Italy Reads Celebrates Spoon River Anthology's Impact on Italian Culture
On February 1, John Cabot University’s Vice President of Academics Mary Merva welcomed guests to an Italy Reads event organized, in collaboration with JCU’s Programs for High Schools, by Italian high school teachers who have been Italy Reads Scholars for many years.
“Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology – The Italian Perspective” was an evening in celebration of the impact this work of American literature, published in 1915, has had on Italian culture thanks to the Italian translator Fernanda Pivano.
Chiara De Iorio, presenter and creator of the event, illustrated the historical and political setting when Pivano’s professor, Cesare Pavese, introduced her to Spoon River Anthology. Pivano fell in love with the collection of epigraphs and quietly translated it. Impressed by her work, Pavese took steps to have it published in Italy, which was no easy feat under the Italian fascist regime.
De Iorio, joined by actor Roberto Tedesco, presented readings, video clips of interviews and documentaries to accompany the audience through an appreciation of Pivano’s career and of its impact on bringing American literature and culture to Italian readers. Her work inspired Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André to create the famous album Non al denaro non all’amore né al cielo. The audience also enjoyed performances of several of De André’s songs by guitarists Jonathan Kristian Maroncelli and Paolo Montagna.
This event represents an essential aspect of the Italy Reads program, JCU’s community-based English language reading and cultural exchange program. It is an example of the program’s spirit of collaboration and cultural exchange and was the result of a team effort with three of Professor De Iorio’s colleagues (Professors Cinzia Cetraro, Maria Grazia Trabattoni, and Maria Di Bona) who, like her, have recently retired. They enthusiastically continue to share their experience and knowledge with their colleagues.
Italy Reads is a community-based English language reading and cultural exchange program that collaborates with 200 Italian high school teachers from over 60 high schools across Italy. Each year, one classic work of American literature is selected to read together. Italy Reads began in 2009 as a National Endowment for the Arts “Big Read Rome” and the great success and demand for this program has now brought us to its 14th year as JCU’s own Italy Reads. The program benefits from the continued support from the United States Embassy to Italy, the English Theatre of Rome and John Cabot University.
Italy Reads, and all Programs for High Schools are offered by JCU to teachers and students of secondary schools under an agreement with the Italian Ministry for Instruction and Merit. All programs are in English, online, and free of charge.
Watch the recording of the event.
