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ALMERINI, SENECA, CASTELLUCCI: THE UPPER CLASS LOOKS (DOWN) AT THE IMMIGRANTS
Doctor Achille Almerini,[1] ear, nose and throat specialist; graduated from medical school in Italy and moved to New York where he opened a successful practice with mostly Italian clients. With a difficult personality, always complaining and grumpy, he left America three or four times and finally returned to Italy where he concluded his life. His was the typical example of the chronic unhappiness that grabs many immigrants who, while they are in America are nostalgic for Italy; but as soon as they go back they realize they can’t do without America which, in the meantime, has become a sort of addiction. Like most of the people in his social class he was not satisfied with fare l’America. He was struck by the coarseness and ignorance of the former cafoni, but mostly by their vanity after they had made money or achieved some measure of success. The nationalist undertone of those times can be read in a couple of his sonnets.
In other compositions we can read the irritation toward Americans who keep foreigners at bay; the antipathy toward Jewish competitors (regularly called giudei);[4] or the protest against prohibition that prevented Italians from drinking wine, as in the following Noah Got Drunk
This piece is in standard Italian, not in lingo and not even slang. The Italian American lingo appears instead in his most famous sonnets, full of sarcasm, whose function is to ridicule the enriched cafone. Here is one where such character speaks:
* LEGENDA: the original Italian text contains vernacular terms and expressions. The English translation keeps the original terms in Italics.
Pasquale Seneca’s[5] (1890-1952) work was similar to Almerini’s , but instead of satirical verses he preferred a sort of jocular narrative. He was a teacher of Italian at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Seneca took aim at the president of a fictional Italian association, in one of those colonial events where the main attraction was the vanity and ignorance of the immigrants who were trying to imitate the rituals of American society. Il Presidente Scoppetta[6] ovvero la Società della Madonna della Pace [The President Scoppetta or the Madonna of Peace Society], printed at the author’s expense, is a series of comical/satirical vignettes of Italian American customs, dedicated to Eduardo Migliaccio (Farfariello) and clearly inspired by his satirical works. This is not exactly a work of art. The official events represented were taken from reports that appeared in the Opinione,[7] a Philadelphia newspaper. The humor is too facile and obvious and the narration has no depth. In Seneca’s pamphlets the members of this fictional society fight with each other; beat each other up; stab one another; maneuver to steal each other’s official position; deliver ungrammatical speeches similar to those in the Commedia dell’arte and so forth. The goal is to induce laughter through verbal misunderstandings. The characters all are immigrants from the town of Brigantello [Little Brigandville] in southern Italy who settled in one of the major cities of the Union. The main character is Francesco Saverio Scoppetta, founder of the newspaper La Calzetta d’Italia[8] and owner of a passage agency. What kind of passages these were, it’s left vague, although, some claimed it was the passage that money made from other people’s pockets to his own. Obviously these people were mean spirited and were spreading gossips that the president had a rather dubious past, and that he had to flee his hometown to avoid being arrested by the authorities. In any case, he now was one of the richest members of the community and a very powerful politiscia [politician]. Of average stature, stocky; with small and lively eyes; a red and fleshy nose and thick moustache, he gave the impression of being smart and funny. This was Scoppetta. He would be everywhere and take care of everything by himself. Scoppetta here and Scoppetta there. He knew what wedding would take place even before the spouses themselves knew they were getting married. And there would be no shoot-out before he had determined who was going to be shot. He was much, much more involved than a Rossini’s factotum.[9] His enemies had their work cut off for them in trying to denigrate him! Scoppetta was highly aware of the great services he had rendered to his fellow paesani and of the credit he had accumulated with the entire colony. “I, I” he used to say, “I startated (started) Italianism and analphabetism in this nationality.” [“Io ho startato l’italianismo e l’analfabetismo in questa nazionalità.”] Among the society’s activities there are picchinicchi [picnics], banquets and weddings; schemes for a cavaliere[10]medal; rivalries among groups; patriotic parades; members’ funerals… In short, every imaginable occasion for mooching food; making bombastic speeches; engaging in conflicts of vanity and interests; showing off recently acquired wealth that were—and still are—the raison d’être of Italian American associations. Even with the exaggerations of caricature, President Scoppetta reflects the conditions of the community that existed, more or less with identical characteristics, in stagnant immigration centers on the outskirts of large American metropolitan centers. The sharp-eyed observation on the part of a few educated individuals marked a conscious distance between the urban class and the peasants who had just undergone the process of urbanization. This is a distinction that is as old as Italian literature. Pretty similar is the inspiration (to use a term adopted by our local Italian poets) of Dante’s Adventures in America,[11] by V.A. Castellucci, clearly the pseudonym of an author who could not use his name. I picked up some clues that lead me to believe it must be a Florentine, probably a priest. In one of his satirical poem, the protagonist, Virgilio F. Publius,[12] a colonist—that is a cafone—trudges through vernacular insecurities by mixing together languages and creating some kind of Italian American vocabulary. Virgilio came to America before Dante and when the latter arrives, he welcomes him with his horrendous language:
Finalmente Dante, ti hai diciso di[13] approdare su queste sciore sarpando l’Attellante con la stessa stima che trasportò maiselfe lazz taim ego. L’appinessa di questo momento mi fa dimenticare evritinga: dimenticar persino la deprescion, il ripillo del diocettisimo mandamento e la vittoria di La Guardia…
[Finally, Dante, you decided to land on these shores sailing the Atlantic with the same steamer that carried myself lots of time ago. The happiness of this moment makes me forget everything: I even forget the depression, the repeal of the Eighteenth amendment[14] and La Guardia’s victory…]
This language is way overdone, too heavy-handed, and doesn’t have the plebeian mocking value of popular songs. Here one can hear an educated person from a small town imagining how the cafoni speak Dante’s language. Even the dialect words aren’t real: they are artificial, created for comic effect like in Pig Latin. I can’t imagine any immigrant ever using the word gretti for great or sciore for beach. The theme, however, is similar to that of the other examples I mentioned. [1] Achille Almerini (1881-1947). [2] Here giuda stands for Jew. Giuda in Italian refers commonly to Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus. The assonance between jew and Giuda makes the two terms almost interchangeable. It also sounds very similar to giudeo, which was the common term for Jewish and Jew throughout the nineteenth century. The fact that this term is still used by the author signals scorn and contempt. [3] Implying “Why don’t Italians wash?” [4] As explained in a previous footnote, in this poem the author uses the much stronger giuda instead of giudeo/giudei. [5] Pasquale Seneca (1890-1952). Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelpia, Pa. [6] Scoppetta is Sicilian for double-barrel shotgun. [7] L'Opinione. (1906-1935). Philadelphia, PA. [8] Pun. Calzetta plays on the phonetic similarity with Gazzetta (Gazette.) Calzetta in standard Italian means ankle sock. The expression una mezza calzetta (half a sock) is used to indicate a person of little consequence, worthy or little or no consideration. [9] Reference to Gioacchino Rossini’s character of Figaro in the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia. Factotum is Latin for “Jack-of-All-Trades.” [10] Cavaliere literally means knight. It is an official title bestowed by the Italian government on individuals who have distinguished themselves in their fields of endeavor. The title is given both to Italians and foreigners and it is highly coveted especially abroad among descendants of Italian immigrants where it is a rarity. [11] Castellucci, V. A. Le avventure di Dante in America; poemetto satirico umoristico. New York, Italian Publishers, 1935. [12] The reference is to Publius Vergilius Maro, the Ancient Rome’s poet author of the Aeneid, and Dante’s guide through the Inferno. [13] Substandard Italian for ti sei deciso a. [14] The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages. (It is not generally well known that the amendment did not prohibit the purchase or consumption of alcohol.) |