In the century between 1870 and 1970, about twenty-seven million migrants left Italy to work and live abroad. As a result, the worldwide Italian diaspora reportedly numbers more than sixty million people. Until now, however, there has not been an anthology devoted to the literature of the Italian diaspora that places it in a global context. This landmark volume presents a truly international selection of works by more than seventy Italian-language poets who are writing in countries from Australia to Venezuela. Their poetry is collected here into eleven geographical regions. The history and current state of Italian-language poetry in each region receives a critical overview by a knowledgeable scholar, who also introduces each poet and provides a bibliography of his or her work. All poems appear on facing pages in both Italian and English.
Poets of the Italian Diaspora is part of a long-range project, by the editors and contributors, to expand the boundaries of the Italian literary canon.

Poets of the Italian Diaspora is a bilingual anthology of the work of more than 70 Italian expatriate poets, for the most part unknown outside the regions in which they live. Their work has been translated by a team of experienced and renowned translators, and each region and poet are prefaced with a critical introduction by an expert scholar.

About the Author
Luigi Bonaffini is Professor of Italian at Brooklyn College. He is the editor of the Journal of Italian Translation. Joseph Perricone is Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Fordham University. He is the book review editor of the Journal of Italian Translation.

Reviews
"This book is at the same time a vast discovery and an intimate conversation. All my life I have been curious about the other Italians. I lived in Italy for a year and came to know my relatives there at the same time that I visited the blank spaces where my grandparents and parents and sisters and cousins might have been. Reading this spectacular anthology, I have begun to know the other other Italians, those who have settled in the world's wide spaces, places I have never seen, and to know these distant cousins by way of those elusive truths that only poets can tell." -- -Robert Viscusi The Wolfe Institute "Poets of the Italian Diaspora: A Bilingual Anthology is both an historical and ground-breaking book. It is at the forefront in the recognition of Italophone literature, something that Italy should have unearthed decades ago. With this anthology, Bonaffini and Perricone offer the reader, for the first time, a broad panorama of modern and contemporary Italian lyrical writing outside the geo-cultural boundaries of Italy." -- -Anthony Julian Tamburri Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute "Perricone and Bonafini have collected the best Italian emigre poets from around the world. Here is a rich sampling of their poetry. Whether you call them immigrants, exiles, refugees or displaced persons, every one speaks from the soul with an Italian accent, expressing sentiments of a global phenomenon through a shared native language. The accompanying translations enable English speakers to connect to their experiences. The result is a collection that enables comparative Italian Diasporan studies on a scale never before attempted." -- -Fred Gardaphe John D. Calandra Institute "An outstanding pioneering work that will mark a milestone in Italian Studies and will serve as the foundation of a new discipline, the literature of the Italian Diaspora." -- -Sante Matteo Miami University



Book Information
ISBN 9780823232543
Author Luigi Bonaffini
Format Paperback
Page Count 1115
Imprint Fordham University Press
Publisher Fordham University Press