Grazia Deledda: The Politics of Non-Involvernent Vilma Ricci A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto O Copyright by Vilma Ricci 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliograptiic Semices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON KiA ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Vour file Votre dlermCe Our fije Notre reldnmce The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thése ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Grazia Deledda: The Politics of Non-Involvement ABSTRACT Viima Ricci Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto 2001 The purpose OF the present dissertation is to reappraise the work of Grazia Deledda (187 1- 1936) in the light of psychological, semiotic and feminist theory introduced in Chapter 1, "Methodologies". Towards this end C hapter II, "Sy 1tabus," reviews the social and political climate into which Deledda was born and the key events in her early family life up to the time of her mam-age in 1900. Using her personal letters and her autobiogaphical novel Cosima as primary sources, the link between Deledda's persona1 experience and her writing is established. The letters and Cosima are also analyzed in an effort to reach a better understanding of Deledda's veiled antagonism towards familial and societal restrictions. It is Our intention, in so doing, to demonstrate just how the effects of 19th-century patriarchy were negotiated by Deledda as a woman author. Paying particular attention to those episodes and relationships which influenced the ambivalent nature of her views on sexuality and gender relations Chapter III, "Marri-ageof the Mind," continues to explore Deledda's obsession with such sexual themes as pathology, the consequence of that restrictive web of prohibitions which, in the lives of women, tolerated no exposure to the outside world and subverted any natural expression of sensuality. Through her literary treatment of women in the short story "Battesimi" and the novel Nostalpie, the extent of autobiographical intrusion, introduced in Chapter II, is examined in more detail. Chapter IV, "The Business of Writing", investigates Deledda's entrepreneurial skills in her letters and fiction noting how she employed gender tactics to develop her career aspirations despite the opposition of her family and the pressures of society. Chapter V, "Gender Wars", examines the nature of both male and female characterization in Deledda's novels in order to uncover her views regarding inequality. Her Zanguage and images are evaluated here by enlisting semiotics to corroborate her anxiety and anger in respect to gender issues. It is our intention herein to show the author's constant awareness of women's power and potential as well as their plight at an almost total absence of legitimate channels allowing them. Deledda's profound personal frustration with sexual and professional repression will be showto have had a significant impact on the nature of the style and content of her literary output. Table of Contents Preface ......................................................................................................................... -1 Chapter 2 :Methodologies A- Early Cntics ...................................................................................... 1 . B . "Scrittura al femminile"................................................................... 18 C-Towd a New View of Grazia Deledda ........................................ 27 CI? D . The Function of Biography ............................................................. 32 E. The Implications of Semiotics........................................................ 263 Chapter 2: Syllabus A . Sardinia in Transition .................................................................... 40 B . The Decline of the Deledda Family .............................................. 30 C . Deledda's Romantic History ........................................................... 65 Chapter III: Marriage of the Mind A . The Letters ...................................................................................... 79 B . "Battesimi" Baptism by Fire .......................................................... 90 C- Nostaleie and its Discontents . i) Searching the Real Stsry .................................................... -99 .. il) Entanglements ................................................................... 107 iii) "Il fi&& abominevole" : Deledda's SexuaI Pathology ........ 116 Chapter N:The Business of Writing ................................................................... 128 Chapter V: Gender Wars A . "Meaculpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa"................................ 151 B . "Scribo,ergo sum" ........................................................................ 181 C. Cross-Gender Dressing .............. .. ................................................. 187 D . Signs of the Times ...................................................................... 201 Conclusion ... ....................................... .................................................................216 Appendix: La moglie ............................................................................................... 220 Bi bliography .. Bibliography..................................................................... 224 Grazia Deledda: Selected Readings .................................................. 3343 Preface A spectm of views fiom the conse~vativeto a still timid feminist ticket has continued to consider Grazia Deledda (1871-1936) pnmarily through her novels, dividing them into those prior to and those followinç Il segreto dell'uorno solitario ( 192 1 ), considered to be the watershed between Deledda's early Sardinian penod and a new, more intimate psychological phase in her wrïting. For the rnost part her letters have been used thus far to elaborate upon evaluations of her novels. It is the purpose of this dissertation, rather, to employ Deledda's letters in a concerted attempt to reach a better understanding of her literary reaction to the crisis of 19th-century gender issues, that growing antagonism of women towards familial and social restrictions which rnarked the age, to demonstrate how the personal and global effects of that historical penod were negotiated by Deledda as a woman author. By utilising her letters up to 1900 and her final novel Cosima, published posthumously in 1937, her ambivalent views on sexuaiity, femininity and gender relations will be seen to be the result of a number of traumatic incidents in her early experience in Sardinia. It wiIl be shown how these events impacted significantly on her life as a woman and crucially influenced her development as a writer. Chapter 1 "Methodologies" will begin with a review of previous criticism of Deledda with the aim of introducing the advantages of using a variety of methodologies in the study of her work rather than remaining limited to a fixed literary focus. It is our belief that employing a spectrum of approaches yields a deeper understanding of II Deledda's writingas more than just a creative exercise. Together with a literary analysis, feminist, psychoanalytic and serniotic methodologies will be used to discover messages in her writing sometimes not accessible by implementing one rnethod alone. Since Deledda's early life is of utmost importance in reaching an understanding of her psychological development and of how it affected the content and style of her writing, this opening châpter will defend the use of biography and cite some of the historical/developmental background to feminisrn, psychoanalysis and semiotics. "Syllabus", Chapter II, will introduce the social and political climate into which Deledda was born. Her family life will be discussed paying particular attention to those episodes and relationships, descnbed in her correspondence and in Cosima, which parhcularly influenced the ambivalent, sometimes vague and contradictory nature of her opinions concerning sexuality and gender relations. It will become evident that because of Deledda's constant struggle to assert herself as a woman and as a writer she lived in an ongoing state of flux between submissive and rebellious moods. These struggles and temperarnents are reflected in the personalities and in the actions of many of the characters in her stories and novets. Deledda allowed hersetf to become successful through escape from her rigid patriarchal background, but it was an escape for which she invariable punished herself It will become clear that she exhibited a typical psychological dynarnic of self- flagellation for her own trespass through many of her characters,