A Circular Journey collects for the first time in one book the essays that most powerfully define the unique gifts of one of America's most distinctive voices. These fifteen pieces, tracking some thirty years of a writer's life, come together to illuminate the stages and themes and places that mark Helen Barolini's art. Divided into three closely linked sections-Home,Abroad,Return,-the essays move through Barolini's worlds. Her love of literature began when, as a child growing up as an avid reader in Syracuse, New York, she was presented with a diary and told to write in it. Returning to the heritage of her Italian immigrant grandparents, she moved to Italy as a young writer. There she lived for many years, becoming acquainted with the brightest of Italy's literary lights. The accomplished poet, novelist, and critic she became now lives at home in two nurturing cultures, America and Italy both.The essays are memoirs of her house on a street named for Henry James's grandfather, tales of literary journeys from Taos to Taormina, and Paris to Rome, as the young bride of a poet from the Veneto and, later on, as a distinguished writer whose explorations of identity and dislocation took her back to Italian inspirations.From a delightful account of a writing fellowship in an exquisite villa overlooking the Italian lakes to her first trip back to discover distant family roots in the hills of Calabria, Barolini moves lyrically through the generations of her life, giving form to the influences that shaped her art and her sense of self-as an American, a woman, and a gifted daughter of the two cultures she has so powerfully imagined.Praise for Helen BaroliniAn impassioned and magnificent contribution to our knowledge of what it has meant and means still to be an ethnic American and woman . . . . a book of heroic recovery and affirmation.-Alice Walker (on The Dream Book)Large in scope, in depth, and in the gift of narrative.-Cynthia Ozick (on Umbertina)
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Editorial Reviews
Review
. . .Suceeds as a unified work that takes the reader on a stimulating and satisfying voyage.-Caterina Edwards
What is best and most passionate about this memoir is following Barolini on her journey of self discovery as she becomes that woman.
A good read-even for the non-Italian!
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
Helen Barolini is the recipient of numerous prizes, including an NEA grant and an American Book Award. Her books include Umbertina and The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian-American Women.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A distinctive journey through the phases and transformations of life reflected in literary art,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Circular Journey (Hardcover)
A Circular Journey by novelist, critic, and poet Helen Barolini is a collection of fifteen essays drawn from her life memories, and her acclimation to the best of two worlds - the distinct cultures of America and Italy. From early childhood to her marriage to a poet to her experiences as a writer which connected her to Italian inspirations through themes of identity and dislocation, A Circular Journey traces each step with wisdom, heart, acknowledgment, gratitude, and optimism. A distinctive journey through the phases and transformations of life reflected in literary art.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
James Street, where I lived from infancy through my twenty-second year, begins in downtown Syracuse at Clinton Square, continues a straight course eastbound reaching an elevated point at Oak Street, then proceeds on to become a commercial artery in the Eastwood neighborhood, ending miles from start in East Syracuse. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, James Street, Italian American, Lake Como, United States, Signora Levi, Magna Graecia, World War, Antonio Barolini, John Cheever, Greg Dening, Henry James, Lake Oneida, Oneida Lake, Syracuse University, Old World, South Bay, The Leopard, Villa Serbelloni, Wells College, Aunt Grace, Award Night, Cook Ave, Erie Canal, Kit Carson New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
James Street, where I lived from infancy through my twenty-second year, begins in downtown Syracuse at Clinton Square, continues a straight course eastbound reaching an elevated point at Oak Street, then proceeds on to become a commercial artery in the Eastwood neighborhood, ending miles from start in East Syracuse. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, James Street, Italian American, Lake Como, United States, Signora Levi, Magna Graecia, World War, Antonio Barolini, John Cheever, Greg Dening, Henry James, Lake Oneida, Oneida Lake, Syracuse University, Old World, South Bay, The Leopard, Villa Serbelloni, Wells College, Aunt Grace, Award Night, Cook Ave, Erie Canal, Kit Carson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 26
books:
See all 26 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot on page 85, and page 194
- Small World by David Lodge on page 142
- The Wapshot Scandal (Perennial Classics) by John Cheever on page 166
- The Wapshot Chronicle (Perennial Classics) by John Cheever on page 162
- The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writing by Italian American Women (Writing American Women) by Helen Barolini in Front Matter
See all 26 books this book cites
- Italian Signs, American Streets: The Evolution of Italian American Narrative (New Americanists) by Fred L. Gardaphé on page 124, and Back Matter
- Writing With An Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors by Edvige Giunta in Back Matter
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