In this article, I propose to think of spaces as sites of production and manifestation of memory, which, in turn, constitutes a transnational formation, one that can hardly be discursively fixed. In particular, my analysis of Dorothy Bryant's 1978 novel Miss Giardino uncovers how transmemory, or the intergenerational transmission of memory from diasporic to ethnic subjects, complicates ideas of Italian belonging. I turn to the study of space, with an emphasis on the multiethnic neighborhood of The Mission, in the east-central part of San Francisco, to address the mediation between Italian diasporic past and interethnic present. While acknowledging that forms of inherited memory (or postmemory), such as class memory, affect the social practice of place intergenerationally, I also aim to show that in transmemory spaces are made differently meaningful. Ultimately, reframing spaces of Italian migrations through the lens of transmemory offers a way to move us forward from impasses in Transnational Italian Studies and diaspora debates that assign to memory an overly static and national paradigm.
Sicily's island status and centuries of conquests and foreign rule have molded the identity of Sicilian people and culture in unique ways. Reflecting this diversity, Sicilian literature has long occupied a distinct place within Italian literature. Likewise, in The Heart and the Island, scholar Chiara Mazzucchelli argues that Sicilian American writers have produced a substantial body of literature that, although traditionally subsumed under the broader domain of Italian American literature, manifests "a distinct Sicilian Americanness" that she terms "sicilianamericanita." Following on the footsteps of scholars like Edvige Giunta and Donna Gabaccia, Mazzucchelli presents an ambitious "intraethnic decentering project" that by embracing diversity and regional analysis aims to move beyond homogenous constructions of Italian American identity (often centered on Southern Italians' marginality) and toward a wider exploration of the ties between Italian and Italian American literature. In the introduction, Mazzucchelli restricts the definition of Sicilian American literature to "the literature written by U.S. authors of Sicilian descent that explicitly deals with the Sicilian American experience." She thus sets out to investigate the works of four writers-Ben Morreale, Jerre Mangione, Rose Romano, and Gioia Timpanellichosen also for their diverse voices, styles, and perspectives. After examining, in the first chapter, the relevance of Sicily's islandness and history to the formation of a Sicilian identity most famously condensed in Leonardo Sciascia's notion of sicilitudine, Mazzucchelli turns to explore "sicilianamericanita" and
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