An Annotated Bibliography of Italian American Studies

Fiction

Page 13:  from Di Bartolomeo to Fante

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Di Donato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1939. New York: Signet, 1993.
[This classic novel is based on the early life of the author and recounts the death of his father and the struggle of the family to survive.]
 
---. This Woman. New York: Balantine Books, 1958.
[A sequel of sorts to his first novel, this work recounts Paolo's innumerable and incredible sexual encounters with women in a manner reminiscent of the Marquis de Sade and his faithful Italian disciple Gabriele D'Annunzio.]
 
---. Three Circles of Light. New York: Julian Messner, 1960.
[A fictionalized retelling of the events before and after the death of the author’s father which was first recalled in Christ in Concrete.]
 
---. Naked Author. New York: Phaedra, 1970.
[The only collection of the author’s shorter essays and fiction, along with excerpts from his books.]
 
Di Franco, Anthony. The Streets of Paradise. New York: Bantam, 1984.
[An Italian-American immigrant saga disguised as a romance set in Sicily, New Orleans and New York during the turn of the century.]
---. Ardent Spring. New York: Bantam, 1987.
[An Italian-American love story set in war-torn Europe.]
 
Di Girolamo, Vincent. Whispers under the Wharf. Santa Barbara: Fithian Press, 1990.
[An imaginative ghost tale set in Monterey, California during the 1950s.]
 
Ermelino, Louisa. Joey Dee Gets Wise: a Novel of Little Italy. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
[A mafioso mystery with a feminist twist done up in black humor.]
 
Falco, Edward. Plato at Scratch Daniel’s and Other Stories. Fayetteville, AK: University of Arkansas Press, 1990.
[Some Italian-American settings and characters, but great stories that deal with growing up in the fifties and sixties, adult friendships, family and religion.]
 
Fante, John. Wait until Spring, Bandini!. New York: Stackpole Sons, 1938. Santa Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow, 1983.
[Fante’s first published novel which focuses on a immigrant family’s life in Colorado and the coming-of-age of young Arturo Bandini.]
 
---. Ask the Dust. New York: Stackpole Sons, 1939. Santa Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow, 1980.
[Arturo Bandini moves to California and tries to become a writer.]
 
---. Dago Red. New York: The Viking Press, 1940.
[Fante’s first collection of short stories, many of which were published in national magazines such as H. L. Mencken’s The American Mercury.]
 
---. Full of Life. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1952. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow, 1988.
[A WASP wife reunites her husband and his Italian father through her pregnancy.]
 
---. Brotherhood of the Grape. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1977. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow, 1988.
[A middle-aged son reluctantly returns home to help his old father build one last fireplace.]

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