Reading and Writing the Mediterranean

by Bouchard, Norma; Lollini, Massimo

• ISBN13: 9780802092106
• ISBN10: 0802092101
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Vincenzo Consolo is counted by many critics among the most significant voices in contemporary world literature. This volume makes available for the first in English an edited and annotated volume of Consolo's short stories, essays, and other writings pertaining to the diverse cultures and histories of Sicily and the Mediterranean basin.The Mediterranean region holds a particular fascination for Consolo, who seeks through his writing to recover the memory of a Sicilian and Mediterranean history, which he feels is presently being threatened by the forces of late-capitalist Western culture. His writings about the region also voice a commitment to questions of ethics and human rights, which have been brought to the fore by recent tensions dividing this area and forcing a mass exodus of its people. At a time when this part of the world is under threat from unbridled globalization as well as dangerous forms of ethnic and religious fundamentalism, Consolo's words offer an insightful rethinking of regionalism within a global hierarchy of values. They remind us of the necessity of moderation and contingency, and in so doing, attempt to recover a moral and ethical dimension for our collective life.

Author Biography

Norma Bouchard is a professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Connecticut. Massimo Lollini is Hatzantonis Distinguished Professor in Italian in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Maps	p. x
Introduction: Vincenzo Consolo and His Mediterranean Paradigm	p. 3
Odysseus's Journey: War and Exile
Conversation between Vincenzo Consolo and Mario Nicolao	p. 51
Olive and Wild Olive	p. 77
The Ruin of Syracuse	p. 81
Algiers: Tradition and New Cultures	p. 93
But Is This Sarajevo or Assisi?	p. 97
The International Parliament of Writers: Journey to Israel/Palestine	p. 104
Report of Basilio Archita	p. 110
Men in the Sun	p. 117
Diary of Two Journeys to America	p. 121
Sicilian Travels: Land, Cities, and Sea
People and Land of Sulphur	p. 129
For a Bit of Grass on the Edge of the Feudal Estate	p. 153
Tuna Fishing	p. 159
Views of the Strait of Messina	p. 188
The Eruption of Mount Etna	p. 210
The Rebirth of the Val di Noto	p. 214
Mediterranean Crossroads
Sicily and Arab Culture	p. 227
Ibn Jubayr	p. 233
Palermo, Most Beautiful and Defeated	p. 237
The Bridge over the Channel of Sicily	p. 241
Porta Venezia	p. 246
Writing as Poetic Memory
A Day Like Any Other	p. 253
For a Metric of Memory	p. 263
The Languages of the Forest	p. 271
The Disappearance of the Fireflies	p. 277
The Smile, Twenty Years Later	p. 285
Notes on Sources of the Texts	p. 293
Selected Bibliography of Vincenzo Consolo's Works	p. 295
Selected Critical Bibliography	p. 303
Contributors	p. 307
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