Imaging, picturing, and fixing: il ruolo della fotografia nella scrittura di Louise DeSalvo

This essay focuses on the way the Italian American writer Louise DeSalvo employs photographs in her memoirs to interpret and to make visible the thoughts and the experiences of the women of her family. Moreover, this study aims to analyze not only the way photographs are necessary for DeSalvo to rebuild her family history, but also, it points out the specific features of DeSalvo’s writing style, which is characterized by the frequent interaction with the photographic qualities of picturing and fixing subjects into certain frames. In the end, this essay will offer a description of how DeSalvo’s choice to avoid being blindly devoted to the principles of loyalty and silence shared by her family and by the Italian American community unveils the most hidden details of her household through pictures and personal effects belonging to her grandmother, her mother, and her sister.