Nice article your way to

Nice article your way to write article showing that you are professional in your field.

Interesting

I've never read his work but I will. Well, his unlove to the Jews and Italians and immigrants can be explained with the time he lived in. You know it is even strange that notwithstanding this fact he became a famous writer. If it was now any sign of being a racist or antisemit would never let your career develop. Well, it is really interesting why the writer didn't like Italian-Americans. Was it only because of a coach? Well, it seems to me a lot of people do not like them because of their mafia. Remember the film Godfather. I believe it is not just a film but it describes relationships between Italians. I like the music from this film a lot. I've found some tracks at music SE http://www.mp3hunting.com . I like the music and I like the film but I wouldn't like to have such neighbours.

Kerouac, French-Canadian Immigration, GF of Beat: John Fante

"Overpopuation at home and the diminishing size of agricultural plots that had been divided and subdivided for generations finally induced French Canadians to start emigrating in the 1830s, although most left Canada between 1860 and 1900. The approximately 300,000 emigrants settled for the most part in the mill villages and factory towns of New England, although scattered communities developed in New York and the upper Midwest."

Although French Canadians are grouped with the first wave of immigrants to the U.S. (the so-called "old immigrants") in the Dinnerstein & Reimers book , there was in reality fierce and widespread prejudice against them by the pre-War-of-1812 immigrants already here (17th & 18th century immigrants that were overwhelmingly English in origin). The reason for the prejudice was mainly religious: Roman Catholics were unwelcome, and in some areas violently repelled. Catholics had no legal rights in some colonies, for instance they could not be witnesses to a court case. The French Canadians endured horrible working conditions in New England mills, often with entire families including children as young as 5 working beside mother and father, grandparents, and uncles and aunts. They lived in dismal slums with vermin disease and filth a part of their daily existence. The Italians that came later, came for largely the same reasons as the French Canadians: overpopulation, decrease of available arable land, lack of industry (i.e., work), and would experience similar horrors working in the NYC garment industry and trying to survive in the gruesome tenements of the Lower East Side. When immigration from southern and eastern Europe began to swell (2,045,877 Italians arrived in 1901-1910 alone), and threatened to overwhelm the "native" population (i.e old-stock immigrants), a huge backlash ensued. The same ugly prejudice the French Canadians had endured at the hands of the prior English immigrants, they now heaped on the heads of the newly despised. Or rather, the French Canadians joined the chorus of old-stock immigrants as they chanted bigotry and hatred at the newly arrived: the Italians, Poles, Slavs, Jews, Russians, etc.. Of course, later these ethnics would become assimilated and add new layers to that chorus of dissonance.

I have no idea what Kerouc was thinking when he modeled the hero of "On the Road", Sal Paradise, on an ethnicity he obviously had a low opinion of. Was he trying to capture some aspect of the exotic Other that he felt was a part of his own American experience, but had been lost through assimulation? I recall reading about his pride in his French Canadian language and culture and how he wore it like a badge of honor growing up around American bigots. I really can't figure Kerouc out. He's a huge ball of contradictions. He loved Jazz and many aspects of African American culture but was also a blatant racist. There was a time when I read Kerouc avidly but that's long past. I find myself reading the immortal works of John Fante (ok, he was Italian-American, I'm a little biased:-) over and over and over. Finding new subtlety and richness each time. Fante was one of the "grandfathers" of the Beat movement, and is criminally neglected by both the American mainstream AND "underground" press. Read "Bricklayer in the Snow"(2), a masterfully written short work of his. It's essentially a tribute to his father, and it sketches a profile of an Italian man of that generation so keenly that, those of you who can remember grandfathers or fathers from that era (born late 1800s-1930s) will have you laughing, crying, and shouting, Fante speaks the Truth! Long Live Fante!

1.Dinnerstein & Reimers, "Ethnic Americans." New York: Columbia, 1999. 25.

2. Fante, John. "Bricklayer in the Snow." "THE WINE OF YOUTH." New York: Ecco, 2002.

Kerouac - Italophobe??

Being literature challenged, I have never read Kerouac and the other ‘beats.’ Therefore, I can neither accept nor reject your characterization of Keroiac being an “Italophobe.” However, your posting brings three thoughts to mine: First, I find it intriguing that an Italophobe would make the main character of his pyridine and most famous work (i.e. Salvatore Paradise / “On the Road”) an Italian American. What makes it even more interesting: I thought it was generally accepted that the novel was autobiographical (i.e. Sal is Jack). Would this not be an extraordinary thing for a person to characterize himself as an ethnic that he hates/fears (“phobic”)? I will definitely have to overcome my literature aversion and read this fascinating contradiction.---Second, again not being familiar with Kerouac, taking the Joe D poem out of context and treating it as a unique entity, I (110% Italian American by nature and nurture) thought the poem was hilarious. It gave me a real laugh; I read it a number of times; and, when I showed it to other Italian Americans, who consider Joe D one of their heroes, they also thought it was very funny. This raises the philosophy of aesthetics question of whether or not a work of art should be evaluated in the context of the artist repertoire and social milieu, or per se? ---I recall a teacher showing a film by a German film maker (Lonnie?? something I can’t remember her name). It seemed like a good film to me; certainly nothing in it was obviously morally objectionable let alone reprehensible, yet the teacher told us that it was a terribly immoral film because it was Nazi propaganda. I made the point that if we knew nothing about the biography of the filmmaker or its social context, the film would not be objectionable. That was the last time I ever said anything that remotely could be construed as not hating Nazis. One of the great lessons I took away from my school days (similarly, Mussolini – I might add).---Third, building on the second point, I have often wondered if we live in an age that is overly ethnically conscious. I think we have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. In “radio days”, as best as I can tell from the history of radio, some of the greatest comedy was ethnic: e.g. “Molly Goldberg” and “Amos and Andy.” I still for the life of me can’t understand why “Amos and Andy” are so racially judged (especially given the way African Americans are portrayed comedicly in film these days). They were really funny guys. I hope that does not sound anti-Semitic or racist. More to the point of Joe D – In the late 50’s/early 60’s there was a stand up comic from Long Island (Pat Copper) who built his career on Italian routines similar to Keroic’s poem. He was very popular with Italians. The first time I hear him, he did a thing about his mother’s wooden cooking spoon that caused me to laugh so hard I almost had a hernia.---In sum: thank you for a very interesting and thought provoking piece. I’ll definitely have to get a copy of “On the Road.” Oh yes- one other thing (sorry-I do have away of going on); that picture of Keroic you included in the blog post…his facial features, the lock of hair hanging on his forehead, the open shirt; if the collar were pick up a bit on the back of his neck he would have been very much at home on my block - he could have had been cast in ‘Mean Streets’ (i.e. he looks very Italian American ). Ciao for now! Tom Verso