ITALIAN AMERICAN CULTURE, FILM AND LITERATURE

Prof. Fabio Girelli-Carasi
ASSIGNMENT 9  NOV 5
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READING

Christ in Concrete. "JOB" pp. 21-84

1)  HOW TO READ CHRIST IN CONCRETE

 

  • READ the text OUT LOUD IN YOUR MIND.
     
  • FIND THE RHYTHM as if you were reading poetry or the lyrics of a ballad (Robert Frost comes to mind, rhyme excluded.)
     
  • It's not necessary to remember the names of secondary characters and who said what to whom. Don't expect directions like "He said" "She answered" "He thought" "She told herself" etc.
     
  • Lines of dialogue are introduced without attribution. In certain points several people are talking (choir/chorus effect) but individuals are not identified (see page 21-22; 32 for example.)
     
  • At times you will also find a character speaking a line followed by a thought without a clear transition.
     
  • There are several passages where THE SOUND of language wants to reproduce THE SOUNDS of the work place.  These are strings of words without punctuation intend to create a sound effect (page 8 "Trowel rang.." 46 "Racing up floor cubed..."; "Compression engines snort viciously.."
    BEST PURE NARRATIVE EXAMPLE: p. 170 Steel.)
2)  LANGUAGE


Di Donato wanted to render into English the texture and nuances of the ITALIAN speech of his characters. In order to do so, he opted to TRANSLATE LITERALLY (aka, transliteration) from Italian into English.
 

Here are a few examples:

FOR PLEASURE translates PER PIACERE which means PLEASE

I SENSE BAD: MI SENTO MALE (I feel sick - I don't feel well)

SEAFRUIT: FRUTTI DI MARE (seafood: mussels, clams, shrimp etc.)

MOTHER MINE: MAMMA MIA

CHILDREN MINE: BAMBINI MIEI (children of mine)

SISTER MINE: SORELLA MIA (sister of mine)

FORCE: FORZA (push, keep going, c'mon)

THE HEAD IS SEEN: SI VEDE LA TESTA (we can see the head)
Ch. 2 JOB  "Job" plays on the double-entendre and polysemic value of  the word. The reference is to the biblical "BOOK OF JOB" whose endless and purely gratuitous tribulations have always created an insurmountable interpretive problem for theologians of all faiths. See the biblical story of Job here.)  The fact that Di Donato writes "Job" only with the capitalized initial and uses no articles (*the job) renders Job a real-life character in the narration.

25. "The wop.."

33. For hours her love's violence flowed.

41. "Let me go! Let me escape! This role I do not wish to play!"

42. Except our need.

41. Did Annunziata hear all they said?

45. In his boardinghouse bunk.

51. Here comes the son of dead Geremio.

53. "Well, then, he wasn't a citizen."

57. "Whattsa matta you!"

58. "I have nothing to do with the charities."

64. War with the Huns = World War I (1914-1917)  America.....

65. Christian = example of metonymy: it stands for "humane, compassionate person"

66. What cock of Christians = "what kind of a *#@&*  Christian" ?

66. Just = Right

67. Pig of God = one of the heaviest curses and imprecations in Italian

68. Santos: narrator's bravura

73. Hollering at girls (grapes)

78. Stream of consciousness

79. Wife from Italy

81. Godfather this cock (see p. 66 note)

82: Job as character: stream of consciousness.

85. Ci Luigi's Italian (86, 87)

92. That's the way the world is