Joseph Papaleo
Joseph Papaleo was an Italian American author and professor born in New York City on January 13, 1925. He served as a radio operator in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II before pursuing higher education, earning a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1949 and an M.A. from Columbia University in 1951. Papaleo taught at the Fieldston School and later became a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College, where he played a significant role in developing the college's creative writing program over thirty-five years.
His literary work primarily explores the themes of assimilation and identity within the Italian American experience in the United States, particularly the transition from immigrant status to middle-class life and the accompanying loss of ethnic identity. Papaleo published three novels in the 1960s and 1970s and was known for his short stories, which appeared in prestigious journals such as The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine. His collection, *Italian Stories*, highlights the experiences of an Italian community in the Bronx during the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to his fiction, he translated the works of Italian poet Eugenio Montale and contributed to an anthology of contemporary stories and essays. Papaleo's influence on American literature, particularly regarding Italian American narratives, continued through his teaching and mentorship until his passing on August 24, 2004.
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Joseph Papaleo
Author
- Born: January 13, 1925
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: August 4, 2004
- Place of death: Tampa, Florida
Biography
Joseph Papaleo was born in New York City on January 13, 1925, to Italian American parents. He attended Fordham University for several years before joining the U.S. Army Air Force as a radio operator on B-29 bombers and fighting in World War II. He earned his B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College in 1949 and an M.A. at Columbia University in 1951. Papaleo taught at the Fieldston School in New York from 1952 to 1960 and then become a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College, where he remained for thirty-five years and helped to develop the college’s creative writing program.
Papaleo’s fiction deals almost exclusively with the assimilation process for Italian Americans in the United States, describing how Italian Americans move from immigrant status to middle-class respectability in American society while at the same time losing much of their rich, ethnic identity. He published three novels between 1961 and 1970: Arete, All the Comforts, and Out of Place. His short stories, which were more critically praised than his novels, were published in Dial, The New Yorker, Commentary, Harper’s Magazine, Paris Review, Transatlantic Review, and other leading journals. Many of Papaleo’s stories were collected in Italian Stories, which focuses on an Italian community in the Bronx, New York, in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Papaleo translated the work of the Italian poet Eugenio Montale in the journal Origins and was one of the editors of Delphinium Blossoms: An Anthology, a collection of contemporary stories and essays published in 1990. Papaleo won a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in creative writing in 1973-1974 and was a Creative Arts Public Service of New York Fellow in 1997.
In both his teaching and his writing, Papaleo was an important influence on late twentieth century American literature. With other Italian American writers, like Jerre Mangione, Mario Puzo, Helen Barolini, and Tony Ardizzone, Papaleo helped to make a place for Italian American writing in American literature and recorded the difficulties of the assimilation process in fiction. As a teacher, Papaleo, along with Gay Talese, Rose Basile Green, and other students of Italian American history helped define the contribution of Italian Americans to twentieth century American life and literature. Papaleo died on August 24, 2004.