Writing and Performing Female Identity in Italian Culture (Italian and Italian American Studies)

This Volume Investigates The Ways In Which Italian Women Writers, Filmmakers, And Performers Have Represented Female Identity Across Genres From The Immediate Post-world War Ii Period To The Turn Of The Twenty-first Century. Considering Genres Such As Prose, Poetry, Drama, And Film, These Essays Examine The Vision Of Female Agency And Self-actualization Arising From Women Artists{u2019} Critique Of Female Identity. This Dual Approach Reveals Unique Interpretations Of Womanhood In Italy Spanning More Than Fifty Years, While Also Providing A Deep Investigation Of The Manipulation Of Canvases Historically Centered On The Male Subject. With Its Unique Coupling Of Generic And Thematic Concerns, The Volume Contributes To The Ever Expanding Female Artistic Legacy, And To Our Understanding Of Postwar Italian Women{u2019}s Evolving Relationship To The Narration Of History, Gender Roles, And These Artists{u2019} Use And Revision Of Generic Convention To Communicate Their Vision. -- 1 Introduction / Virginia Picchietti, Laura A. Salsini -- Part I Poetry -- 2 The Broken Language Of High Poetry: Agency And Emotion In Teresino By Vivian Lamarque / Enrico Minardi -- 3 Re-appropriation For A New Symbolic Order: The Search For Identity In The Poetry Of Armanda Guiducci, Maria Luisa Spaziani And Oliva Gualtieri Bernardi / Rosa Cuda -- Part Ii Cinema -- 4 Mambo And Maggiorate: Italien Female Stardom In The 1950s / Elisa Unffreduzzi -- 5 Mina: Narrative And Cinematic Spectacle Of The Italian Woman In The 1960s / Paola Valentini -- 6 Beyond The Male Gaze. Conceiving The Fourth Gaze In La Bestia Nel Cuore / Ryan Calabretta-saider -- Part Iii Theatre -- 7 From Fairy Tale To Hysteria: Women In Italian Theater In The Early 1950s / Daniela Cavallaro -- 8 Telling Lives, Staging Silences: Dacia Maraini's Biographical Theater / Alex Standen -- 9 Staging The (sur)real World: Soledad Agresti's Theater Of Women / Raffaele Furno -- Part Iv Prose -- 10 Writing History, Trauma And The (dis/re)appearance Of The Body In Cutrufelli's La Briganta / Sandra Waters -- 11 The Treasure Chest And The Talisman: Writing Between Reality And Myth In Maria Giacobbe / Angela Guiso -- 12 Space And Sexuation In The Fin De Siècle Italian Female Narrative / Anna Marchioni Cucchinella. Virginia Picchietti, Laura A. Salsini, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-15 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 The Broken Language of High Poetry: Agency and Emotion in Teresino by Vivian Lamarque....Pages 19-41 Re-appropriation for a New Symbolic Order: The Search for Identity in the Poetry of Armanda Guiducci, Maria Luisa Spaziani and Oliva Gualtieri Bernardi....Pages 43-57 Front Matter....Pages 59-59 Mambo and Maggiorate: Italian Female Stardom in the 1950s....Pages 61-80 Mina: Narrative and Cinematic Spectacle of the Italian Woman of the 1960s....Pages 81-103 Beyond the “Male Gaze”—Conceiving the “Fourth” Gaze in La bestia nel cuore ....Pages 105-124 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 From Fairy Tale to Hysteria: Women in Italian Theater in the Early 1950s....Pages 127-151 Telling Lives, Staging Silences: Dacia Maraini’s “Biographical” Theater....Pages 153-174 Staging the (Sur)real World: Soledad Agresti’s Theater of Women....Pages 175-198 Front Matter....Pages 199-199 Writing History, Trauma, and the (Dis/Re) Appearance of the Body in Cutrufelli’s La briganta ....Pages 201-221 The Treasure Chest and the Talisman: Writing between Reality and Myth in Maria Giacobbe....Pages 223-247 Space and Sexuation in the Fin de Siècle Italian Female Narrative....Pages 249-271 Back Matter....Pages 273-278 This volume investigates the ways in which Italian women writers, filmmakers, and performers have represented female identity across genres from the immediate post-World War II period to the turn of the twenty-first century. This volume investigates the ways in which Italian women writers, filmmakers, and performers have represented female identity across genres from the immediate post-World War II period to the turn of the twenty-first century. Considering genres such as prose, poetry, drama, and film, these essays examine the vision of female agency and self-actualization arising from women artists' critique of female identity. This dual approach reveals unique interpretations of womanhood in Italy spanning more than fifty years, while also providing a deep investigation of the manipulation of canvases historically centered on the male subject. With its unique coupling of generic and thematic concerns, the volume contributes to the ever expanding female artistic legacy, and to our understanding of postwar Italian women's evolving relationship to the narration of history, gender roles, and these artists' use and revision of generic convention to communicate their vision