Paul Anthony has had a life-long love affair with literature. He scribbled off poems as a teenager, then eked out a living after high school writing catalogue copy for an NYC department store, writing ad copy for a roadmap cartographer, and even writing copy in praise of high-quality roofing materials. Paul went on to earn Masters and Doctoral degrees in English Literature and Literary Studies, respectively. Paul also has a passion for opera (particularly Italian opera), which was instilled by his Italian grandparents and nurtured by two very patient uncles.
Paul combined his passions for literature and opera in Sorrow: the legacy of Cio-Cio-San, a lyric novella inspired by the opera Madama Butterfly. Sorrow chronicles the life of Butterfly’s family after the heroine’s tragic death. The title character is the son of Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) and Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a US Navy lieutenant stationed at Nagasaki. Sorrow’s journey, as he learns about his childhood in Japan and wrestles with his new life in America, touches on the multi-cultural, global issues leading up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Sorrow: the legacy of Cio-Cio-San was indie published by Paul Anthony Publishing in July 2021 and is available on Amazon.
Paul’s current works-in-progress include Brooklyn 4, New York: Stories in Verse, a chapbook of twentieth-century lyric musings, and L’Attavanti, the second novella in “The Puccini Heroine Series.”
Musings from Dr. Paul Anthony can be found on his blog site, “Writing, Opera, Wine” linked below.
Pine Island Writers 