ABSTRACT
The writing of autobiographies by Italian Americans is a quite recent phenomenon in the scheme of American literary history. The small number of self-narratives can be attributed to a number of cultural obstacles within southern Italian culture, which most Americans of Italian descent have had to confront before they could first publicly speak and then write about the self. The strong storytelling traditions that people find in Italian American oral culture are filled with tales that explain the reasons for traditional rituals and provide information about how to live one’s life. American writers of Italian descent point to oral tales as the impetus for the creation of their own stories. There are a number of social codes found in Italian American culture that generate the signs through which Italian American autobiography can be read. It is a different Sicily that Mangione experiences in this trip. Political arguments may be heard in public.
