John Domini

Last updated

John Domini
Born1951 (age 72–73)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • Book Critic
NationalityItalian American
Alma mater
Genre
  • Fiction
  • essays
Notable works The Color Inside a Melon

John Domini (born 1951) is an Italian-American author, translator and critic who has been widely published in literary and news magazines, including The Paris Review, [1] The New York Times, [2] Ploughshares, [3] The Washington Post, and Literary Hub. [4] He is the author of three short story collections, four novels, and a 2021 memoir. Domini has also published one book of criticism, one book of poetry, and a memoir translated from Italian. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. [5] Domini lives in Des Moines with his wife, the science fiction writer Lettie Prell.

Contents

Domini has taught American Literature and Creative Writing at many places, including Harvard University and Northwestern University.

Early life

Domini was born in New York City on June 30, 1951. His father immigrated to the U.S. from Naples, Italy, after World War II, [6] and his mother was from New York. Domini lived in and around New York City until he moved to Boston for college.

Education

Domini earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Boston University, an MFA from Johns Hopkins University, and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) from Union Institute & University. He has received grants and fellowships from the NEA and the Iowa Major Artist Award. [7]

Influences

Domini has studied with John Barth and Donald Barthelme, writing critical essays on both. [8] [9] Movieola! is dedicated to Barth and Barthelme, in addition to Stanley Elkin, and the poet Anne Sexton, all early teachers of Domini.

Domini also claims Toni Morrison, Gilbert Sorrentino, and Jaimy Gordon as influences, as well as European influences such as Italo Calvino, Jenny Erpenbeck and W.G. Sebald.

Career

Domini's reviews, essays, fiction and other work have been published in a number of magazines and newspapers including The Paris Review, The New York Times, The Literary Review, The Washington Post, Del Sol Review, [10] Conjunctions Magazine, [11] Ploughshares, Literary Hub, Virginia Quarterly Review, [12] Sewanee Review, [13] Brooklyn Rail, [14] and Southwest Review . [15] Domini's fiction has been called "a rich feast" by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford [16] and "elegant" and "gripping" by Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie. [17] In an essay in The Millions , J.C. Hallman called Domini's work "A new shriek for a new century." [18] His work has drawn comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov, Woody Allen, and Nathanael West. His fiction has been lauded as "a lively, generous mind in action thought swift moving, sonorous language" by Tony Ardizzone in Italian Americana. [19]

His debut book of short stories, Bedlam, was published by Fiction International in 1982 [20] and reissued by Dzanc in an expanded version in 2014. The stories examine "social violence and deep and genuine pity" and circle around the subject of love in both real and unreal locales. [21]

His second story collection, Highway Trade, was published by Red Hen Press in 1998. Norah Vincent of The New York Times called the stories "dense prose poems" with characters who "take metaphysical stock of experiences" [22]

Talking Heads: 77, his first novel, was also published by Red Hen Press in 2003., then reissued in 2013 by Dzanc Books The novel explores 1970s alternative news media and the punk rock scene. [23] Tom Simmons, in the Des Moines Register, called it "a very fine novel... written with flashy, pop-culture inventiveness. [24] "

Domini then began exploring Italy more in his work. Earthquake I.D., the first novel to do so, was published in 2007 by Red Hen Press and then reissued by Dzanc Books. The novel is set in Naples, the Southern Italian seaport where Domini's father grew up, and follows an American family's experiences there. The novel captures the struggles, also, of immigrant life in Naples. [25] The book was well-received and Steve Erickson, in a blurb, called Domini "a writer of the world." An Italian edition appeared in 2009 on Pironti Editore, [26] and was a runner-up for the Domenica Rea award.

The second in his series of Naples novels came in 2008 with A Tomb on the Periphery, which blended elements of crime fiction, ghost story and coming-of-age to tell a story of the underground market in ancient jewelry. It was selected by Gival Press as a runner-up for their national award and made the short list for "Best of International Publishing" at the London Book Fair. The novel was widely reviewed and Michael Madison, in Bookslut, called it "lush and generous. [27] "

This was followed up by another story collection, MOVIEOLA!, published by Dzanc Books in 2016, which explores the language and paraphernalia of the Hollywood industry. The Rumpus called it "feverishly exuberant…both highly visual and incredibly verbal [28] ". In 2019, an Italian translation appeared under the same title on Jona Editore. [29] Domini was invited to present the book at the annual Salone Del Libro.

Domini's most recent novel, The Color Inside A Melon, continues exploring the culture and mythos of Naples, this time from the perspective a refugee from Mogadishu searching for truth about the recent murder of an African immigrant, which threatens to unravel the stability of his own life. [30] Also published by Dzanc Books, The Color Inside A Melon won an honorable mention in the 2019 Book Award from the Italian American Studies Association. [31] Mark Athitakis at Washington Post called the book a "sagely genre-tweaking" story which was "especially well-turned. [32] " Domini spent time in Naples and Puglia on a state-arts grant, where his research informed his work. [33]

In 2021, Domini published a memoir, The Archeology of a Good Ragù: Discovering Naples, My Father, & Myself. The book examined his recovery from midlife breakdowns by way of deeper investigations into his father’s native city, Naples, and brought together, in new form, many previously published pieces on the ancient seaport, in The New York Times and elsewhere. Brooklyn Rail praised its “painstaking care” and “searing wit,” [34] and a section was reworked to stand alone in Lit Hub [35] .

Criticism

Domini has published hundreds of book reviews, as well as longer criticism. In 2014, The Sea-God's Herb was published by Dzanc Books, with selections of his criticism and reviews which have appeared in the New York Times and elsewhere. [36] The book received good notices; Publishers Weekly called it "poetic and philosophical" as well as "enlightening, [37] " and Electric Literature praised its "playful prose, intellectual depth, and the breadth of texts it covers." [36]

Awards

Domini received an NEA grant in 1977. [38] He was a recipient of the Ingram-Merrill Fellowship in 1986. In 2009, Domini received an Iowa Major Artist Grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. [39]

His poem "Okie Monarchs" won the 2006 Meridian Editors' Prize [40]

Translation

Domini translated Tullio Pironti's memoir, Books & Rough Business, in 2008. It was published by Red Hen Press. [41]

Bibliography

Memoir

Novels

Short story collections

Chapbooks

Non-fiction

The Sea-God's Herb: Essays & Criticism 1975-2014, Dzanc Books, selected essays and reviews; 2014. Ebook & print, nominated for PEN & NBCC Awards.

Short stories

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Ford</span> American author

Richard Ford is an American novelist and short story author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorrie Moore</span> American fiction writer (born 1957)

Lorrie Moore is an American writer, critic, and essayist. She is best known for her short stories, some of which have won major awards. Since 1984, she has also taught creative writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandar Hemon</span> Bosnian-American author, essayist, critic, television writer and screenwriter

Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American author, essayist, critic, television writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels Nowhere Man (2002) and The Lazarus Project (2008), and his scriptwriting as a co-writer of The Matrix Resurrections (2021).

<i>Ploughshares</i> American literary journal

Ploughshares is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College in Boston. Ploughshares publishes issues four times a year, two of which are guest-edited by a prominent writer who explores personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles. Guest editors have been the recipients of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, National Book Awards, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, and numerous other honors. Ploughshares also publishes longform stories and essays, known as Ploughshares Solos, all of which are edited by the editor-in-chief, Ladette Randolph, and a literary blog, launched in 2009, which publishes critical and personal essays, interviews, and book reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashok Banker</span> Indian writer

Ashok Kumar Banker is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and Indian mythology. The author of several well-received novels including a trilogy billed as "India's first crime novels in English", he became widely known for his retellings of Indian mythological epics, starting with the internationally acclaimed and best-selling eight-volume Ramayana series. His books have sold over 2 million copies and have been published in 16 languages in 58 countries. His Epic India Library is an attempt at retelling all the myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in one story cycle comprising over 70 volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lance Olsen</span> American writer (born 1956)

Lance Olsen is an American writer known for his experimental, lyrical, fragmentary, cross-genre narratives that question the limits of historical knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percival Everett</span> American writer (born 1956)

Percival Everett is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has described himself as "pathologically ironic" and has played around with numerous genres such as western fiction, mysteries, thrillers, satire and philosophical fiction. His books are often satirical, aimed at exploring race and identity issues in the United States.

Patrick Hicks is an Irish-American novelist, poet, and Writer-in-Residence at Augustana University.

Elizabeth Searle is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright and screenwriter. She is the author of five books of fiction and a rock opera, and she is co-writer of "I'll Show You Mine," a feature film from Duplass Brothers Productions and that was released by Gravitas Ventures in 2023 in select theaters in NYC, LA and more and widely via VOD on AmazonPrime, AppleTV, Comcast OnDemand, Vudu and more. The film which Elizabeth co-wrote with David Shields and Tiffany Louquet, is directed by Megan Griffiths and stars Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown. It received positive reviews in the New York Times and more, as well as national media coverage in VARIETY and more. Elizabeth has several other film projects in development. Her theater work TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA has been performed around the country. Both I'LL SHOW YOU MINE and TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA have received national media attention.

Robert Lopez is an American writer of novels and short stories, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. His fiction has appeared in many journals, including Bomb, The Threepenny Review, Vice Magazine, New England Review, New Orleans Review, American Reader, Brooklyn Rail, Hobart, Indiana Review, Literarian, Nerve, New York Tyrant, and Norton Anthology of International Flash Fiction. He teaches at The New School, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, and Pine Manor College.He was co-editor of avant-literary magazine Sleepingfish. In 2010, he was awarded a Fellow in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts, which included a grant for a three-year period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Selgin</span> American author and English professor

Peter Selgin is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, editor, and illustrator. Selgin is Associate Professor of English at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Elena Ferrante is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of Neapolitan Novels are her most widely known works. Time magazine called Ferrante one of the 100 most influential people in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Bell (author)</span> American writer

Matt Bell is an American writer. He is the author of Appleseed (2021), How They Were Found (2010) and Cataclysm Baby (2012). He received his BA from Oakland University and his MFA from Bowling Green State University. In 2012, he took a position as an assistant professor in the English department at Northern Michigan University, and currently teaches in the English department at Arizona State University.

Francesco Falconi is an Italian fantasy writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy O'Callaghan</span> Irish short fiction writer (born 1974)

Billy O'Callaghan is an Irish short fiction writer and novelist. He is best known for his short-story collection The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind, which was awarded the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award for the short story in 2013 and his widely-translated novel My Coney Island Baby, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award.

Dzanc Books is an American independent press book publisher. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private foundation. Michelle Dotter is publisher and editor-in-chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsey Drager</span> American author and professor of creative writing

Lindsey Drager is an American author and professor of creative writing at the University of Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Englehardt</span> American fiction writer (born 1987)

John Lewis Englehardt III is an American fiction writer and educator. His debut novel is Bloomland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Engel</span> Colombian-American writer

Patricia Engel is a Colombian-American writer, professor of creative writing at the University of Miami, and author of five books, including Vida, which was a PEN/Hemingway Fiction Award Finalist and winner of the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana, Colombia's national prize in literature. She was the first woman, and Vida the first book in translation, to receive the prize.

Nino Cipri is a science fiction writer, editor, and educator. Their works have been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, and Shirley Jackson Awards.

References

  1. ↑ Domini, John (1980). "Laugh Kookaberry, Laugh Kookaberry, Gay Your Life Must Be". Vol. Winter-Spring 1980, no. 77. ISSN   0031-2037 . Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  2. ↑ Domini, John (September 25, 1994). "Okefenokee Tales". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  3. ↑ "John Domini". www.pshares.org. Ploughshares. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  4. ↑ "John Barth Deserves a Wider Audience". Literary Hub. May 27, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  5. ↑ "New reviews and more from our members – National Book Critics Circle". www.bookcritics.org. October 9, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  6. ↑ says, The Devil (October 3, 2019). "Storytelling Should Never Be Confused with Sociology: The Millions Interviews John Domini". The Millions. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  7. ↑ "John Domini". www.johndomini.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  8. ↑ "John Barth Deserves a Wider Audience". Literary Hub. May 27, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  9. ↑ Domini, John (1990). "Donald Barthelme: The Modernist Uprising". Southwest Review. 75 (1): 95–112. ISSN   0038-4712. JSTOR   43470161.
  10. ↑ "The Del Sol Review". delsolreview.webdelsol.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Players, Tawkers, Spawts, by John Domini". www.conjunctions.com. Conjunctions — The forum for innovative writing. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Cli-Fi | VQR Online". www.vqronline.org. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Review: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James". The Sewanee Review. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  14. ↑ Domini, John (June 5, 2018). "Elle Nash's Animals Eat Each Other". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  15. ↑ DOMINI, JOHN (2008). "Tower, Tree, Candle: Dante's "Divine Comedy" and the Triumph of the Fragile". Southwest Review. 93 (2): 269–284. ISSN   0038-4712. JSTOR   43473522.
  16. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "Earthquake I. D.|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  17. ↑ "The Color Inside a Melon by John Domini". Dzanc Books. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  18. ↑ says, John Domini (August 1, 2016). "One Monster Replaces Another: On John Domini's 'Movieola!'". The Millions. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  19. ↑ Ardizzone, Tony (June 10, 2020). "Reviews: Movieola!" (PDF). Voices in Italian Americana. 28. Bordighera, Inc: 123.
  20. ↑ Hirsch, Kathleen (March 16, 1982). "Books: Fiction firsts". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Bedlam by John Domini". Dzanc Books. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Highway Trade". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: Talking Heads: 77 by John Domini, Author Red Hen Press $17.95 (264p) ISBN 978-1-888996-46-3". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  24. ↑ Simmons, Tom (April 27, 2003). "Talking Heads: 77". Des Moines Register. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  25. ↑ Domini, John (2007). Earthquake I.D. Red Hen Press. ISBN   978-1-59709-398-9.
  26. ↑ "Libri d'Autore - Tullio Pironti Editore". www.tulliopironti.it. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Bookslut | An Interview with John Domini". www.bookslut.com. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Movieola! by John Domini". The Rumpus.net. June 21, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  29. ↑ Paciello, Davide Gaetano. "Gli Americani - John Domini - Rilegato - Jona Editore". www.jonaeditore.it (in Italian). Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  30. ↑ says, The Devil (October 3, 2019). "Storytelling Should Never Be Confused with Sociology: The Millions Interviews John Domini". The Millions. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  31. ↑ "IASA Book Award". Italian American Studies Association. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  32. ↑ Athitakis, Mark. "Review | A meditation on race, class — and murder — set in one of Europe's most storied cities". Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  33. ↑ Shade, Christopher X. (August 14, 2018). "John Domini // The Cagibi Express Interview - Cagibi Literary Journal". Cagibi. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  34. ↑ Appel, Jacob M. (May 4, 2021). "John Domini's The Archeology of a Good Ragù". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  35. ↑ "Reckoning with the Impact of the Camorra on My Family's Livelihood". Literary Hub. May 10, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  36. 1 2 "Review: The Sea-God's Herb by John Domini". Electric Literature. February 23, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  37. ↑ "The Sea-God's Herb: Essays & Criticism, 1975-2014". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  38. ↑ "14 Authors on the Life-Changing Impact of the NEA". Electric Literature. March 21, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  39. ↑ "Domini, John — Iowa Center for the Book". www.iowacenterforthebook.org. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  40. ↑ "John Domini". www.johndomini.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  41. ↑ Pironti, Tullio; Domini, John (2009). Books & Rough Business. Red Hen Press. ISBN   978-1-59709-368-2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.