Papers by Isabella Livorni
il verri, 2024
Bilingual Italian/American poet Giulia Niccolai's engagement with dictionaries in her poetry has ... more Bilingual Italian/American poet Giulia Niccolai's engagement with dictionaries in her poetry has been extensively noted. However, her collection Webster Poems (1971–1977), made up of ten poems built around definitions from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, has up until now been largely examined through the lens of ekphrasis, focusing on the poems' connections to the works of visual art to which they are dedicated. In this article, I concentrate on the significance of the poems’ use of the dictionary, and their explorations of the relationship between predetermined and supposedly “objective” meanings and the meanings created and shared within various subcommunities. I argue that the Webster Poems participate in debates in semantics and the philosophy of language regarding how meaning-making is a communal activity. Niccolai’s poems use dictionary definitions to interact with the people and works of art to whom they are dedicated, and in so doing, she makes visible the dynamic processes of meaning making in communication.
Interférences littéraires/Literaire interferenties, 2024
In this article, I offer an examination of the use of sound in 'Demartinian' documentaries—that i... more In this article, I offer an examination of the use of sound in 'Demartinian' documentaries—that is, documentaries influenced by the research conducted by Italian anthropologist Ernesto De Martino in isolated areas of the Italian South during the 1950s. I argue that the imperfectly synchronised relationships between sound and image in these documentaries constitute reminders of De Martino's conceptions of trance states: by using the same or similar sounds across a number of documentaries, the films engage with the notion that these states are historically determined cultural forms, rather than individual states of madness. Additionally, I argue that the moments in which sound and image do not align serve to recall the mediated quality of these documentaries. They call attention to the directors' contemplation of the ethics of the ethnographic encounter in a manner that is reminiscent of De Martino's meditations on the topic.
Italian American Review, 2019
, the comic singer Eduardo Migliaccio, whose stage name was Farfariello, recorded the song "Parla... more , the comic singer Eduardo Migliaccio, whose stage name was Farfariello, recorded the song "Parla comme t'ha fatta mammeta" (Talk like your mother made you) for the Victor Talking Machine Company. In the song, Migliaccio goes on a mock tirade against the mix of Italian and English spoken by the members of his community, the language that he speaks freely within his songs and that most Italian Americans in 1920s New York used. 1 As Migliaccio's character in the song speaks to an Italian American woman, he lets her know that he can understand and accept many aspects of cultural assimilation but not Italian Americans' adoption of the English language as a means of communicating with one another: ma ca tu me parli ingrese!-nice and warm, nice and cool, me no like pasta e fasulpare sempe norvaggiese. Me? Me? You talking to me? Parla comme t'ha fatta mammeta, ca è cchiù meglio, Mariannì. but you speaking to me in ingrese!-nice and warm, nice and cool, I don't like pasta and beansit always sounds like Norwegian. Me? Me? You talking to me? Speak like your mother made you, because it's better that way, Mariannina. 2
California Italian Studies, 2018
My thanks to Professor Teodolinda Barolini, who guided me during the development of the ideas lai... more My thanks to Professor Teodolinda Barolini, who guided me during the development of the ideas laid out in this article and offered invaluable opinions, comments, and suggestions; to my colleague Marco Sartore, for his paleographical expertise and his patient assistance in deciphering manuscript markings; and to the anonymous reviewer, whose attentive reading and apt recommendations were vital in the formation of this article's final version.
West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, 2020
Videos by Isabella Livorni
Panelist on book presentation of Amelia Rosselli's book of poems in English, Sleep, in a 2023 NYR... more Panelist on book presentation of Amelia Rosselli's book of poems in English, Sleep, in a 2023 NYRB edition introduced by Barry Schwabsky. Panel moderated by Ara H. Merjian (NYU). Panelists: Barry Schwabsky, Alessandro Giammei (Yale), Isabella Livorni (NYU). 1 November 2023 at NYU's Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
Literary translations by Isabella Livorni
Asymptote, 2016
Translation of contemporary Italian author Emmanuela Carbé's short story "High Tide" (Alta marea,... more Translation of contemporary Italian author Emmanuela Carbé's short story "High Tide" (Alta marea, It>En), along with translator's note.
Lunch Ticket, 2018
Translation of contemporary Italian author Emmanuela Carbé's short story "Language Matters" (Ques... more Translation of contemporary Italian author Emmanuela Carbé's short story "Language Matters" (Questioni della lingua; It>En), along with translator's note.
Conference Presentations by Isabella Livorni
Conference presentation given at the annual meeting of the Northeast Modern Language Association,... more Conference presentation given at the annual meeting of the Northeast Modern Language Association, March 8, 2020, in Boston, MA. The paper focuses on Amelia Rosselli's 1964 poetry collection, Variazioni belliche, along with her poetic manifesto, Spazi metrici. I argue that Rosselli's exposure to field recording practices during her studies at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris and her engagement with Ernesto De Martino's anthropological expeditions in the Italian South lead to her poetry's attempts to gain access to the interior lives of isolated subjects, as well as to her metaphorical comparisons of her lyric to field recording practices.
Conference paper given at the American Association for Italian Studies in 2022. The paper explore... more Conference paper given at the American Association for Italian Studies in 2022. The paper explores the disconnect between audio and visual elements of ethnographic documentaries made in the Italian South in the 1950s and 1960s, and how these aesthetic elements engage with and expand upon the theories of anthropologist Ernesto De Martino.
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Papers by Isabella Livorni
Videos by Isabella Livorni
Literary translations by Isabella Livorni
Conference Presentations by Isabella Livorni