📖 The Italian Diaspora in Australia. Representations of Italy and Italians in Australian Literature.

Well in excess of one quarter million Italians migrated to Australia, most of them in the 1950-70 period. Despite some initial problems, the vast majority became permanent residents and integrated very successfully in the socio-economic mould of Australian society. This research project, part of a doctoral thesis, which includes a novel, An Olive Branch for Sante, traces the progression of the Italian diaspora in Australia and how it evolved over three generations. Specifically, it looks at the way that Italians and Italy are represented in the literary texts of that country in the period 1950 to 2006 and how these reflect the prevailing attitudes among the general population at the time in which the texts were written. In the final chapter titled, Literature of Nostalgia: The Long Journey, Casella reflects upon his own body of work, within the genre of Diasporic Literature.