Monday, May
11, 2009
Adriana Trigiani's "Very Valentine"
is Swang !! And Italian American's Best Hope For Cultural Salvation
THE ANNOTICO REPORT
Adriana Trigiani is on a book tour
to promote her new novel "Very Valentine". In the works are 2 prospective
movies, 2 more "Very Valentine" books, and a book series for teenage girls.
*Big Stone Gap* was published in
2001. Eight books later Adriana Trigiani is on the verge of becoming Queen
of the Big Time as THE major player in presenting an authentic image of
Italian Americans in the mass media.
With over 3 million books in print,
two promising movies in the works, plans for two more novels and a series
of young adult fiction forthcoming, Trigiani stands as our single best
hope of balancing the mafia stereotypes that dominate our culture.
Trigiani is Swang
by Dominic Candeloro
(April 23, 2009)
Trigiani Website
Adriana Trigiani is on a book tour
to promote her new novel "Very Valentine".
In the works are 2 prospective movies,
2 more "Very Valentine" books, and a book series for teenage girls. She
stands as our single best hope of balancing the mafia stereotypes that
dominate our culture.
When asked how she came to write
her first novel, Adriana Trigiani responded, "It was a total surprise because
I was writing TV"
I wanted to have a baby and when
you write comedy for television you work seven days a week. So a friend
of mine said ‘You should write a book. Then you could have a baby.’ And,
I swear, that’s what happened. I didn’t know it would be good or that you
would like it. And now suddenly I’m swang." [= cool, awesome, lagit, sweet,]
*Big Stone Gap* was published in
2001 and her daughter Lucia was born in 2002. Eight books later Adriana
Trigiani is on the verge of becoming Queen of the Big Time as THE major
player in presenting an authentic image of Italian Americans in the mass
media. Her latest novel, *Very Valentine,* premiered 19 th on the New York
Times Bestsellers list in February 2009.
With over 3 million books in print,
two promising movies in the works, plans for two more novels and a series
of young adult fiction forthcoming, Trigiani stands as our single best
hope of balancing the mafia stereotypes that dominate our culture.
Wishful thinking? Maybe, but if
the enthusiasm and adulation of the overflow crowd that greeted Trigiani
recently at Anderson’s Bookstore in Naperville is any indication, she could
be the rock star we’ve all been waiting for.
An Italian from Big Stone Gap, VIRGINIA?
Yes, in the early 1900s many Italian immigrants were channeled to the coal
mines of Virginia/West
Virginia. As Adriana explains, "My
family is from northern Italy in the Italian Alps above Bergamo: a town
called Schilpario, (mother's family both sides); and my father is half
Barese (Foggia) and half Venetian (Godega di Sant Urbano) a farm town above
Treviso." A third generation Italian, she grew up in Big Stone Gap in the
Appalachians in the southwest part of the state in the 1970s, attended
St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN, where she majored in Theater. Then
it was off to New York where she organized an all-female improv comedy
group---The Outcasts. With this background, it’s no surprise that her book
signing events turn into riotous stand up comedy
performances.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s
Trigiani worked as a writer/producer for Bill Cosby on both "The Cosby
Show" and "A Different World," (a sitcom about students at a traditionally
Black College). When asked how she came to write material for Black teens,
she replied, I just had guts- and knew the college world..." The warm fuzzy
humor and the fascination with the dynamics of family life of the Cosby
style has carried over into her novels.
Like all good writers, Adriana writes
about what she knows. In the four *Big Stone Gap * books she draws on her
family life and events in the history of the town such as when Elizabeth
Taylor almost choked to death in Big Stone Gap and the town’s outdoor summer
pageant. In *Queen of the Big Time* Adriana wrote about her father’s hometown,
Roseto, PA---made famous by a 1960s medical study that showed that heart
disease was almost non-existent in Roseto due to the supportive (stress
reducing) Italian village lifestyle and diet of the community. In 1998,
before publishing the book, Trigiani wrote and produced a documentary film
on Roseto.
Trigiani loves to write about people
who make things. For her latest book, *Very Valentine*, she traveled to
Capri to do research on the process of crafting hand made shoes. In *Lucia,
Lucia * it was high style dressmaking. Blouse makers, interior designers,
cooks, pharmacists, farmers---and the indepth detail of the process of
their work and the integrity of the people who actually MAKE things are
evident everywhere in her writing. She is fascinated by what some writers
have called the "philosophy of work done well."
While some might dismiss Trigiani’s
work as "Chick Lit," it is so much more than entertainment. While the relationship
between the sexes runs through all of her writing, her love stories are
plausible. Her protagonists are mostly capable, ambitious, and vulnerable
women. As they narrate their stories in the first person, the reader appreciates
that finding true love is complicated and difficult. With notable exceptions,
the male lead characters are often disappointing or devious. In her Naperville
presentation Trigiani joked that while Italian American women make good
wives, Italian American men (read "Mammone") make poor husbands because
their Italian mothers had spoiled them. She herself is married to Tim Stephenson,
an Emmy-winning lighting designer for the David Letterman show.
And while Trigiani hardly ever writes
directly about the big events and issues in Italian American history such
as the Sacco-Vanzetti Case,
injustice in the workplace, prejudice,
defamation and discrimination, or World War II internment, she does capture
a very important truth about the Italian American Experience: The immigrants
and their children were not just some helpless, uprooted, unskilled and
illiterate masses who needed to be "Americanized." Trigiani’s fiction accurately
documents the crafts andskills and the "can do" attitude that the immigrants
contributed to the American scene. She details especially the rich family
traditions, the genius, and the skills of Italian American women---their
cuisine, their household self-sufficiency, and their wisdom in family management.
Place is important to Trigiani.
Whether the story is set in Big Stone Gap (where she grew up) or Roseto
(home of her father’s family), northern New Jersey or Greenwich Village
(where she has lived for 20 years) or even in Italy, the reader is made
to feel at home in the location.
Adriani Trigiani is accessible.
She loves her readers and phones book club audiences several times a week.
She organizes luncheons for her New York readers and posts dozens of pictures
of her fans, St. Mary’s schoolmates, book club groups, and bookstore crowds
from all over the nation on her * website* <http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/welcome.html>
. She kisses and hugs and talks at length to every person who lines up
for book signing. She involves herself in their lives and in Naperville
even publically offered an internship to the daughter of one of her readers.
Trigiani’s first person narratives
are a breeze to read. Some people even prefer to listen to the audio version
of the books. *Lucia, Lucia, Queen of the Big Time and Big Stone Gap* are
done by renowned audio book narrator Cassandra Campbell and *Rococo* is
voiced by Mario Catone, stand-up comedian and actor whose credits include
“Sex in the City” and “Caroline’s on Broadway.” You can find Trigiani’s
books at any library, any bookstore, or on Amazon.com.
Trigiani’s writing style incorporates
so much detail that her stories should easily be transferable to the big
screen. And that’s exactly what’s coming soon to a theater near you in
the next 2 years. She starts production on location in Big Stone Gap. She
wrote the screenplay, did the casting and will direct this film---which
has the potential of making a dent in the mafia movie stereotype which
Italian Americans have endured these many years. Speriamo!
This article originally appeared
in Chicago's Italian American Monthly Fra Noi
You can find the full article with
all bells and whisles at
http://www.i-italy.org/node/8853
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