Born in Italy in 1951, immigrated to the US in 1963 and American citizen since 1969, at present he is “Alfonse M. D’Amato” Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, in the Department of European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, at Stony Brook University, NY. Previously he was Professor of Italian, European Languages and Literatures, Queens College/CUNY, 1983-2008; & Doctoral Faculty, Comparative Literature, Graduate Center/CUNY.
He was Visiting Professor in many Faculties: Professore a Contratto, Faculty of Aesthetics, Univ. of Rome/2, Spring 1990; Exchange Professor, Dept. of European Studies, Univ. of Paris/8, Fall 1999; Visiting Professor, Dept. of Italian, Middlebury College, Summer 2001; Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Dept. of English, Univ. of Madrid/Complutense, Spring 2003; Visiting Professor, Dept. of Italian, Columbia University, Fall 2006; Visiting Professor, Dept. of American Studies, Nanjing University, January, 2009.Peter Carravetta resides in Queens, NY. While at CUNY, served as Chair of Dept of European Languages (1995-99), and Director of a World Studies Program (1993-99). Served on different committees while at Queens College and at Stony Brook University. Curated four art exhibits, and organized over twenty conferences and panels in philosophy, cultural studies, Italian Studies, and Italian American Studies. Presently developing a MA & PhD Program in European Studies with two tracks (Literatures and Cultures & Globalization and Migrations) at Stony Brook University; expected to start in September, 2014.
His personal website: petercarravetta.com
Fra le sue numerosissime pubblicazioni, ricordiamo solo le monografie:
Books Published
– The Elusive Hermes. Method, Discourse, Interpreting (Aurora (CO), Davies Group Publishing, 2012; 486 pp). Entirely rewritten and augmented versions of the 1996 Il fantasma di Hermes, and the 2002 Dei parlanti, this book is a general theory of interpretation that explores the co-enabling relation between method and rhetoric, and is anchored on the trichotomy Interpreter, Work, Interpreting process. Tested through additional studies on Sophists, Hegel, Peirce, and contemporary authors on the philosophy of rhetoric.
– Sulle tracce di Hermes. Migrare, narrare, riorientarsi (Milano, Morellini, 2012; 192 pp). Three long papers dealing with the phenomenology of the journey, the theory of migration (transl. from English), and the origins of Italian emigration to the United States. Previously published and now expanded, with Introduction.
– Del Postmoderno. Critica e cultura in America all’alba del duemila (Milano, Bompiani, 2009; 620 pp). Gathers 20 years of studies and essays on postmodernism in American culture, with chapters on popular culture, post-colonial studies, feminism, globalization, literary theory, public intellectuals, utopism, higher education, philosophy and history. English version forthcoming in 2014.
– Dei Parlanti. Studi e ipotesi su metodo e retorica dell’interpretare (Torino: Marcovalerio, 2002; 300 pp). Continuation of Hermes project (see next entry), with studies in the rhetorical hermeneutics present in the work of P. Valesio, G. Hartman, L. Pareyson, P. Ricoeur, G. Vico.
– Il fantasma di Hermes. Saggio su metodo, retorica, interpretare (Lecce: Milella, 1996; 420 pp.) New analyses of the notions of method, theory and rhetoric, and implications for hermeneutics; from Aristotle and Plato through Descartes, Husserl, Gadamer, Perelman, De Man.
– Prefaces to the Diaphora. Rhetorics, Allegory, and the Interpretation of Postmodernity (W. Lafayette: Purdue Univ. Press, 1991; 350 pp). With studies on avant-gardes vs postmodernism, a rethinking of rhetoric and allegory, Nietzsche, D’Annunzio, Vattimo, Lyotard, and Heidegger.
Co-Edited Books
– Poesaggio. Poeti italiani d’America (with P. Valesio). (Treviso: Pagus, 1994; 302 pp). Wrote Introduction, poems, and essay on poetics. This is the very first gathering of 12 Italian poets living in the US, establishing the beginning of an italophone literature abroad.
– Postmoderno e letteratura. Percorsi e visioni della critica in America (with P. Spedicato). (Milano: Bompiani, 1984; 340 pp); with chapter on Yale Critics, translated four of 14 American authors. This book is credited with having launched the debate on postmodernism in Italy.