Wesleyan University – Graduate Liberal Studies course proposal For Spring 2019 Instructor: Jeanne Bonner

Italian Women Writers: Before and After #FerranteFever

From Grazia Deledda in the early part of the 20th century (the only Italian woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature), Elsa Morante and Natalia Ginzburg of the wartime era to Anna Maria Ortese in the postwar period, and Margaret Mazzantini and Elena Ferrante in more recent times, Italian literature by women, and in particular fiction or fictionalized memoir, provides a window on the times, as well as a portrait of a gender enshrined as Madonna-like on the one hand or sultry, sexual objects on the other but whose ambitions, in any event, have been vigorously policed (to quote playwright and actress Franca Rame, “All home, bed and church”).

In this course, we will focus primarily on Italian women novelists and short story writers of the 20th and 21st century, with a few examples of earlier writers as well as two standout poets. And in doing so, we will read not only a Nobel laureate but also multiple writers who have won Italy’s highest literary prize, the Premio Strega. Indeed, the women authors who paved the way for #FerranteFever form a rich canon of literature unto themselves, despite the obstacles placed in their way.

We will examine the social and political issues addressed by these works while also paying close attention to the context in which these Italian women writers wrote. That includes the political and social developments in Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on issues of special relevance to women. In particular, we will look at the marginalization of women writers in the Italian literary canon and critical perceptions of women authors, including, through select secondary readings, the response to the Ferrante juggernaut in Italy (or the juggernaut that wasn’t).

Focusing on the works of Italian women writers, we will briefly look at issues and trends in contemporary literary translation, in particular, what gets translated (or more to the point, who: women authors comprise a fraction of works translated from Italian to English).

The course will be an exercise in literary voyeurism as we eavesdrop on the cultural and political conversations occurring in Italy. To wit, Ferrante’s searing 2002 marital drama The Days of Abandonment (see syllabus), emerged as controversial TV impresario and all-around lothario Silvio Berlusconi dominated and re-shaped Italian politics not to mention broadcast television (inspiring a short but brutal documentary about depictions of women’s bodies in Italy, which we will view as part of the course).

In summary, in a period in which translated fiction in general and Italian fiction in particular has become so celebrated that Ferrante’s translator (Ann Goldstein) has become a literary star in her own right, there has never been a more exciting or vital time to read works by Italian women writers.

Reading list: there will be a set list of texts, stipulated at the beginning of the course, as well as secondary readings distributed throughout the course of the semester. Students will be encouraged to take ownership of the course and prepare for further inquiry of a milieu (Italian literature written by women) that is constantly deepening and widening.

Assessment: This is a seminar-style class, where students will do significant amounts of reading and come to class prepared to discuss the texts and the issues surrounding the texts. Those who raise questions will be particularly appreciated.

About the instructor: Jeanne Bonner is a writer, teacher and literary translator who teaches Italian at the University of Connecticut part-time. She is the 2018 winner of the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature for her translation-in-progress of Mariateresa Di Lascia’s 1995 novel, Passaggio in Ombra. Her creative writing, including nonfiction essays and book reviews, have been published by The New York Times, Literary Hub, Catapult, CNN Travel and Consequence. She's written widely on fiction from emerging and established Italian women writers. She studied Italian literature at Wesleyan University and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington College.

List of course texts Grazia Deledda, The Mother Elsa Morante, Arthur’s Island Natalia Ginzburg, Family Lexicon Anna Maria Ortese, Neapolitan Chronicles Edith Bruck, Letter to My Mother Elena Ferrante, Days of Abandonment, Frantumaglia and The Lost Daughter Margaret Mazzantini, Don’t Move Poetry selections from: Alda Merini and Patrizia Valduga Also: Short stories by contemporary emerging Italian women writers (handouts)

Secondary readings, including (provided via handout): James Wood, “Women on the Verge,” from The New Yorker (January 2013) O’Rourke, Meghan, “Elena Ferrante: The Global Literary Sensation Nobody Knows,” from The Guardian (October 2014).

Other Excerpts from Writing to Delight: Italian Short Stories by Nineteenth Century Women Writers Film viewing: Lorella Zanardo’s Il corpo delle donne (documentary – instructor will procure) Posts from the Women in Translation blog on Tumblr, including “What Does It Mean to Choose to Translate Women?” by Kira Josefsson ((Adapted from a presentation at “Choosing to Translate Women,” at the 2017 American Literary Translators Association conference)

Assignments: Two essays (3-5 pages) on our readings One in-class presentation One major critical paper – due at the end of the course – that synthesizes paradigms and thematic threads

Sample Class Schedule (based on 12 weeks/one course meeting per week):

Week 1 (January 28, 2019) Syllabus and introductions Intro to contemporary Italian literature

Week 2 Grazia Deledda, The Mother The only Italian woman to win the Noble Prize for literature; a look at how women authors fare with prizes in Italy

Week 3 Elsa Morante, Arthur’s Island Critical responses to Morante; secondary readings about her connection to other Italian writers of the wartime period.

Week 4 Natalia Ginzburg, Family Lexicon and “The Mother” (short story) Writing from il Confino – the life of a wartime exile in World War II Italy

*Essay #1 due in class

Week 5 Anna Maria Ortese, Neapolitan Chronicles (excerpts) What gets translated: A primer on Italian (and other) literature by women in translation (beyond the ‘3 percent’ problem)

Week 6 Edith Bruck, Letter to my mother ‘Signora Auschwitz’: intro to Italian Transnational writers, with a focus on Holocaust writing

*Discussion/assignment in-class presentation

Week 7 Poetry: selections from Alda Merini and Patrizia Valduga Essay #2 due in class

Week 8 Short stories by contemporary Italian women writers (2010-2018) Women in modern Italy & Italian feminism Film viewing: Lorella Zanardo’s Il corpo delle donne (documentary)

Week 9 Margaret Mazzantini, Non ti muovere *In-class presentations due Intro to Elena Ferrante

Week 10 Elena Ferrante, Days of Abandonment Also, excerpts from Frantumaglia (nonfiction collection of interviews and letters)

Week 11 Ferrante continued, The Lost Daughter Secondary readings (James Wood, Meghan O’Rourke, etc)

Week 12 (May 3, 2019) Course wrap-up Major paper due in class