Don't Tell Mama!

by Barreca, Regina

• ISBN13: 9780142002476
• ISBN10: 014200247X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA

Summary

This important collection reveals as never before the quality, extent, and variety of the Italian American contribution to American literature. Bringing together fiction and poetry as well as academic essays and newspaper articles from the 1800s to the present, this volume covers a wide field of cultural experience. Including many previously unpublished pieces as well as classic works, and enhanced by an insightful and entertaining introduction by Regina Barreca, Don't Tell Mamahighlights both the unity and the diversity of the Italian American experience.

Author Biography

Regina Barreca is a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut. She is the editor of seven books, including The Penguin Book of Women's Humor, and the author of four others. She writes frequently for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Hartford Courant.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Don't Tell Mama! The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing?	p. xvii
Explanatory Notes and Caveats to the Introduction	p. xxv
From Under the Rose: A Confession	p. 1
"Introduction to Rocchietti's Lorenzo and Oonalaska"	p. 6
Selections, Lorenzo and Oonalaska (1835)	p. 8
"Sinatra's 'Associations' with the Mob"	p. 15
"Holy Cards," from Taking It Home: Stories from the Neighborhood	p. 18
From Wish You Well	p. 35
"Buried Alive by Language," from Chiaroscuro: Essays of Identity	p. 37
From Umbertina	p. 42
"Classic and Good," from More Italian Hours and Other Stories	p. 48
"My Grandmother, A Chicken, and Death," from Too Much of a Good Thing Is Wonderful	p. 55
"My Life in Funeral Parlors," from Joy Shtick: Or What Is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?	p. 57
From Claiming a Tradition: Italian American Women Writers	p. 60
From Miss Giardino	p. 62
"Story of My Weight," from Pray for Yourself and Other Stories	p. 67
"Careless Love: How Women Get to Hell"	p. 74
From "Macaronis," from Paper Napkins	p. 75
"Grandmother," from Poems: New and Selected	p. 82
From A Bridge of Leaves	p. 83
"Ossi Dei Morti," from Terra Firma	p. 86
"Small Acts," from Terra Firma	p. 87
"True or False," from The Birds of Pompeii	p. 89
"Useless Knowledge," from The Birds of Pompeii	p. 89
"The Evil Eye," from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi	p. 90
"In Place of a Curse," from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi	p. 91
"On Flunking a Nice Boy out of School," from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi	p. 92
"Statement," from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi	p. 92
"Lifelines," from Mother Rocket	p. 93
"Ellis Island"	p. 101
"Youthful Religious Experiences," from Herald of the Autochthonic Spirit	p. 103
"Poverty of Language"	p. 105
"Infidel"	p. 106
From Family Honor: An American Life	p. 107
"The First Night of the Wake"	p. 114
From Underworld	p. 119
From Leaven of the Pharisees: The Dark Side of Italian-American Life	p. 123
"I study Italian," from First Pressing	p. 128
"I stash treasures," from Italian Notebook	p. 129
From Paper Fish	p. 131
From Vertigo: A Memoir	p. 138
From Breathless	p. 140
From "Ars Longa, Vita brevis?"	p. 142
From Tender Warriors	p. 148
From Christ in Concrete	p. 153
"The Depot," from Shadows Burning	p. 164
"Sabbioneta to Parma," from The Dog Star	p. 165
From Recollections of My Life as a Woman	p. 166
From The Brotherhood of the Grape	p. 172
"Hail Mary," from Dago Red	p. 175
From Wait Until Spring, Bandini	p. 178
"The Old Italians Dying," from These Are My Rivers	p. 190
From The Family of Max Desir	p. 193
From A Perfect Time for Butterflies	p. 198
From Tree of Dark Reflection	p. 199
From Blood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian-Americans	p. 208
From The Italian-American Writer: An Essay and an Annotated Checklist	p. 221
"The Tidal Wave," from Kissing the Bread: New and Selected Poems, 1969-1999	p. 228
"Mafioso," from Kissing the Bread	p. 229
"Tailors," from Kissing the Bread	p. 230
"Opening the Door: 19th Street, Paterson," from Things My Mother Told Me	p. 231
"Secrets," from Things My Mother Told Me	p. 231
"Cleared Away," from The Gods of Winter	p. 233
"Money," from The Gods of Winter	p. 233
"Planting a Sequoia," from The Gods of Winter	p. 234
"For Grandma Lucia La Rosa, 'Light the Rose,'" from Word Wounds and Water Flowers	p. 235
"American Sonnets for My Father," from Word Wounds and Water Flowers	p. 237
"Woman with Tongue Sculpted in Cheek," from Eggs in the Lake	p. 238
"Anniversary I," from The Collected Poems of Arturo Giovannitti	p. 240
"Litania for My Mother's Hands"	p. 240
From "MANAYUNK: Growing Up in Philadelphia During and After the War"	p. 242
"Godfather II: Of Families and Families," from Off Center	p. 255
From An Accidental Autobiography	p. 260
"Who Will Marry You Now?"	p. 265
"The Discourse of un' Propria Paparone"	p. 282
From The Paper Dragon	p. 286
From The Blackboard Jungle	p. 296
From "The Kiss"	p. 300
From Ulysses in Traction	p. 301
"After Victory"	p. 302
"Food and Fatalism"	p. 315
From The Grand Gennaro	p. 333
"Wear It in Good Health," from The Boys of Bensonhurst	p. 337
"First Cousins," from Teaching Angels to Fly	p. 347
From "Words," from Were You Always an Italian? Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America	p. 353
From Leading with My Chin	p. 358
From "Sitdown at the Heartland Hotel," from Lucchesi and the Whale	p. 361
From Mount Allegro	p. 367
From La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience	p. 374
"Your Children Are Your Children, but Your Wife Is Just a Good Cigar"	p. 375
"Duet," from The Great Wheel	p. 382
"Show & Tell," from Salvage Operations	p. 383
"The Old Men Are Dying," from Salvage Operations	p. 385
"The Lion's Head," from The Art Lover	p. 387
"Friend," from The Art Lover	p. 388
From "The Virgin's Nose" (or Picking Up a Piece of the Pieta), from The Virgin Knows	p. 390
From The Loss of the Miraculous	p. 398
From We Ride a White Donkey	p. 399
From Viva Madison Avenue!	p. 409
From Dances with Luigi: A Grandson's Determined Quest to Comprehend Italy and the Italians	p. 414
"The Shylock's Wedding," from Italian Stories	p. 417
"Grandmother in Heaven," from Town Life	p. 428
"1913," from Anthracite Country	p. 428
"The Miner's Wake," from Anthracite Country	p. 429
"Ida Parini (1890-1976)," from House of Days	p. 430
From The Apprentice Lover	p. 431
"Someday I Will Read 'Dover Beach,'" from Ciao, Baby	p. 435
"Perfect Love," from Daughters for Sale	p. 436
From "The Movies," from Growing Up Sicilian and Female	p. 436
"Canticle from the Book of Bob"	p. 441
"Lost Innocence of the Potato Givers," from The Body Mutinies	p. 442
"Long Time Too Long," from The Oldest Map with the Name America: New and Selected Poems	p. 443
From The Godfather	p. 444
From The Fortunate Pilgrim	p. 460
"Dedicated to an Old Friend Whose Kindness I Shall Never Forget"	p. 469
From Benedetta in Guysterland: A Liquid Novel	p. 471
From Everything and a Kite	p. 477
From The Quick	p. 482
"Video Blues," from A Kiss in Space: Poems	p. 486
From "Ravioli and Rage"	p. 486
From Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City	p. 492
"How to Marry an Italian-American Man"	p. 496
"The Veteran," from The Dance at St. Gabriel's	p. 498
From Unto the Sons	p. 500
From Like Lesser Gods	p. 513
"Failed Fathers," from The Shifting Web	p. 514
"The Widows," from Conversation with Johnny	p. 515
"Song of the Castrato," from Conversation with Johnny	p. 516
From Misfits and Remnants	p. 518
From Astoria	p. 523
From A Cup of the Sun	p. 524
List of Contributors	p. 525
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