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An Interview With Nino Ricci -- Part Two

© Paula E. Kirman

Nino Ricci has captivated Canada's literary world with novels that are full of culture (particularly drawing from his Italian background), and life -- especially tragedy and sadness. When I spoke with him, we discussed the role of his ethnicity on his writing, his influences, and his goals as a writer. This is part two of my interview with Nino Ricci, conducted in 1998.

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Kirman: It's very interesting that you mentioned people being more open to multiculturalism in writing. I found when I was reading your novels the fact I am not Italian was not a disadvantage. Nothing went over my head, and I was able to relate to the story and even come away from it with more of an understanding of Italian culture. Is that a challenge to be able to write from an ethnic point of view, but at the same time to make sure a larger audience can relate?

Ricci: In some ways it comes fairly naturally. I think it comes naturally to most writers to do that. When Dostoyevsky was writing about Russian peasants or Russian gamblers he wasn't worried about whether or not his books were going to speak outside of Russia. I think you just try and know your subject well, and if you know your subject deeply than that generally gets you to the essence of things, and gets you beyond the stereotypes and generally gets you to a point where their dilemmas will be comprehensible cross cultural boundaries. The danger is to set out to say, "I am going to write about the Italian Canadian experience," because that is when you start latching on to the symbols of that experience, and to the stereotypes almost unknowingly because you feel you are sort of having to take a position. I think if you just try to remain true to your material it really becomes a non-issue.

Kirman: And knowing your subject -- is that why your novels so far have been from the Italian perspective?

Ricci: Again, it happened a little bit by accident. I didn't set out to write a trilogy about the Italian Canadian or immigrant experience, but yes, inevitably when I sat down to write a novel I went back to material that was familiar to me. When I started Lives of the Saints and started what would become this trilogy the issues that were important to me then were not necessarily the issues of ethnicity or the immigrant experience, but as I delved into the material I did go back to what was familiar to me, and that was what came out.

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