Novel paesans: the reconstruction of Italian-American male identity in Anthony Valerio's conversation with Johnny and Robert Viscusi's Astoria.(Critical Essay) From: MELUS | Date: June 22, 2001| Author: Guida, George | COPYRIGHT 2001 The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Do we need to rehabilitate the paesan?

What I mean is, do we need to reconstruct the public identity of the Italian-American man? If we survey the great cocktail party of the American literary scene, we recognize in the crowd the faces of many Italian-American men: among the writers of fiction, Don DeLillo; among the poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti; among the scholars, Frank Lentricchia; among the editors, Jonathan Galassi; even among the captains of our literary industry, ...