Professor of English Robert Zweig’s memoir, Return to Naples (Barricade Books) has been translated and published in Italy by Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane and is entitled, Ritorno a Napoli.
On February 12, 2009 the Mayor of Naples, Italy, presented Professor Zweig with a “Plaque of the City.” During the same day, journalists and historians held a roundtable discussion at Naples’ City Hall on Zweig’s book.
Reviews of the book and interviews were published in “Il Mattino” and “Il Roma” newspapers.
Zweig’s Story
As a boy in the 1960s, Robert Zweig, a young American of Italian, German, and Jewish descent, had a rare opportunity: Every summer, he would leave his home and friends in America to make extended visits to Naples, Italy. Each time he left New York to cross the Atlantic, he would emerge into a world surrounded by his Italian relatives. Among them, he would uncover new mysteries and gain new understanding about the parents he thought he’d known.
This book offers tender insights into the mind and heart of a young boy as he becomes aware of the wonders and disappointments of life during his summer visits to Italy; the place where his parents met and married. He is shocked to learn how his parents managed to survive the ravages of Fascism and Nazism during World War II.
Unforgettable Neapolitans
He learns how his grandparents, Italian Jews, had to abandon their home to become nomads, living by their wits in order to elude the Germans in 1943. He becomes aware of how different the war was for the Italians who came forward to shelter and support their Jewish neighbors at great risk to themselves.
Woven within the narrative are fascinating descriptions of Naples during its years as an impoverished city as well as the unforgettable Neapolitans who became part of young Robert’s life and have remained in his heart ever since. Readers will meet Pasquale, the sensitive, poetic concierge whose gentle spirit moved the boy; Maria, the superstitious housekeeper; Aunt Lietta, whose gifts would touch and inspire her nephew; the life-loving Rabbi of Naples, and many others who brought insight and maturity to the American teenager.
