ABSTRACT
Two languages, two lands, perhaps two souls ... am I a man or two strange halves o f one?1
These lines by the Italian-American poet Joseph Tusiani powerfully render the condition of emigration - in this case that of Italian emigrant writers in America. Francesca Duranti is a special kind of emigrant: bom in Genoa in 1935, brought up in Tuscany, possessing a law degree from Pisa University, and, to date, with eight published novels, various short stories and literary translations to her name, Duranti has recently moved to New York, although she regularly returns to her villa in the countryside near Lucca. In her latest novel, Sogni Mancini} the protagonist/narrator Martina Satriano, rather like the author, chooses voluntary exile from the oppressing academic, social and political Italian system, and settles down to lecture in New York. The central motifs of the novel reveal displacement emerging as a positive state, allowing both individual and society to strive for an ideal level of perfection and tolerance. I will explore these motifs after briefly introducing some aspects of exile and emigration, with a focus on the present Italian scene.
