DiPaolo, M. (2021) Fake Italian: An 83% True Autobiography with Pseudonyms and Some Tall Tales. Bordighera Press

Abstract

Fake Italian is a quintessentially American, quintessentially twentieth-century bildungsroman. Damien Cavalieri, its protagonist, is haunted by the feeling that he is a ‘fake Italian.’ He had no Italian-American friends in his elementary school, despite Staten Island’s being a New York City borough heavily populated by Italian-Americans. As Damien reaches adulthood he comes to terms with his ethnic background, as well as with other crucial identity questions, such as masculinity and intellectuality.