Carole Giangrande is the author of seven books—two novels and a short story collection (Cormorant), two works of nonfiction (Anansi), and the award-winning novella A Gardener on the Moon (Quattro). Her new novella, Midsummer, was published this spring by Inanna.
Ahead of her Nov. 5 visit, Carole drops by the blog today with this guest post.
Not Your Shrinking Violet
With the release of a new book, a ticking time-bomb always lies in wait, usually in the form of a nasty review. The good news: none of those for Midsummer. The weird news: faint, bleeping signals from the primitive “Who am I?” centre of the brain—and I thought I’d chucked that kind of introspection (along with my love-beads) long ago. Looks like my inner teen has been trying to sort things out.
It’s about ethnicity. Midsummer is a novella set in New York City, on the first day of the summer of 2000, as an Italian-American family gathers with relatives visiting from Rome. They’re dining at the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center; well below is the subway tunnel dug by their immigrant ancestor.
Because of the subject matter, I’ve found myself mingling with Italian-Canadian authors and reading for audiences of the same background. As an immigrant to Canada with an distinctive Italian surname, you’d think I’d fit right in.
Not quite. The more I tuned in to the Italian-Canadian vibe, the more I realized that I wasn’t playing the same chords as the rest of the band. Most of my colleagues had either emigrated from Italy or were the children of immigrants. As a result, themes of loss and exile, struggle and belonging run through the work of Italian-Canadian writers.
This is not my world—not exactly. Apart from travel and efforts to learn the language, I have no connection at all to Italy. My grandparents immigrated to New York City as children more than a century ago. My parents, aunts and uncles spoke the Neapolitan dialect, and while I grew up appreciating Italian food and culture, Italian wasn’t taught in school. Had it been, I would have chosen a different language—Japanese, say—but I was just as happy to study French. I came to Canada for university, married and made my home here. And yes, eventually, I got around to studying Italian.
Ethnicity? I’m American. That’s the country that formed me, the identity to which I lay claim. Only the term “ethnic” pertains to minorities. So, O.K.— Italian-American, to be precise. Here’s a distinction: my Canadian friends of Italian background return to Sicily or Puglia to be nourished at their roots, while I do the same with the meandering downtown streets of Manhattan, the parks of the Bronx (where I began my life), and the leafy corners of Westchester County, the suburb where I later lived.
That said, “American” is a tricky (and sometimes overbearing) identity to claim—not your shrinking-violet next-door neighbour. I used to be an on-air person on CBC Radio, and during the show, my producer would sometimes receive irate calls about my way of pronouncing various words. “Is that—an American?” the caller would say, as if he or she had been exposed to the scratchings of a large rodent. I worried about losing my job and I worked hard to erase my accent.
I’ve since decided that whatever its flaws, I like the country I come from.
In Canada, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” ethnic slot. As an American, I get to identify myself as such, even if my last name points to a more obvious ethnicity, an ancestral country that is, for me, a vanished place. Instead I cherish the peculiar beauty of Long Island Sound, the intense vitality of Manhattan’s streets, the sharing of common history with loved ones and, yes, the freedom to let my vowels collapse into New Yorkese. Yet, I’m Italian-American—and that’s a bit different from other Americans, as I learned growing up. But that’s a story for another day.
Carole Giangrande visits the Brockton Writers Series on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 — full of beans Coffee House & Roastery, 1348 Dundas St. W., Toronto (7pm, PWYC) — along with IF the Poet, Sheniz Janmohamed and Zoe Whittall. Come early, too (6:30) for for Rock Your Cover Design: How to Create a Captivating Cover that Captures Your Book’s Vision, a special talk by Suzanne Alyssa Andrew, author of Circle of Stones (Dundurn, 2015).
IF the Poet (Ian French) channels the wisdom of Spirit, the rage of the wounded and the yearning that resides in every human heart. His poems are a “shout-out to the sacredness of our days, a three-chord party jam, and a tribute to the triumph of love over fear.” IF is a member of the 2013 National Champion Toronto Slam Poetry Team and the 2014 Canadian Individual Slam Champion. By way of introduction, he sent BWS this beautiful video! Enjoy!
Brockton Writers Series 