Mother Tongue : An American Life in Italy

by Wallis Wilde-Menozzi

• ISBN13: 9780865476707
• ISBN10: 0865476705
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: North Point Press

Summary

In the 1980s, the American writer Wallis Wilde-Menozzi moved with her Italian husband and her daughter to Parma, a small city in northern Italy that has existed since Roman times. Her search for a place for herself in a society that often seems closed to outsiders led Wilde-Menozzi to explore the pull between individualism and community, the role of women in both Parma's culture and her own Midwestern upbringing, and the powers and limits of language in the service of self knowledge, self expression, and artistic and political freedom. In doing so, she unearthed the extraordinary stories of remarkable Italians and remarkable women, including the Renaissance badessa Giovanna Piacenza, the fighting Donella Rossi Sanvitale, and her own indefatigable mother-in-law. No other book evokes so poignantly and profoundly the role of food, faith, and family attachment in Italian life and, by reflection, our own.

Author Biography

Wallis Wilde-Menozzi's poetry, essays, short stories, and translations have been published in Granta and other literary journals. She lives in Parma, Italy.

Table of Contents

1 LANDING	3	(18)
2 ZEROES	21	(6)
3 ALBA	27	(36)
4 BUTTERFLIES	63	(4)
5 THE SCREAM	67	(10)
6 GIOVANNA	77	(28)
7 SECOND THOUGHTS	105	(8)
8 PAPER	113	(12)
9 PORTRAIT IN A CONVEX MIRROR	125	(18)
10 SIGNS OF THE WOMEN	143	(14)
11 FATHER	157	(4)
12 BASEMENT	161	(12)
13 THE BLACK DREAMS	173	(4)
14 EDUCATION	177	(16)
15 SYSTEMS	193	(12)
16 THE "IN" BASKET	205	(6)
17 CALVIN'S CHAIR	211	(22)
18 DARKLING I LISTEN	233	(12)
19 EPPUR SI MUOVE	245	(6)
20 N.	251	(14)
21 CLARE	265	(12)
22 JAMES	277	(10)
23 PALATINA LIBRARY	287	(18)
24 GETTING THERE	305	(6)
25 FINDING LANGUAGE	311	(4)
26 DUCKS	315	(4)
27 BREAD	319	(24)
28 PLACE	343	(20)
29 BOWL OF FIRE	363	(8)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	371