Rebellious Lullabies : Case Studies of the Emigration of Literary Words from Italy to the U.S.

What happens when a speaker emigrates to another linguistic domain, and his/her native language interferes with a new one? And if that speaker is a writer? Some answers can be provided by looking at specific cases of “poetry in motion”: poems, but even single, particular lines, which embarked on a transcontinental journey. The lecture will concentrate on the “poetry of the barricades” and on an Italian American poetical rendition of a lullaby: from the European revolutions of 1848 to turn-of-the-century industrial America, and back to Italy, to the anti-fascist anthems of WWII and the impoverished context of the rural South. The interplay of the two languages will be analyzed drawing on a variety of sources (street signs, postcards, manuscripts), offering some reflections on the dynamics between oral (popular) and written (“high”) culture.