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A writer, Fulbright Scholar, lover of newspapers, books, movies and most things French or Italian (especially novels and opera), Fred Misurella has published fiction and non-fiction in many journals, including The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Christian Science Monitor, The Partisan Review, Salmagundi, VIA, Altre Italie, and L'Atelier du Roman. He was educated at the University of Iowa, has lived in New York and Paris, and presently resides in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania with his wife, Kim, and son, Alex. He teaches creative writing, journalism, and Italian-American Literature at East Stroudsburg University and makes pilgrimages to Provence, Liguria, and Tuscany almost every summer with his family. Only Sons, his latest work, is posted below.
Only Sons, a novel, published September, 2012.
Only Sons begins at an Italian-American wedding in the 1960s and reaches into the new millennium through the story of two families, the Salvaggis and Maresciallos, living near each other in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Sonny Salvaggi, child of a strong, unwed mother, moves from careful, prudent marriage to philandering in his forties, to being a Quixotic, aesthetic older man hopelessly in love with Margo, a woman less than half his age whose intelligence, strength, and beauty move him in surprising, poetic ways. Jack Maresciallo, Margo's lover and father to her son, Marcello, is a talented, but unlucky artist who, after a bad period of drink and drugs in Paris and New York, straightens out and works for Sonny as director of a health and fitness club. Finally, Marcello, after a difficult youth, grows up a scholar of Italian-Americana who seeks to record and understand the story of the two families--a story that includes the immigration of Carmine, founder of the Maresciallos, enmity between Sonny and Anthony (Carmine's son, Jack's father), and a snow storm and explosion that levels a mountain and a quarry, the source of the two families' success.
"Relationships and connections dominate the story, and rich back stories of family secrets, tensions and obsessions motivate each character, giving rise to plenty of drama. ... Thoughtful and readable; sure to please fans of family sagas."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"...a masterpiece."
--George Guida, author of THE POPE STORIES; President of The Italian American Studies Association
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Fiction
A sample chapter from Only Sons (Link to the text).
Published in Paterson Literary Review #36 (January 2008) (Link to text.)
The Red and the Black of Italian-Americana, these stories disect the essence of contemporary living. (With a link to one of the stories.)
Uncannily accurate about Vietnam, its soldiers, and their tragic return home. Literary Criticism
Detailed analysis and interpretation of Milan Kundera's works from The Joke through Immortality.
The lead essay in The Legacy of Primo Levi, edited by Stanislao G. Pugliese, published by Palgrave/Macmillan |
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