AustLit
Latest Issues
Notes
-
Partly fictionalised autobiography.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Calvary or Limbo? Articulating Identity and Citizenship in Two Italian Australian Autobiographical Narratives of World War II Internment
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , June vol. 23 no. 1 2016; (p. 20-34)'Almost 5,000 Italians were interned in Australia during World War II, a high proportion of them Queensland residents. Internment was a pivotal experience for the Italian community, both locally and nationally, complicating Italian Australians’ sense of belonging to their adopted country. Through an examination of two migrant autobiographical narratives of internment, Osvaldo Bonutto's A Migrant's Story and Peter Dalseno's Sugar, Tears and Eyeties, this article explores the impact of internment on the experience and articulation of cultural and civic belonging to Australian society. It finds that internment was a ‘trial’ or ‘transitional’ phase for these internees’ personal and civic identities, and that the articulation of these identities and sense of belonging is historically contingent, influenced by the shift from assimilation to multiculturalism in settlement ideology, as well as Italian Australians’ changing place in Australian society throughout the twentieth century.' (Publication abstract)
-
'You're on the List!' Writing the Australian Italian Experience of War-Time Internment
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: FULGOR , November vol. 3 no. 3 2008; The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 30-67) This paper compares the discursive and experiential valence of the two fullest autobiographical accounts of internment written by Australian Italians, that by Claudio Alcorso in The Wind You Say (1993) and that by Peter Dalseno (1994), both of whom were in Loveday from 1942 to 1944 (while Alcorso had been in Hay from June 1940). Beyond the shock of unmerited deprivation of liberty and the equally unmerited stigma of being defined as "enemy aliens", the experience of, and discourse on, internment of the two turns out very different, despite the relative closeness in age when detained. For Alcorso, a patrician from Rome, the internment experience is one of opening up to and enamourment with the world and with life - the Australian outback, working-class and other Australian Italians, human creativity - and the worst crisis comes with release. For Dalseno's alter ego, Peter Delano, raised in the Ingham area, the initial shock is worst, denying him his hard won Australian identity component, and internment represents an intensification of the sordidness of life outside, while release brings with it reacceptance into the wider Australian society. This study thus shows the diversity of ways in which a common history is experienced and discursively conveyed by individuals. [Author's abstract] -
Stories of Survival
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 162 1994; (p. 23,54)
— Review of Through Mud and Blood to Victory 1943 single work prose ; Sugar, Tears and Eyeties 1994 single work novel
-
Stories of Survival
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 162 1994; (p. 23,54)
— Review of Through Mud and Blood to Victory 1943 single work prose ; Sugar, Tears and Eyeties 1994 single work novel -
'You're on the List!' Writing the Australian Italian Experience of War-Time Internment
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: FULGOR , November vol. 3 no. 3 2008; The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 30-67) This paper compares the discursive and experiential valence of the two fullest autobiographical accounts of internment written by Australian Italians, that by Claudio Alcorso in The Wind You Say (1993) and that by Peter Dalseno (1994), both of whom were in Loveday from 1942 to 1944 (while Alcorso had been in Hay from June 1940). Beyond the shock of unmerited deprivation of liberty and the equally unmerited stigma of being defined as "enemy aliens", the experience of, and discourse on, internment of the two turns out very different, despite the relative closeness in age when detained. For Alcorso, a patrician from Rome, the internment experience is one of opening up to and enamourment with the world and with life - the Australian outback, working-class and other Australian Italians, human creativity - and the worst crisis comes with release. For Dalseno's alter ego, Peter Delano, raised in the Ingham area, the initial shock is worst, denying him his hard won Australian identity component, and internment represents an intensification of the sordidness of life outside, while release brings with it reacceptance into the wider Australian society. This study thus shows the diversity of ways in which a common history is experienced and discursively conveyed by individuals. [Author's abstract] -
Calvary or Limbo? Articulating Identity and Citizenship in Two Italian Australian Autobiographical Narratives of World War II Internment
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , June vol. 23 no. 1 2016; (p. 20-34)'Almost 5,000 Italians were interned in Australia during World War II, a high proportion of them Queensland residents. Internment was a pivotal experience for the Italian community, both locally and nationally, complicating Italian Australians’ sense of belonging to their adopted country. Through an examination of two migrant autobiographical narratives of internment, Osvaldo Bonutto's A Migrant's Story and Peter Dalseno's Sugar, Tears and Eyeties, this article explores the impact of internment on the experience and articulation of cultural and civic belonging to Australian society. It finds that internment was a ‘trial’ or ‘transitional’ phase for these internees’ personal and civic identities, and that the articulation of these identities and sense of belonging is historically contingent, influenced by the shift from assimilation to multiculturalism in settlement ideology, as well as Italian Australians’ changing place in Australian society throughout the twentieth century.' (Publication abstract)
- Queensland,