Italian-American...But Not: Some Thoughts on Cultural Influences in Writing: Moving Beyond the Clichés

Recently, I’ve gotten word about an interesting book called “Essays in Italian-American Literature and Culture” - a book I have every intention of reading. I suppose this would make sense, being that for one, this is a topic that interests me greatly, and two, being of Italian/Sicilian descent myself, this is something that would naturally interest me on a level beyond my interests in writing. Seeing this book got me thinking about a couple of things. First, the fact that there are very few works of fiction out there about Italian-American culture that isn’t mired in the stereotypes about being in the Mafia, or reflect the inanity of recent television programs like “Jersey Shore” and “Mob Wives.” The good ones do exist, or course, but oddly, they have to be sought out. There have been some very well known ones: “Christ in Concrete” by Pietro Di Donato, for one; Mario Puzo’s “The Fortunate Pilgrim” (a by far superior novel to his best known “The Godfather”); and of course, there's John Fante. Not too many others that come to mind but I’m sure they are out there. Unfortunately there aren’t too many Italian-American writers writing about the Italian-American experience and those who have, often relate stories rooted in the past, dealing with the issues that their ancestors had dealt with: immigration, the hardships of immigrant life, etc. Anything else you’ll be able to find quite often has to do with the Mafia, which is unfortunate, and only perpetuates the long held stereotypes. 

I got to thinking about how my cultural background informs my own writing. Does it? Well, yes, it does to a certain degree. In all my novels thus far, the protagonists have all been of Italian descent, even those characters who had been born in South America. In “November Rust”, the two main characters are Italian-Americans from the United States; in “Nadería”, the main character is of Sicilian background and the two main women protagonists are Italians via Uruguay (This was my way of showing how Italian immigration didn’t all come through Ellis Island); in “Be Still and Know That I Am”, the main family is of Italian descent; and in my latest, “Mediterráneo”, the two main characters are Italian-Americans in search of their roots in their (fictional) ancestral town - and the whole story takes place in Italy.  Out of all of these books, “Be Still...” is probably the closest I ever got to actually writing an “Italian-American novel”, and even that one is only informed by it, not about it, and there was a specific reason for this. I do not see myself as an “Italian-American writer” - but a writer who happens to be Italian-American. (Just like I don’t see myself as a “New York writer” but a writer that just happened to be born and raised in New York).  

There are a few reasons for this, the main one being, that I never want to put myself in a box. I want to be able to write about anything I want to write about. The main reason why my protagonists tend to be Italian-Americans is because I, in my own way, want to contribute stories in which Italian-Americans are the main characters without falling into the trap of the clichés and stereotypes one normally sees when confronted with Italian-American characters in fiction. I feel they are underrepresented, or more often than not, caricatures, reminiscent of “Snooki” or some other half-wit the general public usually associates with Italian-Americans. But my stories are not “Italian-American” stories. Far from them. Although the characters are Italian-Americans, and quite often their background often informs who they are and many references are made about the culture throughout, my characters are who they are, and sometimes they aren’t all that heroic. I have to admit that in my latest novel, ‘The Mafia” does rear its ugly head - the ‘Ndragheta - but since the story is essentially a crime story (or thriller, or something akin to it), it managed to work its way in, although it is not emphasized or explicit. It’s implied more than anything else and the focus is more on the characters than any nefarious organization. Sometimes there is a need for it, if the story calls for it. I’m not against Italian-American stories that include the Mafia, only those that tend to glorify them, which my new novel certainly does not. 

Although I wouldn't exactly call myself an "Italian-American writer" I would love to see more novels written by Italian-Americans which don’t necessarily adhere to certain clichés that have arisen that have nothing to do with organized crime or the Mafia. For instance, there are plenty of novels where the protagonist is a young Italian-American female who vacations in Tuscany then suddenly falls in love with the local farmer, or whoever, and there she is, a fish out of water (because she’s an American) trying to navigate the space between her ancestry (and her Americanism) and the local population and customs; or those novels where the protagonist is a lover of food and find a paradise by heading off to Italy to learn all the culinary treasures the culture has to offer. To my mind, an Italian-American writer does not necessarily have to adhere to Italian-American themes in an overt way. There is one Italian-American writer whose work is informed by his background, but doesn’t overtly write about it: Don DeLillo. It seems to me that Italian-American organizations - including those who specific purpose is to highlight literature written by Italian-Americans - often give attention to those books that are overtly “Italian-American” in theme, more often than not, those books written like what I mentioned above, or those that are written that reflect their ancestor’s immigrant experience when first coming to America. Nothing wrong with these stories at all - I would read them if I could find them - but what I fear is the danger of falling into a certain “sensibility”, which often leads to a certain kind of orthodoxy, which would, in my opinion, shut out those writers of Italian-American descent who’s work may be informed by their cultural background in some way, but not necessarily be about it. This, in some way, is what I am trying to do with my stories (although there will be times what I write will have absolutely nothing to do with Italian-American themes). The last thing one should want to ask is, "Is this 'Italian' enough?" 

The current fiction coming out of Italy itself has been amazing in my opinion. The current crop of Italian writers are working very hard to come up with a modern literature that reflects their culture the way it is, in a highly realistic manner, devoid of all the clichés an American reader of Italian descent would expect. Writers like Niccoló Ammaniti, Massimo Carlotto, Diego De Silva, Margaret Mazzantini, Sandro Veronesi, Domenico Staronone, Stefano Beni, and a host of others, are, in my mind, seeking to come up with a specifically Italian literature, one which reflects their culture today. American readers of Italian descent should read these novels. While their “Italian-ness” is clearly evident, ironically, many of them seem to be influenced by American writing, although they are obviously trying to put it all in an Italian context. Perhaps Italian-American writers can take a cue from the current Italian writers. In my mind that would enrich the stories being told in an American context. While stories about grandma’s cooking and grandpa’s struggles when first coming to America are important themes to cover in Italian-American fiction (all of us of Italian-American descent can easily relate to them), there should be room for those stories that want to push it in another direction; works informed by their cultural heritage, but not necessarily about it. 


The Italian-American experience as changed a lot since the days our grandparents entered Ellis Island. It would be nice to see more attention paid to works written by Italian-American writers that are not about that but are still, in some sense, Italian-American in theme. As it is, fictional works that are in some way "Italian-American" in theme are in short supply and the bigger question is, why is that? An even larger question is, out of those that are being written, why is it that only those that have to do with the Mafia and organized crime or are in some way rooted in the past? Is there room for a thoroughly modern "Italian-American" novel? Are there those works of fiction that are written by the children of immigrants that reflect their own experiences rather than those of their parents and/or grandparents? Perhaps the issue is purely generational - the children of Italian-American immigrants being so thoroughly "American" now that these themes are no longer relevant? I don't have the answer, but for this one reader, it would be nice to see.