<em><strong>Lu ciucciu. Poema in dialetto calabrese</strong></em> [The Donkey: poem in Calabrese dialect]. <strong>New York: Tipografia Sisca & Sons, 1913.</strong>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">The only known book-length publication of Alessandro and Marziale Sisca's father, Francesco Sisca, or of the publisher or printer that bore their family name,</span><span style="font-weight:400;"> this poem was a “bilingual” collaboration — Calabrian dialect by the father, and Italian translation (as well as preface and notes) by his son, Alessndro, who took several pen names, the most famous of which was Riccardo Cordiferro. <br /><br />Though the family was Calabrian by birth, the curiosity of this work is that the Siscas had built their reputation in Italy as masters of the Neapolitan dialect (</span><i><span style="font-weight:400;">e.g.,</span></i><span style="font-weight:400;"> Alessandro (Cordiferro)'s</span><span style="font-weight:400;"></span><i><span style="font-weight:400;"> Core ‘ngrato, </span></i><span style="font-weight:400;">q.v.) while living in Naples; contrast this with the popularity of Cordiferro years later as a poet writing in the Calabrian dialect, e.g., <em>Ode alla Calabria</em>, q.v.. <br /><br />This copy belonged to Calabrian-American poet Pasquale Spataro, who featured examples of poetry by both Francesco Sisca and Riccardo Cordiferro (Francisco's son, born Alessandro) in his anthology, </span><i><span style="font-weight:400;">Poeti calabresi in America</span></i><span style="font-weight:400;"> (Bergamo, 1957), q.v.</span></p>
Francesco Sisca
Tipografia Sisca & Sons
1913
22 x 15cm; 174 p.
Calabrian
Italian
<em><strong>Poeti Calabresi in America</strong> </em>[Calabrese Poets in America].<strong> Bergamo: La Nuova Italia Letteraria, 1957.</strong>
ALthough published in Bergamo, the author's introduction is dated New Kensington, PA, May 12, 1956. <br /><br />Calabrese poets whose undated work is included in this post-war anthology include those as early as Riccardo Cordiferro and his father, Francesco Sisca, as well as Michele Pane, and Spataro himself. <br /><br />The work was both published and printed in Bergamo.
Pasquale Spataro
La Nuova Italia Letteraria
1957
21.5 x 15.5cm; 235 p.
Italian
<em><strong>America! America!: atti e memorie del popolo</strong></em> [America! America! Acts and Memoirs of the People]. <strong>Casalvelino Scalo [Salerno]: Ed. Giuseppe Galzerano, 1979 [1981].</strong>
Antonio Margariti (b. Ferruzzano, Reggio Calabria, Italy, 1891 – d. Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, 1981) published these memoirs in 1979 at age 87. This "savage and touching" book (Durante) awakened a vast interest, so much so as to be a finalist for the Viareggio Literary Prize. <br /><br />The education of the poor Calabrian immigrant took place entirely in America through his frequenting of anarchist circles; Margariti committed himself, among other things, to the circulation of <em>L'Adunata dei Refrattari</em> and of <em>Il Martello</em>, as well as to committees for Sacco and Vanzetti and to antifascist initiatives.<br /><br />For Margariti and many other immigrants, the anarchist circle represented therefore a social occasion that, for the first time, allowed them to attend theatrical events, concerts, picnics, and dances. It also offered educational opportunities, a school for critical thinking (often a real school, with teachers, courses, and classes). Here one could better define and give historical breadth to those spontaneous and rebellious inclinations that the helpless confrontation with priests, bosses, and all sorts of profiteers had nurtured for a long time. <br /><br />Workers from all over the country became <em>galleanisti</em> (followers of Galleani), even if this did not mean that they were strict observers of the famous leader’s doctrine. These memoirs, written in Calabrian dialect by the unlettered Margariti, were translated into Italian by the publisher.
Antonio Margariti
Ed. Giuseppe Galzerano
1979 [1981]
19.5 x 14cm; 136 p.
Italian
<p><strong><i>Il giornalismo degli emigrati italiani nel Nord America </i></strong>[Journalism of the Emigrant Italians in North America].<strong> Chicago: Casa Editrice del giornale “L’Italia,” 1909.</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Though himself a founder of a newspaper, </span><i><span style="font-weight:400;">Il Pensiero </span></i><span style="font-weight:400;">[</span><span style="font-weight:400;">Thought] in 1904 in St. Louis, Carnovale denounces Italian American journalism in this work. In one of the newspaper articles collected here, Carnovale writes, p. 10, “this poor intellectual and moral organism – Italian American journalism – nothing but an ugly parasitical beast, a ‘filthy, fraudulent image invading the world with its stink.’ Everyone feels qualified to aim their darts (luckily, less poisonous than dirty) of backbiting, of the worst kind of slander, of the most ferocious persecution and the most vulgar scorn against it.” <br /><br />Durante (94-96) has a fine though brief biography of Carnovale, with quotations from several of his works. Born in Calabria, Carnovale came to the U.S. in 1902. He used the newspapers for which he wrote to voice his anti-clerical opinions, as well as to express the frustrations of all Italian Americans seeking civil justice for their less fortunate expatriates.</span></p>
Luigi Carnovale
Chicago: Casa Editrice del Giornale “L’Italia"
1909
book
Italian