The Anxiety of Mediation

The article examines the processes of cultural mediation that characterize the relationship between Italian and Italian American culture in the central decades of the twentieth century. Through the notion of “anxiety of mediation,” it explores how such exchanges contributed to shaping transatlantic perceptions of Italian American culture. The analysis concentrates on two narratives characterized by opposite trajectories (from Italy to the United States and vice versa) and different genres (from journalism to literary works and their translation). On the one hand, it explores mid-century Italian accounts of Italian American life, such as the essays collected in Amerigo Ruggieri’s Italiani in America (1937) and Giuseppe Prezzolini’s I trapiantati (1963). On the other, it follows the parable of Italian American author Pietro Di Donato, his reception in the United States and Italy, and his attempts to position himself as a cultural mediator between the two countries.