Semiotext from Mapping Approximations by Goran Tomic
A Brief Literary Guide to The Sopranos
In “Commendatori” (S2 E4) Angie Bonpensiero tells Carmela and Rosalie it secretly made her sick when her husband Salvatore (Big Pussy) Bonpensiero returned from the mysterious absence during which, we would learn, he was turned by the FBI. Angie is sick because Sal’s return will pull her back into the life she hoped to escape. The writers of this episode have drawn on Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (1894) whose heroine dies of a heart attack when her husband, incorrectly reported as a dead in a train wreck, comes home to ruin her dream of an independent life.
On a college-visiting trip with Meadow, Tony spots Fabian “Febby” Petrulio now living under a new identity in Maine through the Witness Protection Program. Tony kills Petrulio during Meadow’s overnight at Bowdoin College, meeting her the next day in the Admissions office where he waits under a sign that reads “No man can…wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true — Hawthorne” A passing undergraduate explains: “He’s our most famous alumnus.” The episode is “College” (S1 E5); the line about faces is from The Scarlet Letter (1850) and applies to both Hester and Dimmesdale.
Echoes and ironies are everywhere in “A Sentimental Education” (S5 E6) when, during her separation from Tony, Carmela begins an affair with Mr. Wegler, Anthony Jr.’s college counselor. While Carmela coerces Wegler to pressure AJ’s English teacher for a better grade, Wegler exploits Carmela’s attraction to his cultural capital, buying her a copy of Madame Bovary (1856), and discussing it with her over a series of dates. The night they consummate their affair Carmela reads Abelard and Heloise in Wegler’s bathroom.
There are many other appropriations. The Raymond Carver “Small Good Thing” trope, pervasive in American screenwriting since the 1990s, is everywhere in The Sopranos. See “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano” (S1 E 13) where after a day of heartbreak and a regional power outage, many of the principals dine by candlelight at Artie Bucco’s Vesuvius. When rapper Massive Genius shakes down Tony’s counselor Hesh Rabkin for royalties from an R&B song his cousin recorded with Hesh in the 1950s (“A Hit is a Hit,” S1 E10) the script is in debt to the plays of August Wilson. In “Fortunate Son” (S3 E3) when Tony’s sister Janice steals one-legged caregiver Svetlana’s prosthetic leg to make her return matriarch Livia Soprano’s record collection, the theft comes from Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” (1955).
About the author:
Benjamin Goluboff is the author of Ho Chi Minh: A Speculative Life in Verse, and Biking Englewood: A Essay on the White Gaze, both from Urban Farmhouse Press. Goluboff teaches at Lake Forest College.
Some of his work can be read at: https://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/goluboff
In the artist’s words:
The series I’m working on is titled “Mapping Approximation” which is a large expansive collection of Collages delving into the consciousness of the Modern Inferno that we inhabit and our oxygen giving participation to its flames. They are Compositions within compositions commenting on the current state of Technology, AI, Climate change, cheap and nasty architecture, disposable culture, medication as food, the new age Jungian world on our doorstep. This is Our Modern Inferno. You won’t find Obvious images of Blood or War or Hell in this series, the underlying theme and Through Line is my personal interpretation of Dante’s inferno.
Goran Tomic, a self-taught artist from Sydney, Australia, creates collages that capture the chaotic beauty of urban life. His pieces, often made on the move—in cafes, pubs, or even on public transport—reflect the shifting dynamics of his surroundings and daily routine. Prompted by his transition from a spacious house to a compact apartment, Goran utilizes materials like cardboard, envelopes, and old book covers, blending them into distinctive compositions that embody the city’s vibrancy. His art transcends mere visual expression; it is a journey through urban decay in search of the “Wilderness Robe,” a symbol of authenticity in a constantly evolving world. Influenced by Robert Rauschenberg, Goran’s installations and performances challenge viewers to rethink the boundaries between art and everyday life.