Reprinted from SOUTH OF ROME–WEST OF ELLIS ISLAND
By TOM VERSO (January 20, 2012)
Of the many ideas explored in John Domini’s absolutely brilliant novel “A Tomb on the Periphery”, one of the lesser, albeit not insignificant, has to do with the Naples Camorra. However, given the enthusiasm surrounding the recent NYU Saviano talk, and i-Italy’s blanket coverage of the event, it seems appropriate to give the Camorra aspect of Domini’s book more consideration than it might have otherwise warranted. While the book’s plot may be read didactically as a crime exposé, Domini in fact explores a more fundamental and profound theme with implications especially pertinent to southern-Italian Americans: namely, our history and culture did not begin at Ellis Island! We are an ancient people, and our ancestry is still with us/with-in us (spiritually/genetically?), albeit profoundly repressed under the relentless hegemonic Polentoni pressure foisted upon us by our Polentonized literati; e.g. SUNY Stony Brook’s curriculum and the other celebrated university curriculums in its “Manifesto of Italian American Studies”
Being literature challenged and most especially post-modern literature challenged, ordinarily upon encountering a John Domini novel; I would “pay it no mind.” However, after reading Olivia Cerrone's brilliant interview with him, published over at John DiNapoli’s Magna Grece.blogspot.com, I became intrigued. In the 'thank god I lived to see the Internet’ department, within minutes after reading the interview, I was reading an e-book version of A Tomb on the Periphery on my i-Pad.
Uncharacteristic of post-modern literature, A Tomb... is a proverbial "page turner." Unlike the time shifting plots (arrangement of events) of many post-modern novels such as DeLillo’s Underworld with its backward in time main plot and forward in time subplot (OMG!); A Tomb... reads like the early Scarpetta/Marino melodrama crime novels Patricia Cornwell wrote before she lost her muse. I read Domini’s book in two sittings – couldn’t put it down!
While it reads like a melodramatic crime novel, it has all the characteristics of high literature, A Tomb... warrants rereading many times: first, to savor the language Aristotle characterized as “Diction” i.e. language reflecting the depth of moral character and principles, and second to reflect upon the profound moral and cultural ideas explored in the story’s plot and character development.
One of the lesser ideas explored in “A Tomb...” has to do with crime and the Naples Camorra. Essentially two antagonist Camorra gangster characters provide the basis of a sub-plot contributing to the evolution of the protagonist’s character, and also the main plot’s suspense and climatic ending.
In as much as I've read the book and posting this ‘review’ (as it were) in the same time frame of the recent New York Saviano ‘lovefest’ (as it were) and blanket coverage given it by i-Italy (as it was), it seems appropriate to treat the Camorra component of the book up-front in more detail than I might have otherwise. Subsequently, considering what hopefully I accurately judge the author’s intended theme, the more significant idea – the ancient presence in contemporary Terroni Patria Meridionale culture. Further, considering the logical implications of that theme: If Terroni Patria Meridionale culture is ancient, then so too American Terroni culture. Continue Reading
