Intersecting Diasporas: Italian Americans and Allyship in US Fiction

236 Pages·2021·1.934 MB·English

by  Suzanne Manizza Roszak

Intersecting Diasporas
SUNY series in Italian/American Culture
—————
Fred L. Gardaphé, editor
Intersecting Diasporas
Italian Americans and Allyship in US Fiction
SUZANNE MANIZZA ROSZAK
Cover: James McNeill Whistler, Variations in Violet and Grey—Market Place,
Dieppe (1885). Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Manizza Roszak, Suzanne, 1985– author.
Title: Intersecting diasporas : Italian Americans and allyship in US fiction /
Suzanne Manizza Roszak.
Description: Albany : State University of New York, [2021] | Series: SUNY
series in Italian/American culture | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020039943 (print) | LCCN 2020039944 (ebook) | ISBN
9781438481616 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438481630 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: American fiction—Italian American authors—History and
criticism. | American fiction—Minority authors—History and criticism. |
American fiction—20th century—History and criticism. | Italian Americans in
literature. | Ethnic groups in literature. | Social justice in literature. |
Whites—Race identity—United States. | United States—Ethnic relations—
20th century.
Classification: LCC PS153.I8 M35 2021 (print) | LCC PS153.I8 (ebook) |
DDC 813/.509352951—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039943
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039944
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Jonny and Sander

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. Representational Roots
Chapter 1
Romance, Liberation, and Peril: Representing Italian Identities
from Outside the Diaspora(s) 19
Part II. Diasporic Writers on Italian America
Chapter 2
Sex and Diaspora in the New “Italian Novel”: James Baldwin
and Bernard Malamud 49
Chapter 3
Privileged Italians, Poor Italians: Carolina De Robertis,
Chang-rae Lee, and Italy in the Americas 75
Part III. Returning the Favor: Italian Americans Write Back
Chapter 4
“Mayan Queens,” Secondhand Suits, and Toxic White
Masculinity: Fante and DeLillo 109
viii Contents
Chapter 5
Off-White Allies: Writing Irish and Romani Women’s Lives
from Puzo to De Rosa 145
Conclusion
The Limits of Allyship: Returning to Italy with A Ciambra 177
Notes 183
Bibliography 197
Index 211
Acknowledgments
So many people participated in the creation process for this book. I
am deeply grateful for the support of the many mentors who saw me
through graduate school and beyond, especially Wai Chee Dimock, Arlene
R. Keizer, Julia H. Lee, and Katie Trumpener. At the Italian American
Studies Association, Fred Gardaphé and Alan Gravano encouraged my
research and writing when I was still working as an adjunct, teaching
all across Southern California while developing new parts of this manu-
script. I am indebted to Stephen Cooper and Clorinda Donato for their
wisdom about Fante and for their confidence in me. To Edvige Giunta
and Dennis Barone: you may not remember our brief conversations, but
your work has been formative in shaping my perspective in this book.
The same is true of Mary Jo Bona, Joseph P. Cosco, and Samuele F. S.
Pardini, though we haven’t yet met in person. Perhaps most importantly,
thanks are due to my brilliant friends and collaborators, Dana Murphy
and K. Adele Okoli, whose scholarship is perennially inspiring.
My readings of so many of the texts that have a place in this book
have been indelibly shaped by my teaching. My heartfelt thanks go out
to my students at California State University, San Bernardino; Occiden-
tal College; and Scripps College, whose fresh readings of Henry James,
James Baldwin, John Fante, and others have all been inspirational. I am
equally indebted to the generous department chairs and program directors
at those colleges and universities who were willing to take a chance on
a new and eager teacher: Kimberly Drake, Sunny Hyon, and John Swift.
The faculty of the English department at East Carolina University
played an essential role in helping me see this project through to its
completion. Thanks especially to Su-ching Huang, Gera Miles, Marianne
Montgomery, Carla Pastor, and Rick Taylor, as well as to the Thomas
ix