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When Thomas J. Ferraro declared Italian-American writing one of the better kept literary secrets of [the twentieth] century, he had in mind Garibaldi M. Lapolla, among other authors. In their detailed and sensitive treatment of everyday life in early twentieth-century Italian Harlem, Lapolla’s three published novels - The Fire in the Flesh (1931), Miss Rollins in Love (1932), and The Grand Gennaro (1935) - form a cornerstone of early Italian-American fiction for readers familiar with the likes of Silvio Villa, Giuseppe Cautela, Louis Forgione, Frances Winwar, John Fante, Mari Tomasi, Pietro di Donato, Guido d'Agostino, and Jerre Mangione. However, Garibaldi M. Lapolla’s writing has not garnered nearly the attention it deserves despite his renown among scholars of Italian-American literature, the similarity of his fiction to that of canonical ethnic writers such as Abraham Cahan and Anzia Yezierska, and the recent entry into the canon of other Italian-American fiction writers (such as Pietro di Donato and John Fante). To be sure, one obvious reason is unavailability. While Lapolla’s novels were generally well reviewed - especially The Grand Gennaro, considered to be his best work - they soon went out of print. And despite an Arno Press resurrection of his first and last novels in 1975, Garibaldi M. Lapolla’s name continues to remain in underserved obscurity; he could very well be the best kept secret of Italian-American literature.
