Writing With An Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors [Paperback]

Edvige Giunta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0312294697 | ISBN-13: 978-0312294694

Writing with an Accent explores the variety of uses of ethnic voice in the narratives of contemporary Italian American women. Writers such as Mary Cappello, Louise DeSalvo, Agnes Rossi, Helen Barolini, Tina De Rosa, and Sandra M. Gilbert enact, in their works, a self-silencing of ethnic voice, critically modifying accepted representations and mythologies of Italian American culture through distinct and inventive narrative inflections. Accent, that which emphasizes and alters language, functions as the cultural and metaphorical lens through which Giunta reads a rich body of work that is still awaiting widespread recognition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Edvige Giunta's latest foray into the world of Italian-American women
writers is a compelling mixture of criticism, memoir and more.
-Fra Noi

Writing with an Accent makes a strong case that the Italian American
community has much to thank its women artists for.
-Women's Review of Books

About the Author

Edvige Giunta is Assistant Professor of English at New Jersey City University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312294697
• ISBN-13: 978-0312294694
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,293,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaking silences and giving voice to women's experiences, February 11, 2002

By 

Mary Saracino (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing With An Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors (Hardcover)

Edvige Giunta writes eloquently of the nuances of ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality as it pertains to Italian American women writers. She has excavated the rich mother lode of an important cultural literary tradition that has too long been overlooked and undervalued. The literary "accent" that Giunta so keenly identifies lies in being "other", outside the mainstream, accepted elite, white male literary point-of-view. The candance of Italian American women's writing is deep and resonant and as diverse as the women who put pen to paper. It echoes our relationships to time, place, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation--and gives voice to our multi-varied identities. Giunta's book sheds light on an important literary lineage, identifying both established and emerging Italian American women writers. Her contribution to the Italian American literary criticism is invaulable and long overdue. Giunta's prose is as compelling as her thesis. This book speaks to scholars, writers, and readers of all backgrounds. Read it!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Light Emerging from the Smoky Darkness, January 15, 2003

By 

Annaliza Ronquillo (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing With An Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors (Paperback)

I have had the pleasure of having Ms. Edvige Giunta as a professor and a mentor in my life. It was an experience that I hold and will always hold close to my heart. She had always been so supportive of my work and others' work that it filled me with immense joy when I heard that she published her own book. She is a brilliant writer and is quite eloquent and evocative when it comes to knitting two different cultures together, through the magic of her words and the gift of her heart. Read her book- I recommend it, a hundred times for eternal life and I guarantee that her vision will change your life...