Synopses & Reviews
Taking an unconventional approach to autobiographical writing, this work serves as a double memoir, told in dialogue between a mother and a daughter. The conversation takes place in a medieval town high up in the Italian mountains, as the author, a Canadian writer, draws out her mother's childhood memories of life in southern Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. As they re-create that vanished world, the pair also finds greater understanding of the tumultuous relationships that sometimes exist between immigrant mothers and their children.
Synopsis
Drawing out her mother's childhood memories of life in southern Italy at the dawn of the twentieth century, Mary Melfi takes an unconventional approach to autobiographical writing. Italy Revisited serves as a double memoir, told in dialogue between a mother and a daughter. The conversation takes the reader to a medieval town high up in the mountains where time is told by the shadow the sun casts, where wheat and olive oil are the currency of choice (barter is in use), and where marriage is as much about property as it is about love. As they re-create that vanished world, the pair finds greater understanding of the tumultuous relationships that sometimes exist between immigrant mothers and their children.
About the Author
Mary Melfi is the author of Infertility Rites, Sex Therapy, and Stages. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.