sharing our Ph.D. and life troubles, and mutual feelings of “sisterhood”. My old and closest friends, Penelope, Athena and Effie for their true friendships, positive vibes, travels and, for reading parts of this project at all times and to my cousins Vangelis and Litsa for their hospitality and care. Last but closest to the heart, I need to thank my family Elisabeth, Dimitrios, and Leonidas for their incessant support in all possible ways, a result of our strong bonds of love and mutual respect. This project is dedicated to you and our loving family space. And, of course, to Manos, who has opened his home and his big loving family, for believing in me iv and giving me wings to fly. To all of you thank you for honoring me with your friendship and helping me out. It meant the world to me and I will never forget it. v Abstract The present thesis is a comparative approach to six Italian-American and Greek-American literary works written in the last three decades of the 20th century. Based on the common theme of the authors’ return, either metaphorical or literal to the two countries of origin and their respective cultures, this doctoral thesis explores the common motifs of mythology, ritual and storytelling where the heroes and heroines resort to in their quest for self-definition. In specific, my analysis attempts to answer two questions: how is the journey to self-definition, as well as the formation of subjectivity, connected with the recourse to ethnic space in each of the novels examined? In addition, to what extent are these two elements affected by the constantly changing framework of social, historical and economic conditions, covering two decades? Within the context of the seventies, I discuss Daphne Athas’s Cora (1978) and Helen Barolini’s Umbertina (1979), whose heroines, caught under the spell of feminist and psychoanalytic trends of their times, realize the importance of ethnic space in their journey towards self-definition. Assisted by diverse theories, I argue that though differently approached, in the end for both novels ethnic space is proven to be a site of resilience and inspiration. Moreover, in the so-called era of post-feminism, Catherine Temma Davidson’s The Priest Fainted (1998) and Susan Caperna Lloyd’s No Pictures in My Grave (1992) portray heroines who seek enlightenment and guidance by returning to the home country and its culture. In both cases, I consider the theoretical arsenal of revisionist mythmaking and the late-capitalist dictates reflected, and I argue that the two heroines are carriers of a similar “haughty” air of Orientalism. I conclude that since they opt for a “selective” ethnicity, they oversimplify and disorient readers as to the importance and difficulty of the ethnic female quest. Finally, utilizing two novels written by male authors, Stratis Haviaras When The Tree Sings (1979) and Tony Ardizzone’s In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu (1999), I break away from the exclusive attention to a feminist approach, and view the conceptualization of ethnic vi space as this is unraveled by the powerful narrative mode of storytelling. Thus, I argue that overcoming the twenty years that separate them, both novels come to underwrite the surviving powers of the oral narrative, project the ethnic story as “alternative” history, and portray the diachronic character of ethnic space as a site of rebelliousness and anti- conformism. On the whole, with geographical proximity, common historical and cultural background in the old countries, and similar reception of the two immigrant groups in the new world facilitating a comparative approach, I conclude that the ethnic writers discussed depict parallel courses of the ethnic persona’ journey towards self-definition and their similarly changing perception of ethnic space. Thus, this comparative study, based on its originality, should be seen as an initial attempt to liberate both literatures Greek-American and Italian- American from their respective insularity, with the hope to instigate a better understanding and appreciation of both cultures as well as strengthen the status of both literatures within and outside their respective communities. vii Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….v Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1 The Return to the Self and the Mystified Homeland: Daphne Athas’s Cora (1978) ………………………………………………………………….26 Chapter 2 Ethnic Space, Umbertina Women, and the Voyage to Self-Definition ………………………………………………………………………………..69 Chapter 3 Mythic Wanderings in Catherine Temma Davidson’s The Priest Fainted (1998)…………………………………………………...................111 Chapter 4 Italian-American Persephone in a Sicilian Setting: Susan Caperna Lloyd’s No Pictures in My Grave (1992)…………………………………143 Chapter 5 Reared by Myth and Folklore: Stratis Haviaras’ When the Tree Sings (1979)…………….…………………………………………………………173 Chapter 6 Ethnic Fables of Social Justice: Tony Ardizzone’s In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu (1999)… …………………………………………………..201 Closings and Endings……………………………………………………………...251 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………..258 Biographical Note……………………………………………………………...…..289 1 Introduction Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven far journeys, after he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel. Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of, many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea, struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions. Even so he could not save his companions, hard though