Ambassadors: American Studies in a Changing World. Proceedings of the XVII International AISNA Conference by Massimo Bacigalupo, Gregory Dowling

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148 Reviews comprehensive range oftextual examples,itstandsa chanceofbecoming oneof the definitive German-language introductions tothestudy ofshortfiction. UNIVERSITY OF AUGSBURG TIMo MULLER Ambassadors: AmericanStudiesina Changing World.Proceedings of the XVII In ternational AISNA Conference. Ed. byMASsIMo BACIGALUPO andGREGORY DOWLING. (Universit'a diGenova- Quaderni di Palazzo Serra,14)Rapallo: Busco. 2006. 520 pp. C35. ISSN 1970-0571. As theeditorsacknowledgein theirforeword, thetitle of this volume(andof the 2003AmericanStudies Conferencein Romeof which itconstitutes the proceedings) payshomagetothecentenary ofHenryJames's The Ambassadors. However,as they pointout,noneof thepaperscollectedhereaddressesthe Master.The 2003 con ference alsomarkedthethirtieth anniversary ofAISNA, theItalian Associationfor AmericanStudies, andmanycontributors considerthecourseofAmericanstudies inItaly and inEurope.TheabsenceofJames, an all-timefavourite withcontinental critics, canbe taken as indicating that Italianscholars arefollowing their British and Americancolleaguesinpayinglessattention tocanonical writers. Thevolumeopenswith four major essays. HistorianTizianoBonazzi addresses the'labyrinth ofEuro-American relations', urgingthat we have to 'reformulate the whole ideaof western civilization, uprooting it geographically andmakingitaglobal model' (p. 16). Theyoungerscholar BartEeckhoutconsidersthe 'Spatial Turn in AmericanStudies',ina speculative and theoretical paper that concludes, however, indisarmingly down-to-earth fashion:'Isthespatialreally special?[. . .]notunless we make it interesting,which can only mean: not unless we make it serve our interests in intelligent ways' (p. 35). The otheressays, byAnnaMaria Martellone andStefania Piccinato, usefully survey the development inItaly of Americanhistory andofAfrican-American Studies(respectively). The forty-eight papersthat comprisethe bulkofAmbassadors are the productof eight workshops. Thefirst of these,'AISNA atThirty: AspectsandBreakthroughs of AmericanStudiesinItaly'(pp.62-171), providesassessments of somekeyfigures inthe development ofthediscipline: RolandoAnzilotti, a friend andcollaborator of RobertLowell, GlaucoCambon, teacher ofcomparative literature and sensitive cri ticof poetry, the eclectic scholar-gypsy Elemire Zolla, and Carlo Izzo, author of an important history ofAmericanliterature and (in the193os)associateand translator ofEzra Pound.Theseprofiles areextremely usefulcontributions to thehistory of culture and scholarship, and tothestudy of individual writers. Sevenfurther work shopsrangefrom explorations of 'Transatlantic Communication and the Unmaking ofthe World' (Philip Roth,SusanSontag, Thomas Merton,etc.)to 'Italian-American Cultural Representations ofItaly'(from NeapolitansongstoLawrence Ferlinghetti). One especially livelygathering of papers examines 'U.S.Media Ambassadors', dis cussing such figures as theDJ and Talk Radio host (Umberto Rossi), the gangster (Pierre Lagayette),the Americanbaseballhero (LucaBriasco),and even 'Charles MLR, 104.1, 2009 149 Manson:AmericanIcon'(Stephen Perrin). A lesscontroversial andmorediscursive workshopconsiderstheroleof theacademyas a cultural ambassador, withpapers on theimpact ofstudy-abroad programmes (Mark Bernheim),faculty and student exchange programmes (Giovanna Franci),andnewAmericanstudies programmes inEastern Europe (Rodica Mihaila). One workshopbears theprovocative title'What Was Modernism?'. Itspapers offer theoretical perspectives (Jonathan Culler, RonaldBush,AndersonAraujo) as well as practicalreadings of MarianneMoore (PaolaNardi),Mina Loy (Antonella Francini), DerekWalcott (Andrea Molesini), and 'contemporary modernist' Amy Newman (Paola Loreto). But the reader will seek invain for a simple answer to the title question. The lasttwo workshopsare more compact, oneof them considering 'TheImpact ofAfrican AmericanStudies'(Annalucia Accardo onGrace Paley) and theother addressing from a historian's perspective thetimely issueof 'Democracy in Amer icaafter TwoCenturies'. As an indication ofhowAmbassadorsoftensucceedsin surprising thereader, thelatter workshopcontains a paper inItalian byFerdinando Fasce,ominously entitled'Esportare lademocrazia?', which,however, turns out to be devoted to an important radio show of the 1950S, America's Town Meeting of the Air,a programme thatfostered faith inUS democracy bystimulating exchange. Fasce'spaperconcludes withananecdote aboutanoccasion when the Americansin volved with theradioshowfound that they couldnotdinetogether ina Washington hotel,someofthem beingblack.Fascequotesfrom a report: InEurope,the MiddleEast,in Asia and Africathetwenty-six Americans couldassociate together incomplete democracy-in Washington they couldnot. Onewonders whatthe episode willdo totherecently renewed faith in US democracy whichthe Town Meeting party created. One can only hope that along with the news of discrimination by the Hotel Carlton will travel the fact that rightacross the street theStatlerHotel served the party promptly andcourteously. (p.509). CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OFMILAN FRANCESco ROGNONI Women's Writing inWestern Europe: Gender, Generation and Legacy. Ed. by ADAL GISA GIORGIoand JULIA WATERS. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2007. xi+463 pp. ?44.99. ISBN 978-1-84718-165-7. In a lecture givenat the University of Warwickon 16 June 2007,entitled'Wanted Dead orAlive:LocatingContemporary Women'sWriting', Mary Eagletondrew attention tothefactthat while thecategory of 'Women's Writing'seemstobe dying inbookshop managementand academicpublishing, and inconsciousopposition to the'death of theauthor'proclaimed byRolandBarthesand embraced bypost structuralist thought, individual womenwritersarevery much aliveandpromoted bycritics and reviewers. Thisvolume-collectingtwenty-seven papersdelivered ata conference held in2005-is testimony totheimportant workstill beingcarried out onwomenwriters as a field...