{"id":1956,"date":"2015-02-12T20:40:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T20:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/?p=1956"},"modified":"2015-02-12T20:42:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T20:42:16","slug":"conversation-with-olga-ragusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/conversation-with-olga-ragusa\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversation with Olga Ragusa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nAlessandro Cassin<\/a>\r\n\t \t\t
Alessandro Cassin is the director of publishing and CPL Editions<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A conversation with Olga Ragusa – A lifelong engagement with the printed word: reading, writing and teaching.<\/h5>\n

The elder of Andrea Ragusa\u2019s daughters, Olga, arrived in New York with her family in 1931 and pursued an academic career, reaching the position of Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. A charismatic and beloved teacher, she was Chair of the Italian Department from 1963 to 1992. From 1968 to 1984 she was the editor-in-chief of the journal Italica. Among her many scholarly publications is her study of her father\u2019s life in publishing, Andrea Ragusa Editore-libraio italiano a New York dal 1931 al 1974.*<\/p>\n

Alessandro Cassin: Do you recall what books were most important to you as a child?
\nOlga Ragusa: Yes, Cinderella above all.<\/p>\n

AC: Were you read to, and in what language?<\/p>\n

OR: My mother read to me in both Italian and in German.<\/p>\n

AC: I saw a loving letter that your father wrote to you in 1931, while he was in the States and you and your mother and sister in Merano. Besides expressing fatherly affection he encouraged you in your studies, languages in particular. Clearly your father valued education and literature, could you tell us something of the role that education and literature played in your life?<\/p>\n

OR: Literature and education were very important for my father. He was a perfectionist in all his endeavors. He never tired, not even when his health was at risk.<\/p>\n