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A Circular Journey
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A Circular Journey Hardback - 2006

by Helen Barolini

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Reader reviews for A Circular Journey

From the publisher

A Circular Journey collects for the first time in one book the essays that most powerfully define the unique gifts of one of America's most distinctive voices.

These fifteen pieces, tracking some thirty years of a writer's life, come together to illuminate the stages and themes and places that mark Helen Barolini's art. Divided into three closely linked sections--"Home," "Abroad," "Return,"--the essays move through Barolini's worlds. Her love of literature began when, as a child growing up as an avid reader in Syracuse, New York, she was presented with a diary and told to write in it. Returning to the heritage of her Italian immigrant grandparents, she moved to Italy as a young writer. There she lived for many years, becoming acquainted with the brightest of Italy's literary lights. The accomplished poet, novelist, and critic she became now lives at home in two nurturing cultures, America and Italy both.

The essays are memoirs of her house on a street named for Henry James's grandfather, tales of literary journeys from Taos to Taormina, and Paris to Rome, as the young bride of a poet from the Veneto and, later on, as a distinguished writer whose explorations of identity and dislocation took her back to Italian inspirations.
From a delightful account of a writing fellowship in an exquisite villa overlooking the Italian lakes to her first trip back to discover distant family roots in the hills of Calabria, Barolini moves lyrically through the generations of her life, giving form to the influences that shaped her art and her sense of self--as an American, a woman, and a gifted daughter of the two cultures she has so powerfully imagined.

Praise for Helen Barolini

"An impassioned and magnificent contribution to our knowledge of what it has meant and means still to be an ethnic American and woman . . . . a book of heroic recovery and affirmation."--Alice Walker (on The Dream Book)

"Large in scope, in depth, and in the gift of narrative."--Cynthia Ozick (on Umbertina)

First line

James Street, where I lived from infancy through my twenty-second year, begins in downtown Syracuse at Clinton Square, continues a straight course eastbound reaching an elevated point at Oak Street, then proceeds on to become a commercial artery in the Eastwood neighborhood, ending miles from start in East Syracuse.

Details

  • Title A Circular Journey
  • Author Helen Barolini
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 200
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Fordham University Press, New York
  • Publication date May 15, 2006
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780823226153 / 0823226158
  • Weight 0.85 lbs (0.39 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.24 x 6.02 x 0.85 in (20.93 x 15.29 x 2.16 cm)
  • Category Biography / Autobiography
  • Library of Congress subjects Authors, American - 20th century, American literature - Italian influences
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2006007964
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

Citations

  • Reference and Research Bk News, 08/01/2006, Page 315
  • Univ PR Books for Public Libry, 01/01/2007, Page 1

About the author

Helen Barolini (1925-2023) was the recipient of numerous prizes, including an NEA grant and an American Book Award. Her books included Umbertina and The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian-American Women.

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A Circular Journey
Stock photo: cover may vary

A Circular Journey

by Helen Barolini

  • New
  • Hardback
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New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780823226153 / 0823226158
Quantity available
1
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Item price
A$33.79
A$9.70 Delivery to USA

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Add to wish list
Item price
A$33.79
A$9.70 Delivery to USA