Immigration stories are as old as time itself, or at least as old as Emma Lazarus's famous lines from her poem “The New Colossus,” which are still etched on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These revered and revelatory words once stood for America's welcome. More than four million Italians arrived in America between l880 and 1920 through Ellis Island. Many were males (of varying age) traveling alone from the impoverished South. Some came with the intent of one day returning to Italy while others hoped their families would join them in America as soon as they could. Either way, hello heartache: loved ones left behind, feelings of isolation, an unfamiliar language, just to name a few. Yet America offered opportunity in the form of paid work and self-actualization often leading to great resilience and inventiveness. America held the promise symbolized by Lady Liberty with her torch raised to the sky. Against this backdrop, Marina Vitullo's book, part memoir, part fiction, part historiography, offers an intriguing and touching story that spans three generations, two continents, juggles multiple points in time, and reminds us of the human drive that directs people to seek a better life. Furthermore, it reminds us of the need to find the lost history of one's family.Broadly speaking, exploration and discovery are at the center of this novel that begins in modern-day Manhattan. The Italian author, Marina Vitullo, who resides in Rome, travels to New York to jumpstart her personal mission. Her main objective is to research and retrieve relevant information that will yield facts about her grandfather, Michele. He left his remote village, Montagano (Molise), in 1916 (at the height of the Italian diaspora). Michele's wife, Mariannina, and their four children, did not sail with him to America and would never join Michele to build a new life in New York as he had wished. Why? Why not? What were the couple's irreconcilable differences, their attitudes on individual existence and identity? Points of view on immigration and its inherent implications certainly differed. What fears, tragedies, adventures, fortunes took place in New York and in Montagano during the years of the family's long separation? Without ever giving in to sentimentality or nostalgia, the author takes us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.The novel, of 208 pages, is organized around dates that function as chapters. Vitullo is sometimes the memoirist navigating the search that uncovers her grandfather's experiences in New York. And Vitullo is sometimes the fiction writer who allows her characters to have distinct traits and perspectives. The protagonists often speak in their own voice. The language is always accessible and informal and the story suspenseful, surprising, and vividly told, no matter who is driving the narrative. Time shifts back and forth and moves between Italy and America—giving readers a sense of tracing the characters’ footsteps through specific time frames in multiple locations. We learn what is happening to the family in Italy as the years pass and the children grow, and what is happening to Michele, who continues to explore his new world, harnesses its rewards, and never forgets to send money back home to his family. Michele and Mariannina interact with each other long distance for more than a decade. The husband eventually returns to Italy and to his wife, but the couple seem to be bound only by silent conflict and a shared lifelong sorrow over the loss of their eldest daughter. Vitullo gives an account of the tragedy, holds our attention, but does not tell us what to feel. She skillfully creates the mood.An effective writer can transport her readers to unknown places and times by generating a strong and distinct sense of place. Vitullo convincingly shows the bygone era of New York City's vibrant Italian American community in Greenwich Village as well as Montagano's unhurried village life unfolding in homes and piazzette. Her fine use of imagery highlights the physical attributes of place. Furthermore, Vitullo presents historical details, both social and political, grounding her story further and giving it greater definition and meaning.Orme nel tempo / Footsteps in Time is masterfully translated by Gaetano Cipolla. Bilingual readers and/or students of Italian can compare and reference the well-written narrative in both languages that face each other. I am particularly fond of bilingual books as they promote language skills and encourage the pursuit of mastering a foreign language. Ultimately, of course, the translator's primary role is to bring to life the original text, to preserve the story's meaning, style, and cultural nuances. Cipolla remains faithful to the original sources. Without capable and dedicated translators, so many stories would go untold. And a good story untold is always a loss. This one emerges as a winner on multiple levels.
Marisa Frasca (Wed,) studied this question.