Italian Stories (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Joseph Papaleo
- First Published: 2002
- Type of Work: Short fiction
- Time of Work: The 1930’s to the end of the 1960’s
- Setting: Mostly the Bronx, but also the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan; Westchester County, New York; and the southern Italian province of Calabria and cities such as Florence, Rome, and Naples
- Principal Characters: Johnny, Reni, Victor, Luigi Mauro, Pasquale, Fonzi
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, Family or family life, New York, United States or Americans, Twentieth century, New York City, 1940’s, 1930’s, Ethnic groups, Immigration or emigration, Minorities, Stereotypes, Italy or Italians, Urban life
- Locales: Brooklyn, NY, Italy, Bronx, NY, Queens, NY
At the close of “Prologue for an Ethnic Life,” Joseph Papaleo introduces, via parody, an aesthetic which, judging from the stories that follow, has formed him as a writer; namely, the two-faced Janus of stereotypicality. He presents a mock Italian American genealogy that begins with a tall, blond family from Sicily and Naples who moved to New York City in 1907. They did not like spaghetti or tomatoes, nor did they urinate in doorways or go into construction or work on the railroad. What they became, after attending Smith and Harvard, were professionals living on estates in...
[The entire page is 1841 words long]
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