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Mother Tongue An American Life in Italy Wallis WildeMenozzi 9780865476707 Books

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Mother Tongue An American Life in Italy Wallis WildeMenozzi 9780865476707 Books

When I first began, I thought the author was too wordy, too complaining about something so simple such as a move to another country. After all, we do live in a global world, don't we? I never realized how important language is as a reflection of values. I also never realized the many ways language can be muzzled because expression is forbidden. Social conformity, family pressure, and public rules all conspire to keep people in their place. This book has opened my eyes and given me a whole new perspective.


Tags : Mother Tongue: An American Life in Italy [Wallis Wilde-Menozzi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>In the 1980s, the American writer Wallis Wilde-Menozzi moved with her Italian husband and her daughter to Parma,Wallis Wilde-Menozzi,Mother Tongue: An American Life in Italy,North Point Press,0865476705,Women,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Women,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Europe - Italy,GENERAL,General Adult,Italy,Literary,Non-Fiction,Personal Memoirs,Travel Europe Italy,United States,WESTERN EUROPE - HISTORY +

Mother Tongue An American Life in Italy Wallis WildeMenozzi 9780865476707 Books Reviews

The style is very disappointing, heavy and full of redundant notes. There are three main -and disconnected- threads the city of Parma, her experiences in Italy and her "lectures" about Italian/American lifestyle.

1) PARMA all the well known information about the history of Parma and its famous citizens (from the middle ages to Attilio Bertolucci)spread every three pages made the reading unbearable;

2)PERSONAL EXPERIENCES probably the most interesting subject, but, unfortunately, she gets lost in the narration of too many details without focusing on and the impact and the understanding of the Italian reality;

3)HER LECTURES here is the most disapponting point because of her superficial judgments about italian culture, traditions and institutions. Instead of describing the "how" and "why" she indulges in old stereotypes and boring lectures on American liberalism and individualism. What a pity...
This book examines related and ramifying themes a complex accomodation to the writer's life abroad in her second marriage to a gifted Italian scientist, the life of her late Italian mother-in-law, the rewards and challenges of raising an American-born daughter in Italy, and the history of Parma as an expatriate discovers it. through an idiosyncratic and utterly charming progression of chapters. The gifted poet and essayist behind these reflections emerges in a self-portrait unobtrusively yet indelibly. Life and death challenge her, an adopted country both welcomes and resists her a sensibility of great depth and nuance undergoes reshaping in the event. Wallis Wilde-Menozzi's subsequent book of lyrics, BEES AND OTHER POEMS (2001), carries this sensibility into free verse of distinction and agile grace. The prose here, like the poems printed subsequently, manifest an integral stylist, who inquires with sharp eye and open heart, and makes the connections that want to be made, both the elusive and the penetrating ones. A distinguished and inventive book.
John Peck
It's difficult to describe this book as simply a memoir when the writing is at times as eloquent as poetry and the themes range from Italian history and politics to individualism and family all the way down to violets outside the window and bread on the table. Above all is the issue of identity- of speaking with an American voice in another landscape- and the struggle that arises when someone gifted, youthful and inquisitive lands in an inward-looking place stiffly rooted in tradition and sameness.

Among the rules and formalities of Italian life, Wilde-Menozzi exhibits a fierce determination to explore and understand both the limits and depths of her new country while trying to maintain the largely American ideals of optimism, free will and self-actualization. What I appreciate about this book is the sincerity and scope of her search for a sense of belonging and connection. With a tone that is rebellious at times, she looks to politics, women in history, Italian behavior, food and culture for answers and comfort and ultimately finds solace in her own powers of observation, analysis and invention. The result is an insightful and daring book rich with beautifully observed elements of modern Italy which also manages to be a deeply moving and personal work.
Having read the other reviews posted here only reinforces my opinion that this remarkable book is not for everyone... but is outstanding to many. It is outstanding to those of us who have a deep understanding of, or an unquenchable thirst for a realistic rendering of cultural insights into life in Italy. To be fully understood and appreciated, it takes a connoisseur a connoisseur of subtle situations, linguistic differences and their cultural implications, certain realistic experiences in the baffling country that is Italy. As an American (married to a traditional Italian) who has lived for 44 years in Umbria, who has worked and raised children, interacted with Italian schools, battled the complex red-tape, lived with socialized medicine in a provincial setting, I have never read a book which comes even close to capturing the "subtle", the seemingly small (but actually huge) differences between many American and Italian situations as does "Mother Tongue".

Menozzi so brilliantly summarizes the often verbose discussion of child-rearing in Italy with "Italians give everything to their children...except choice". As an expatriate (but one who has lived a typical Italian life), I fully identify with the feeling of "having a graft on my soul", or being cut off suddenly from English as a viable language as soon as I land at the Rome airport. Having a daughter who is a university professor and researcher in both the States and Italy, I find the author's discussion of the varying history and intended use of libraries in the States and in Italy extremely insightful and "right on". This, as are so many other complex topics, are addressed with superb understanding of the most subtle points.

The author is an accomplished writer, intellectual, and poet... so it is natural that she expresses her thoughts in beautiful and uplifting prose. Her writing is eloquent, superbly intelligent, insightful and...achingly honest. As has been said, it is a book to savor, to ponder, to reflect upon, to refer to for a better understanding of so many puzzling dichotomies which create quite a conflict for expatriates like ourselves whose roots were deeply planted in another culture before they were abruptly uprooted and had to struggle to thrive again.

This book is a masterpiece - one of my all-time favorite books, a book I never stash away but rather keep close at hand. I have referred to it, talked about it, shared it, recommended it to many, discussed it with friends, reread parts of it countless times. The author's amazingly successful stream of consciousness style is witness to her myriad interests, observations, reflections, intellect, profound and exemplary personal cultural preparation, humanity, noble humility, introspection and experiences which are so exquisitely and expertly woven together. Not for Everyone...but Outstanding to Many!
When I first began, I thought the author was too wordy, too complaining about something so simple such as a move to another country. After all, we do live in a global world, don't we? I never realized how important language is as a reflection of values. I also never realized the many ways language can be muzzled because expression is forbidden. Social conformity, family pressure, and public rules all conspire to keep people in their place. This book has opened my eyes and given me a whole new perspective.