Description
Book SynopsisUsing original sources - such as newspaper articles, silent movies, letters, autobiographies, and interviews - Ilaria Serra depicts a large tapestry of images that accompanied mass Italian migration to the U.S. at the turn of the twentieth century. She chooses to translate the Italian concept of immaginario with the Latin imago that felicitously blends the double English translation of the word as 'imagery' and 'imaginary'. Imago is a complex knot of collective representations of the immigrant subject, a mental production that finds concrete expression; impalpable, yet real. The 'imagined immigrant' walks alongside the real one in flesh and rags.
Trade ReviewSerra provides a persuasive argument in her analysis of themes, symbols and stereotypes….The Imagined Immigrant redefines the historical, giving new significance to literary and cinematic perspectives on the immigrant experience. Although the accounts may be subjective, they present a crucial piece of history, one that has a beating heart. * Annali D'Italianistica *
Illaria Serra has pulled together a fascinating array of sources and begun the task of examining in some detail what she calls the "reality" of the imagined immigrant during the Great Migration...The Imagined Immigrant does valuable work in revealing the complexity and diversity of the immigrant experience. Building on this productive, interdisciplinary approach, Serra and other researchers can further explore these rich materials to more fully recreate the immigrants' mental world. * Italian American *
