The question of Italianness in John Fante’s “Ask the Dust”

During my second year at the University, I enjoyed studying Anglo-American literature so much that I decided to choose this course for the drafting of my thesis. In fact, in my dissertation, I am going to deal, particularly, with the rise, and evolution, of Italian-American literature: the determinants that have allowed its emergence and development such as the Italian immigration in the United States since the XIX century which promoted the creation of Italian communities, within American cities, and, as consequence, the rise of Italian newspapers considered the firsts tracks of Italian-American literature. Moreover, I have taken into account the great writer John Fante (1909-1983) who is considered as one of the most important, influential, and powerful authors when it comes to Italian-American literature. Therefore, I chose one of his most known works, that is to say “Ask the Dust”, in order to give a complete analysis of the author and his main protagonist: Arturo Bandini, an Italian-American man who, while struggling with poverty, wants to become a writer. In the last chapter, I will focus on the question of “Italianess” which is directly linked to, the already mention, phenomenon of immigration, to Arturo Bandini who struggles with his identity, and the relationship with his lover Camilla, a Mexican girl, who is always discriminated and denigrated by him. To sum up, my dissertation has the aim of talking about Italian-American literature focusing on John Fante, his influence, his works and the question of Italianess which is a very interesting phenomenon even nowadays.