Mother Tongue (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Wallis Wilde-Menozzi
- First Published: 1997
- Type of Work: Memoir
- Time of Work: 1981-1995, with flashbacks
- Setting: Northern Italy
- Principal Characters: Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, Paolo Menozzi, Libero Menozzi, Alba Menozzi, Rosalia, Pietro Menozzi, Angela Menozzi, Clare
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
- Subjects: Culture, Self, Education or educators, Alienation, 1980’s, Immigration or emigration, Cancer, 1990’s, Italy or Italians, Diseases, Bureaucracy or bureaucrats
- Locales: Italy
Mother Tongue is a warm and wonderful book. Its twenty- nine chapters, any of which can be read independently but the sum of which constitute a coherent commentary on the expatriate experience, bristle with fresh ideas and sharp insights. The author’s powers of observation are extraordinary, as can be seen, for example, in her description of Signora Biocchi, a nosy neighbor in Parma, who is described as “leaning over her balcony taking her first reconnaissance smoke of the day.”
The book is filled with insights that in very few words capture precisely a mood, a...
[The entire page is 1936 words long]
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