Book Review: by Louisa Calio, Sicilian-American poet
A Sicilian-American Comedy by Joseph J. Corso Jr.
Legas Press 2015
Although the tales we read in Joseph Corso’s work often entail adultery, brutality, love, loss, exile and suffering, the narrator’s compassionate and humorous style make this book a delight to read. Filled with surprises from the beginning to the very end, as well as philosophical reflections and commentary, we are first introduced to his ancestors from a small town, Calatafimi, Sicily, the home of our narrator’s maternal Grandmother, Cignu Russo (Christined Annunziata Helena). We learn she is an only child who liked to be boyish until, at a very young age, becomes a beautiful, ripe, precocious red head, whose passionate nature is impossible to contain. We find her enjoying the delights of intimacy early with her first beloved, but careful not to break the Sicilian rule that would mean she is no longer “pure”. Her first love goes away to school and becomes a priest. She then marries at 16, as was the custom, to Pippinu Tommaso, an older, more stable man and has several children. But this mythic woman, who is compared to the ancient Sicilian Goddess, re-meets her first love and has his child, Girolamu. When the boy accidently discovers his mother’s secret life and reveals it before the family on his birthday, the result is horrifying. Her husband, realizing he has worn the horns of his wife’s infidelity, nearly beats her to death scarring her insides with acid! Hospitalized and near death, the mother curses her son forever and his father blames him too, so Girolamu is exiled and sent to live in America with the help of his Aunts.
America, during the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s is the narrator’s world. He reminds us of the music he loved and goes into a discussion of Frank Sinatra’s unique place in its history, the TV programs we grew up with, politicians, and restaurants we ate at, including Nicola Paone, the very same establishment my Sicilian Father took me to dine Sicilian style and hear Sicilian music from an excellent artist.
Idealism and loss of it in the American story makes this a universal tale. Our narrator’s story is far from average, however. His attitude toward his family touches and shocks us both. Like Fielding’s Tom Jones, he also has a strong libido, along with most of his relations and the results are paid for in many shocking ways. Yet, there is no judgment here. When we learn that Girolamu, his father, marries a Polish widow who has a child she adores, the fair haired gay son Latham, half brother to our story teller, we see understanding and compassion on his part. This section of the book called “Blue Bunny” has a haunting poetry to it. Our hero has the same passionate nature as his ancestors and is equally unconventional with several women in his life including a long lost distant relation in Sicily, Marta, who he is emotionally tied to.
His philosophy is almost fatalistic, a sort of life is what we make of what we get, and with it comes its “falling beams” badda-boom, which translates into just when you think you are OK, seemingly out of nowhere you find someone dies too young, is murdered by a stranger, is cheating on you etc. The narrator’s acceptance of everything life dishes out whether it is his half brother’s homosexuality or the twists and turns of his family life which increase in complexity as the story unfolds, makes this a gripping tale. The mystery of the sexes and the shocking connections continue as we witness more of what is Sicilian- American life and culture in our hero’s unique lifestyle.
Like Fielding, even terrible events are told in a way that evokes a smile as well as surprise. This is a raw and bawdy book with its lion’s share of Sicilian curses and wild tales. I only wish there was a glossary of some of these choice phrases, though the reader won’t need much imagination to guess their gist. Put together with several songs and poems, I found it of great value to read, especially as a Sicilian-American.
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