| The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture Contributor(s): DeSalvo, Louise (Editor), Guinta, Edvige (Author) |
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ISBN: 1558614532 ISBN-13: 9781558614536 Publisher: Feminist Press OUR PRICE: $16.10 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2003 Annotation: Now in paperback, this spirited and groundbreaking anthology defies generations of stereotypes about Italian American women. Here, more than fifty writers respond to and explode the familiar stock images: the nurturant grandmother lovingly stirring the sauce, the domineering mother wielding wooden spoon and garlic press. In place of these clichs, they offer a sumptuous communal feast of poetry, stories, and memoir, in which readers can taste the authentic experiences of Italian American women in all their fascinating diversity. Louise DeSalvo is professor of English at Hunter College, City University of New York. Her thirteen books include the memoir "Vertigo," Edvige Giunta is associate professor of English at New Jersey City University. She is the author of "Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors," |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Anthologies (multiple Authors) - Literary Criticism | Women Authors |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 2002005262 |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 5.6" W x 8.8" (1.09 lbs) 346 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "A vast, thoroughly wonderful assortment of poetry, memoirs and stories . . . that defines today's female Italian-American experience" (Publishers Weekly). Often stereotyped as nurturing others through food, Italian-American women have often struggled against this simplistic image to express the realities of their lives. In this unique collection, over 50 Italian-American female writers speak in voices that are loud, boisterous, sweet, savvy, and often subversively funny. Drawing on personal and cultural memories rooted in experiences of food, they dissolve conventional images, replacing them with a sumptuous, communal feast of poetry, stories, and memoir. This collection also delves into unexpected, sometimes shocking terrain as these courageous authors bear witness to aspects of the Italian American experience that normally go unspoken--mental illness, family violence, incest, drug addiction, AIDS, and environmental degradation. As provocative as it is appetizing, "this collection of verse and prose pieces . . . reveals the evocative and provocative power of food as event and as symbol, as well as the diversity of these women's lives and their ambivalence regarding the role of nurturer" (Library Journal). |