What are you reactions to Fred Gardaphe's essay now that you have read two of the novels he mentions?
Post a brief comment AND A GOOD QUESTION for him. As I announced he will visit our class next Wed.
Gardaphe's Essay
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In reference to Gardaphe's essay, I find it amazing how much Italian immigrants were underestimated. In Pascal D'Angelo's Son of Italy, he suffered through so many hardships and finally became a successful American poet. The hard work and effort that the immigrants put into their work is bound to get them somewhere in life and yet "that a ditch digger could become a poet was beyond belief for most American readers of the time" amazes me. Most people have bigger dreams for themselves than simply becoming good ditch diggers and just because they are from a different country doesn't mean they cannot dream big.
ReplyDeleteI also find it interesting how these novels inspired Gardaphe and in a way, mirrored his life, as in Christ in Concrete. Through this novel he understood what it was like to become the man of the house at a young age after his father had died.
My question for Gardaphe is: Today, if a son is very young when his father passes away, the son isn't expected to take on the role of the father. Instead, the mother takes on a second role of father. She becomes a nurturer, protector, and breadwinner. Did you take it upon yourself to take on that role when your father passed away? What was it like to become the man of the house at such a young age?
After reading the novels Son of Italy and Christ in Concrete, which were mentioned in Gardaphe's essay, I had a different view on some of the things he touched upon. For example, Gardaphe describes that through reading Son of Italy, he was better able to understand his grandparents. After reading that novel, I also had a new appreciation for the acts of my great-grandparents. I had never really thought about it before and if it wasn't for them, I would not be here today. Reading those books made me curious about my past generations and I began to ask my grandparents many questions about their lives. I learned a lot about my Italian background through my grandparents' stories. Gardaphe describes how reading allowed him to understand his family, culture and ultimately, himself. I completely understand how reading can help you to understand and even change your view on life.
ReplyDeleteMy question for Gardaphe: On the first page of your essay you say that if it were not for reading, you would have become a gangster for a fact. I was wondering, before you began reading, what were your aspirations for yourself as a young man? Did you ever have a dream job that you wanted to work towards or did you look forward to being a gangster, because of the people you grew up around?
I think Gradaphe’s thesis that you are what you read is definitely true. Through reading various works by Italian American writers, he was able to understand his family more and appreciate them. They inspired him to expand his goals to becoming a writer, instead of just a gangster. I found myself doing the same as I read Son of Italy and Christ in Concrete. While reading Son of Italy I found myself constantly comparing D’Angelo’s journey to my own father’s quest for success in America (even though the time period was quite different). I had heard my father’s story many times and appreciate all he did, but by reading Son of Italy, I better understood the hardships he went through and how he must have felt being alone in a foreign country.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction when reading Christ in Concrete. I realized that many Italian immigrants had very similar experiences in America and can appreciate how much the Italian American community has grown and how much they accomplished.
Question for Gardaphe: By all of the novels mentioned in the article it is evident that Italian American writing is now a literary movement. The novels mentioned show that Italian Americans are honest, hardworking people who have accomplished much in America. Despite this, I feel that the most prevalent idea that is still attributed to Italian Americans is that of a gangster and the mafia (as seen in a survey taken in our class). Do you find this true in today’s society and does it upset you that Italian Americans are not recognized more for the qualities described in the novels mentioned. Do you think this stereotype will ever fade?
After reading Gardaphe's essay, I realized how much Italian Americans are so under appreciated. they are very much marginalized because society views them as igonorant people.However after reading this essay i feel that it is very much true what Gardaphe states in his paper, "italian american culture has not depended on a literacy tradition for a sence of cultural survival." this made me understand the depth of italian american writers. society does not realize how much italian american writer struggle and strive to become reconized or even noticed at all. I honestly think that Italian american writer are making a difference in their community because i feel that by people reading their novels and memoirs, it gives a differnet message to the reader other than the sterotypical analysis of Italians known as gangsters or mafia. my question to Gardaphe would be, when you say,"if you are what you read, then you are not italian american until you read italian american writers" then what does mafia mean to you now?
ReplyDeleteNot being an immigrant and not having immigrant parents makes the concept of immigration and the struggles or stigmas an immigrant must go through unfamiliar concept, feelings which I have never had to deal with. Because most of my friends and neighbors are Italian-Americans, it is very difficult for me to think that just a short time ago, these people were looked upon as the bottom of society. Gardaphe’s thesis was particularly interesting to me because he is an Italian-American who recognized a deficiency of representation of Italian-Americans in literature and instead of taking a back seat to this, he analyzed and personalized it. I think it is fabulous that Gardaphe was able to gain success through his writing, which I found to be enjoyable especially with all of the literary references he provided, as I have now read some of these works myself and can relate to what he was referring to. In addition, I found it interesting how Gardaphe used the literature to better understand his family growing up and his own experiences.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Gardaphe: If you were to write a book depicting characters who were modern day Italian-Americans, how would you depict such individuals? Would you feel the need to use common stereotypes of Italian-Americans such as the mafia in order to gain interest or would you be concerned with writing a story void of any stereotypes? If so, what would the story be about?
Gardaphe's essay recognizes the unequal representation of Italian Americans in the literary world. He gives to the reader a list of books. Starting with Son of Italy and Christ in Concrete, we understand better the immigrants struggle. While my family is not of Italian American decent, they were immigrating around the same time as the characters in this book. Being lower class, I know they went through a similar struggle. I have bounced ahead a little bit, and read the last two books that we will read for this class, The Godfather and Killer Smile. So my question for Mr. Gardaphe would be, how would you compare the early Italian American literature to contemporary Italian American literature? What are some of the issues a contemporary Italian American writer would face? If their family is well established , and they are no longer writing about toil, picks, and shovels, what sort of transition does that represent?
ReplyDeleteRe-reading Gardaphe’s essay it’s clear that, if nothing else, he has an extremely deep investment and knowledge of Italian-American writers, and thankfully by that same fact it can be argued that the problem he came across as a child (a lack of such writers) doesn’t seem to remain today.
ReplyDeleteHaving now read two of the novels among the many listed by him, I don’t think it changes my thoughts on the essay so much as now I can better understand his emotional connection to books cited.
As to the struggle as a whole, I’d argue that it’s a struggle that every culture needs to go through when moving from an oral tradition to a written one, and that the only reason it’s such a recent struggle for Italian-Americans, is that before the mass immigrations in the late 1800's Italian-Americans weren’t a large enough culture. Even today, according to the US census, Italian-American’s only make up 6% of the US population, so it’s no surprise that a less prevalent culture had a more difficult time gaining public acknowledgement.
My question for Gardaphe is this: You argue that “you are what you read.” However in today’s society, literature now acts as only part in the larger sense of media. Television, Film, Video Games and Music all have the same ability to tell a story and represent a culture. Would you then support that not only are you what you read, but you’re also what you watch, play and listen to? If so, do you think the same struggle had with Italian-American Literature must be had with these new forms of media?
I believe Fred Gradaph's essay illustrates how underappreciated and misunderstood Italian-American literature is. The group has a rich cultural history to it and is not defined by the Mafia as it is thought of by mainstream America, possibly still to this day.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: As related in this article, the success of Mario Puzo's The Godfather has painted the Italian-American experience in a unfair light, that rather then an outlier, many Americans today consider Mafia ties to be the norm. The author even mentions that he was told by editors that his first novel needed to add in in more Mafia details. So my question is, has The Godfather been a terrible for the It-Am community or does the fact that it achieved such main stream succes mitigate some of the damage its done?
After reading Gradaph's essay i was amazed at how the author literally stumbled into literature (hiding in a library while being chased by the authorities) and in the end it became his life's passion. It was also interesting as to how the mafia had been a part of his world for a long time, however he needed to read "The Godfather" to find out what the mafia was really all about. And through literature, he was able to find many similarities with the characters and create a sense of identity.
ReplyDeleteThe hardships that newly arrived immigrants must face are almost unbearable at times. Although my family is not Italian, they shared similar situations with some of the characters have encountered in the novels we read and movies we watched ("The Italian", "Son of Italy", "L'Emigrante") Poverty, joblessness, and hunger are among the many difficulties which plague immigrants from all over the world.
I have an enormous interest in culture, history, language, and customs of other countries. My question to Mr. Gardaphe is which culture do you think possesses the greatest similarity to Italian customs and heritage? This question is not particularly related to literature but would be interesting to get an opinion or observation. Thank you!
After reading Son of Italy and Christ of Concrete and re-reading Fred Gardaphé's essay, it becomes clearer why these novels influenced his career in a significant manner. Pascal D'Angelo's story of how he became a recognized poet after being a ditch digger should be inspiring to all Italian American immigrants. Nothing is ever handed to you and if you put in the hard work that is necessary to become successful, there is a great chance you will be successful.
ReplyDeleteWhen Gardaphé talks about how reading Son of Italy and other novels gave him a better familiarity of the adversity Italian immigrants had to deal with coming over to America, it caught my attention because even though my parents are immigrants, I wasn't exactly sure about what they faced and dealt with coming to America and starting a new life. Through reading this novel, it shed some light for me on what my parents had to go through.
Gardaphé comment about how he would have become a gangster if not for reading interested me. I tend to agree with him because when you grow up in a certain area with certain people, there is a very good chance that the environment and its surroundings could rub off on you and you could become a part of the neighborhood in a negative manner.
My question for Gardaphé is: During your essay, you mentioned that you were in a back room of a restaurant for a private party given by your employers. After informing your boss and the group that you were doing a research paper on the Mafia and telling them what you were reading, The Valachi Papers, everyone went silent and then you realized everyone was silent because some men that were mentioned in that book. I’m curious to know: Who was your employer and what type of job did you hold?
After reading Gardaphe essay and the two novel i have a better understanding on how misunderstood italian americans were in the early twenty century. Even when i was reading Gardaphe essay you become a little curious about italian's culture. There is some much that could be writen about the cultrue because it has so much history. That there is more then just the mafia and gangster. Gardaphe talk about how reading more book directed toward family would inspire more italian american to write. i think it funny how he was running and went into the library and pick up the godfather. Gardaphe bring up the fact that you want to read more then just about the gangsters. you want to read about the how style and traditions of the italianfamily. my questio to Gardaphe was what keep you to drive your self to keep your self on one topic?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading two of the novels that Fred Gardaphe mentioned in his essay 'In Search of Italian Writers' then rereading the essay, many new things stuck out to me. In Garadaphe's account of being an Italian American he relates his childhood to the mafia. In the "Son of Italy" and "Christ in Concrete" we do not see that mafia stigma. Both of these novels were about newly immigrated Italian families to America. I feel like the mafia perspective of Italians is an Americanized way of seeing Italians because this was not how Italians were portrayed in the books that we read. The Italians we read about were hard working families struggling to survive. Garadapehe says that with every novel he read he grew a sense of shame about his past. He was living the stigma and portraying what he thought it was to be an Italian until the books he found opened his eyes to the real past of Italian Americans. He gained a new respect for his culture. This also happed to me after reading his article and the two novels. I was able to see where my family progressed from and the struggles that they faced when they came to America.
ReplyDeleteMy question for Gardaphe would be if the Italian Language was passed down to him? In the article it says that the woman in his family would shift into Italian when he would enter the room, which leads me to believe that the language was not passed down to him and I was just wondering why not?
After reading Gardaphe's essay and The Son of Italy as well as Christ in Concrete it is clear that the struggle of Italian Americans were so mouch greater than most people cared to realize.He states that the only portrayal of Italian Americans that he had to look up to were the Italian gangsters that were in his neighborhood. the only way of actually hearing about his history was through oral communication. But as he stated once that died out among the neighborhood there wasnt much history being told.His way of escaping his inevitable fate of being another statistic of an Italian descent was the public library. The library opened his mind to different avenues of thinking and made him rise above his neighborhood. With this new awakening he made so many people realize that his culture wasnt recognized among the literary world and that was due to the lack of people supporting Italians to write about their culture. he stated that if the community was to read more then it would motivate those to write about their culture.
ReplyDeleteMy question to Gadarphe is " Do you really think that by having people read more that they would want to actually talk of their own experience? and if they did how many people do you think would actually be interested?
After reading the essay by Fred Gardaphé I was amazed by the fact that in many occasions he was not shown support from his professors. Whenever he wanted to pursue an Italian American subject he was discouraged from doing so. He even had to leave academia because the professors were trying to change his mind about what he should do his dissertation about. Professors are supposed to be supportive and encourage education. Instead, these professors drove him away from school. It turned out to be a positive thing in the long run, because it was through the research he did on his own that he was able to understand why Italian American Literature had not gained the respect it deserved. Reading the two books (Son of Italy, and Christ in Concrete) helped me understand more about what he was talking about when he mention the long list of books.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: How did you feel when you were working at the restaurant and you realized that there were men in that room who had their names in the book you were reading? (The Valachi Papers) Were you scared? Excited? Did you talk to them?
Reading Fred Gardaphes' essay on Italian American Novels made me realize hw much of a struggle Italian Americans faced in becoming writters. I was really surprised at how his essay was graded although it is clear he put so much effort in writting it. And again he was not supported in his decision of a topic for his thesis. I think what he is doing to put a spotlight on Italian Literature is great. After reading two novels that I would have never picked had it not been for this class, i feel like Italian American Literature is a very important part of American Literature.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have for Mr Gardaphe is: In this class we are reading several Italian American novels including Christ In Concrete, Son of Italy, and The Godfather. If you were our professor, what list of 3-4 novels would you have given us?
While reading the two novels, i kept Gardaphe's essay in the back of my mind. I thought back to the time of struggle he has trying to become an author while reading Son of Italy. Honestly before the essay and the two books we read, i had no idea that Italian American Literature would be so interesting and knowledgeable. It really opened my eyes to the hardships people had to face in order to make it in life.
ReplyDeleteMy Question- Do you think the way Italian Americans were/are portrayed in movies/TV, has ruined the minds of people from believing that Italian Americans can be or do anything above the stereo types ?
I thought it was interesting in Gardaphe's article how he discussed reading being a part of who you are and Italian-American literature giving him a better understanding of the people around him. I am not Italian-American but I think that general concept is universal. Books always take on more of a significance for me if they take place somewhere I have lived or portray characters similar to people I know. Especially the things you read in youth tend to shape your outlook and opinions about certain things. Having read two of the novels mentioned certainly gave the article more meaning for me.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Gardaphe: You say that in your earliest novel, you had difficulty getting it published because it did not showcase Mafia stereotypes. How do you feel about authors that have found success telling Mafia stories? Do you find it to be exploitive of Italian-American culture? Is it frustrating to see such widespread success of novels promoting one-sided stereotypical representations of Italian-Americans?
Upon reading Gardaphe's article I was stunned to see the struggle and rejection he was faced with while trying to become a writer. After reading Son of Italy and Christ in Concrete, I understood further as to why these books influenced him to push himself to succeed, especially after the incident with the thesis paper. Although I am not Italian-American, I now have a better understanding as to the struggle my grandparents must have gone through upon arriving to America and the motivation they had that is lacking in today's generation.
ReplyDeleteMy question for you is: In today's society, do you think the newer generations will have the same appreciation, value, and respect for the culture with the way stereotypical way in which Italian-Americans are depicted?
Youssef Lehnin
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Fred Gardaphe, it fascinated me that it seemed to be literature that made him embraced his Italian heritage, as he grew knowledge from the different readings. The fact that he could identify himself and find himself with help from these Italian-American writers, as he wrote “Pascal D'Angelo, who could have been my grandfather”, which inspired him to go in depth with the search to find people, writers like him to have “given [him] a new respect for [his] culture, but more than anything, all this reading extended [his] sense of family”. I believe that to know yourself, is to know your own history, as this will make you a stronger individual. This is something that I think is essential in life, in order for someone to prosper and develop in life. The answers that you find when searching your background might give reasons to why a person behaves, thinks and acts the way they do. I myself extended my knowledge of my “unknown” background, with guidance from different readings, and after doing so, I felt that I had a stringer backbone. Therefore, I can understand the choices that Gardaphe made in his life, only to have enriched it to become a stronger individual.
My question to Gardaphe is to ask him if he could relate in any way to how Pascal D’Angelo or to the story if “Christ in Concrete”, in both when he received the “C” grade on his thesis paper that the Irish-Catholic prep school, because relied, according to the school on “too much on Italian sources”, and because he was was of Italian descent, his “writing never achieved the necessary objectivity that was essential to all serious scholarship”. Or when he decided to do the dissertation and was told, that the topic he chose would “not help his career”. When he experienced this, did he ever relate to the characters, of both “Son of Italy” and “Christ in Concrete” , that he would feel the same degradation, just for being Italian?