John Fante and the poetics of failure. Ethnic and generational conflicts in My dog stupid’s suburban Los Angeles

Abstract

The essay tries to offer different perspectives for the analysis of the least considered novel written by Italian American author John Fante, My Dog Stupid (1986). This autobiographical novel is the only one in Fante’s production that is set in the same period the author wrote it, the Los Angeles Sixties. After a brief introduction about the creative and editorial process of the novel, which has been published posthumous, the essay provides an inter-textual analysis of those Fante’s novels that deal with ethnic based father-son relationships. Therefore, the essay provides an overview of the cultural and social context of the Sixties in Los Angeles’ suburbs (including references to the Watts Riots and to the growing LA rock music) and investigates how this context is reflected in the novel. Finally, the essay tries to make a synthesis between two critical interpretations of the novel, Richard Collins’ ethnic based and nostalgic reading, and Emanuele Pettener’s humoristic based reading, highlighting the importance of humor, satire and irony in Fante’s narrative style.

Keywords: Italian American Studies; John Fante; American Sixties; Los Angeles Suburbs; Literary Criticism