DOCSLIB.ORG

Finding Feminist Affect in Italian Literature: from Sibilla Aleramo to Rossana Campo, 1906-2012

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Finding Feminist Affect in Italian Literature: from Sibilla Aleramo to Rossana Campo, 1906-2012 Finding Feminist Affect in Italian Literature: From Sibilla Aleramo to Rossana Campo, 1906-2012 By Soledad Donata Anatrone A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Italian Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Barbara Spackman, Chair Professor Mia Fuller Professor Nadia Ellis Spring 2015 Abstract Finding Feminist Affect in Italian Literature: From Sibilla Aleramo to Rossana Campo, 1906-2012 By Soledad Donata Anatrone Doctor of Philosophy in Italian Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality University of California, Berkeley Professor Barbara Spackman, Chair The project of nation-building is an affective one; it depends on shared sites of emotional investment and collective memory in order to produce a language that speaks to and for the subjects of that nation. In Italy this task has been at the heart of public debate since the turn of the century, coloring the content and form of literary narratives as well as political activism. Finding Feminist Affect in Italian Literature: From Sibilla Aleramo to Rossana Campo, 1906-2012, identifies parallels between political activism and narrative at different moments in the history of the Italian women’s movement; I begin with the suffragists and consider narratives of individual achievement and struggle, like Sibilla Aleramo’s (1906) Una donna, that echo the philosophical impulses and political efforts of that moment. Following this interplay of textual expression and feminist thought, I move from the turn of the century to the present day with each chapter focusing on a discrete period in modern Italian history. The second chapter explores connections between collaboratively authored manuscripts and practices of collective identification and group politics beginning in the 1970s. This is followed by an analysis of the academic turn among Italian feminists in the 1980s and 1990s, and its effects on both the style and content of the texts they authored. In the final chapter I ask how the current women’s movement is defining itself as Italian, and how those criteria have changed in light of the expansion of the European Union, increased immigration and demographic diversity, the rise of nationalist sentiment, and public displays of racism. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS: Acknowledgements ii Introduction iii Chapter One: Waking Women 1 Text and Politics 6 Shared Borders 18 Conclusion 36 Chapter Two: Collective Awakening 37 Una donna sola 42 “Ci tenevamo compagnia, si parlava” 47 Più donne che uomini 55 Baby boomers 69 Chapter Three: E intanto le donne 80 Why History? 86 E intanto le donne 88 A History of One’s Own 97 A Dark Future 106 Truth and Contradiction 108 Twisted Tales 109 Conclusion 117 Chapter Four: Il colore delle donne 119 “Almeno non hai un nome da negra” 125 Disciplining Narratives and Damaged Identities 136 “Non ero anche io italiana come lei?” 149 Bibliography 163 i Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of many years of study and would not have been possible without the support of many people. Foremost among them is my wonderful dissertation committee, chaired by Professor Spackman who has been a steady and encouraging mentor through all the challenges of graduate school and whose work continues to inspire me. Thank you also to Professor Ellis, who reminds me to be both assertive and honest in my work, and to keep my scholarship meaningful. To Professor Fuller for her support and counsel, as well as her scholarship and teaching which have given me courage to advocate for the interdisciplinary nature of my work. Thank you to Professor Ascoli who has repeatedly helped me navigate the hurdles of graduate school and from whom I learned to enjoy the poems and comedies of the Renaissance. I also want to thank Professor Botterill for working with me on my exams and allowing me to teach with him; his grace in the lecture hall and attentive relationship with students are skills to which I aspire. The tireless staff of the Italian Department, Sandy Jones, Elizabeth LaVarge-Baptista and Kathi Brosnan, have my deepest gratitude for the invaluable support they have offered me in my roles as both student and teacher. A special thank you to Moriah Van Vleet, whom I feel lucky to count as a friend, for holding everything together and for sharing her delicious inventions! The Centro Documentazione delle Donne in Bologna, and Daniela Finocchi of the Concorso Lingua Madre in Turin, helped make this dissertation possible by for sharing their time, resources and dedication to Italian women’s writing and history. To Professor Bellisia, of Smith College, my first academic mentor and role model, for her passion for Italian women’s literature. Over the course of this graduate career I have been fortunate to make a number of dear friends for whom I am very grateful. Thank you most especially to Kate Noson, for her friendship, inspiring intellect and her tireless work as my faithful editor. Thank you also to Chris Atwood for nourishing me with food, thought and friendship. Thank you to my grad school guides, Anthony Martire, Jonathon Combs-Schilling and Scott Millspaugh, and Leslie Elwell, all brilliant scholars and fantastic friends. There are very many people outside of Italian Studies who have been important in getting me to this point and I am grateful to all of them. Thank you especially to Abra Levenson, for a lifetime of friendship and for knowing exactly what I am feeling. To Eve Letendre, for reading my work and spending hours in cafes writing with me; to The Secret Alley for giving me a treehouse hideaway, and for taking longer to finish than this dissertation; and to Sharon and Zetta Dovas, my most enthusiastic and adorable cheerleaders. Finally, thank you to my family for being so patient and encouraging. I am particularly grateful to my mother and father for their love and support. They have both, in different ways, been sources of inspiration for the work contained in this dissertation. And to Videl, my champion. Thank you for keeping me grounded and sticking by me through the many ups and downs, and reminding me that there still exists a world beyond the dissertation. I am ready to explore that world now! ii INTRODUCTION In October 2009 one of Italy’s leading news sources, La Repubblica, published an open letter in its online edition that went viral almost immediately. “Appello alla dignità delle donne,” (“Appeal to the dignity of women”), collaboratively authored by Michela Marzano, Barbara Spinelli and Nadia Urbinati, appeared as a response to a nationally televised incident in which the then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi publicly insulted senator Rosy Bindi by disparaging her gender.1 In the “Appello” Marzano, Spinelli and Urbinati do not refer directly to the Berlusconi-Bindi incident, instead they call on Italian women to come together and denounce this pattern of misogynist behavior. “È ormai evidente,” they begin, “che il corpo delle donne è diventato un’arma politica di capitale importanza, nella mano del Presidente del Consiglio.”2 They explain that the Prime Minister uses women’s bodies as a political tool by reducing them to symbols of submission to his power: “La donna come lui la vede e l’anela è avvenenza giovanile, seduzione fisica, ma in primissimo luogo è completa sottomissione al volere del capo.”3 This condemnation of Berlusconi’s misogynist behavior is presented not simply as an affront to women, but also as a threat to the practice of democracy in Italy. To emphasize this point, the subheading of the “Appello” reads: “Quest’uomo offende noi donne e la democrazia: Fermiamolo.”4 This same statement is repeated, word for word, in the last line of the “Appello,” stressing the connection between women’s dignity and democracy. Through this rhetorical move, the “Appello” participates in a contemporary trend of equating women’s rights with democracy, drawing on the widely held notion that the realization of each can be measured in the success of the other. In other words, the “Appello” argues that Italian democracy is threatened when women’s dignity is undermined. Marzano, Spinelli and Urbinati argue that the act of objectifying and denigrating the female body is used as a weapon, “contro la libera discussione, l’esercizio di critica, l’autonomia del pensiero.”5 Implicit in this equation is the idea that democracy and freedom of expression are universally shared ideals and will, therefore, be motivators for people to rally in their defense.6 While democracy implies a degree of equality among 1 Michela Marzano, Barbara Spinelli and Nadia Urbinati, “Appello alla dignità delle donne,” La Repubblica. October 9th, 2009. All translations are my own. 2 “By now it is clear that woman’s body has become a political weapon of utmost importance to the President.” 3 Woman, as he sees and represents her, is youthful beauty and physical seduction, but, first and foremost, she represents complete submission to the will of the leader.” 4 “This man offends us women and democracy: let’s stop him.” 5 “against free speech, critical dissent, and autonomous thought.” 6 This is a logic that began to emerge in the Eighties, with the rise of neoliberalism, and one that has gained global currency with recent campaigns to export a brand of Western democracy embodied in the image of the liberated woman. A very important essay by Chandra Mohanty, titled “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse,” exposes the ethnocentrism and objectification of the oppressed-other that inform this line of reasoning. Unlike the women’s movements of the Sixties and Seventies that drew heavily on leftist ideas of socialism and communist utopias, the logic that drives this formula comes out of the Nineties when Western democracy was repackaged as the only true expression of modern freedom.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • M Franchi Thesis for Library
    The London School of Economics and Political Science Mediated tensions: Italian newspapers and the legal recognition of de facto unions Marina Franchi A thesis submitted to the Gender Institute of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, May 2015 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 88924 words. Statement of use of third party for editorial help (if applicable) I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Hilary Wright 2 Abstract The recognition of rights to couples outside the institution of marriage has been, and still is, a contentious issue in Italian Politics. Normative notions of family and kinship perpetuate the exclusion of those who do not conform to the heterosexual norm. At the same time the increased visibility of kinship arrangements that evade the heterosexual script and their claims for legal recognition, expose the fragility and the constructedness of heteronorms. During the Prodi II Government (2006-2008) the possibility of a law recognising legal status to de facto unions stirred a major controversy in which the conservative political forces and the Catholic hierarchies opposed any form of recognition, with particular acrimony shown toward same sex couples.
    [Show full text]
  • Contentious Migration Policies: Dynamics of Urban Governance and Social Movement Outcomes in Milan and Barcelona
    Contentious migration policies: Dynamics of urban governance and social movement outcomes in Milan and Barcelona PhD dissertation by Raffaele Bazurli Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Ph.D. Program in Political Science and Sociology, XXXI Cycle 28 April 2020 Ph.D. Coordinator Professor Donatella della Porta Ph.D. Supervisor Professor Donatella della Porta To those who struggle, whose pain is the very reason for my efforts. To my family and friends, whose love is the very reason for my happiness. ii Abstract Local governments—of large cities especially—enact policies that crucially affect the daily life of immigrants. Migration policy-making has proliferated across cities of the Global North—and so did its own contestation. The urban environment is, in fact, a fertile breed- ing ground for the flourishing of activist networks by and in solidarity with immigrants. Yet, research on social movement outcomes in the field of migration has been lagging behind. This thesis is aimed to theorize how and under what conditions pro-immigrant activists can affect policy-making at the city-level and beyond. By adopting a strategic-interaction and mechanisms-based approach to the study of contentious politics, the research con- tends and demonstrates that movements can rely on strategic leverages within three arenas of interaction. First, brokerage mechanisms are essential to the emergence of a social movement in the civil society arena. The peculiar qualities of urban spaces—notably, the availability of dense relational networks extended over an array of geographical scales— allow immigrants to create bonds of solidarity, craft alliances, and ultimately turn into vo- cal political subjects.
    [Show full text]
  • I Am Ready Interview by Stefania Taviano
    The Open Page Franca Rame I Am Ready Interview by Stefania Taviano Anomalo bicefalo, the new comedy by and starring Franca Rame and Dario Fo started touring recently and is sold out. Why did I continue? Franca is not feeling very well, but this does not prevent her Because through my work from writing, working on the show, rehearsing with Dario I can talk to many people and even being interviewed over the phone. When I call every day and I can deal her, Franca is typing at the computer, she is updating the with political issues, text. Every night the show is recorded and the following day I can fight for the causes Franca introduces improvisations from the previous night. I believe in, like an occupied She asks me to call back in ten minutes. Then we start: "I factory, a house for am ready". Her voice reveals her tiredness and fatigue, but a homeless person, the tone is generous and available as Franca always is. It is a job for an immigrant the tone of voice of a woman for whom struggle is a raison family, a bed in a hospital d'être. Struggle intended as a political struggle, a class for someone who is HIV struggle, a social struggle, a struggle for the weakest. It is a positive. fight for women's rights, a fight for political prisoners and a fight without compromise. It is a fight at a national and international level, both public and private, as a woman, writer, actress and wife of the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.
    [Show full text]
  • Changing Jewish Communities
    Changing Jewish Communities Number 66 February 24, 2011 http://jcpa.org/article/the-paradox-of-the-italian-jewish-experience-in-1990-2010/ The Paradox of the Italian Jewish Experience in 1990- 2010 Dr. Ephraim Nissan There is a paradox to the Italian Jewish experience in the 2000s. Jews are more integrated than ever since 1945, and Israel has been relegitimized in important quarters after being in practice delegitimized by the Communists, Socialists, and those media close to the Christian Democrats in the late 1970s and 1980s, reaching the lowest point in the second half of 1982. Yet, because of various factors including the web as well as unwillingness to take things in stride any longer, the organized and individual voices of Italy’s Jews are now often blunt, harsh, and resentful in a way that would have been unthinkable previously. While the Jews are indeed more accepted than ever, sporadic expressions of direct, incontrovertible anti-Semitism have occurred even in the circles of power, and even at the highest levels. The past twenty years have seen a confluence between Italy’s far Left and far Right in adopting anti-Israeli and sometimes anti-Semitic positions. In some cases this has involved tolerance of right-wing Holocaust denial by elements on the Left. Italy’s severely anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic responses to the 1982 Lebanon war involved both global and local aspects. It both reflected Italy’s past and has partly shaped patterns of response to Middle Eastern and Jewish affairs by a sizable part of Italy’s media and public opinion.
    [Show full text]
  • Laporte Stéphanie
    Stéphanie Laporte « Dans l’espace scénique vide, une femme » Une lecture des monologues féminins de Franca Rame et Dario Fo Journée d’études Dario Fo-Franca Rame : Un théâtre en actes, Coordinatrice scientifique : Marie-José Tramuta S.I.E.S., Lyon, 27 janvier 2012 Franca in Medea, 1981, dessin de Dario Fo tiré de http://www.archivio.francarame.it 2 Introduction Les monologues féminins de Dario Fo et Franca Rame, en premier lieu la série intitulée Tutta letto, casa e chiesa [Orgasme adulte échappé du zoo1] (1977), sont avec Mistero buffo [Mystère bouffe] (1968) les plus joués du théâtre du couple en Italie et dans le monde depuis leur création2. Lo stupro [le viol] (1978) fait partie de toutes les anthologies italiennes de monologues pour femme, où puisent les jeunes comédiennes pour préparer une audition. Depuis dix ans environ – sans doute parce que le tournant du siècle marque, juste après l’attribution du Prix Nobel à Dario Fo (1997), l’édition anthologique du Teatro [Théâtre] de Dario Fo chez Einaudi (2000), l’attribution du doctorat Honoris Causa de l’Université de Havard à Franca Rame (2000) et son élection au Sénat italien en 2006 (dont elle démissione en 2008), sur la liste Italia dei valori – le théâtre al femminile [au féminin] du couple a fait l’objet de nombreuses études aux Etats-Unis sous l’impulsion des gender studies (Antonio Scuderi et Walter Valeri en premier lieu), et en Italie avec les travaux de Luciana d’Arcangeli et de Laura Peja, en particulier. Les monologues pour femme des années 70, les comédies dites « actes
    [Show full text]
  • The Palgrave Macmillan Negotiating Memories of Protest in Western Europe
    The Palgrave Macmillan Negotiating Memories of Protest in Western Europe The Case of Italy Andrea Hajek Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies Series Editors: Andrew Hoskins and John Sutton International Advisory Board: Steven Brown, University of Leicester, UK, Mary Carruthers, New York University, USA, Paul Connerton, University of Cambridge, UK, Astrid Erll, University of Wuppertal, Germany, Robyn Fivush, Emory University, USA, Tilmann Habermas, University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Jeffrey Olick, University of Virginia, USA, Susannah Radstone, University of East London, UK, Ann Rigney, Utrecht University, Netherlands The nascent field of Memory Studies emerges from contemporary trends that include a shift from concern with historical knowledge of events to that of memory, from ‘what we know’ to ‘how we remember it’; changes in generational memory; the rapid advance of technologies of memory; panics over declining powers of memory, which mirror our fascination with the possibilities of memory enhancement; and the development of trauma narratives in reshaping the past. These factors have contributed to an intensification of public discourses on our past over the last thirty years. Technological, political, interpersonal, social and cultural shifts affect what, how and why people and societies remember and forget. This groundbreaking series tackles questions such as: What is ‘memory’ under these conditions? What are its prospects, and also the prospects for its interdisciplinary and systematic study? What are the conceptual, theoretical
    [Show full text]
  • Commedia Dell'arte
    About Proscenium PROSCENIUM George Woollands and Margaret Rendle founded Proscenium in 1924. Accidental Death Of An Anarchist The company’s first production was the now little-known “The By Dario Fo Tide” by Basil McDonald Hastings. Since then, the company has Translation by Simon Nye performed nearly 250 plays, using Harrow as a base since 1945. Since 1990, performances have taken place at the Harrow Arts Centre and, more recently, at the Compass Theatre, Ickenham. Over the years, Proscenium has built up a strong reputation for performing challenging plays (both classic and contemporary) to a high standard. The company meets three times a week at the Harrow Arts Centre for rehearsals, in order that four plays are presented each season. Social, fundraising activities and play readings take place throughout the year. For further information on Proscenium, and to join our mailing list, please visit our web site : http://www.proscenium.org.uk Accidental Deaath of an Anarchist Wednesday June 6th to Saturday June 9th 2007 Compass Theatre, Ickenham oeuvre. His independence and clear-sightedness have led him to take great Accidental Death of an Anarchist risks, whose consequences he has been made to feel while at the same time experiencing enormous responses from widely differing quarters….. By Dario Fo Fo’s strength is in the creation of texts that simultaneously amuse, engage and provide perspectives. As in commedia dell’arte they are always open Translation by Simon Nye for creative additions and dislocations, continually encouraging the actors to improvise, which means that the audience is activated in a remarkable way.
    [Show full text]
  • Due Spazi Espositivi Per Dario Fo E Franca Rame
    ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI DI BRERA - MILANO Dipartimento di Comunicazione e Didattica dell’Arte Corso di diploma accademico di Secondo Livello in Comunicazione Creativa per i Beni Culturali Indirizzo Comunicazione Espositiva DUE SPAZI ESPOSITIVI PER DARIO FO E FRANCA RAME LO SPAZIO DI MILANO E LO SPAZIO DI CESENATICO Tesi di diploma di: Giulia COLDANI matr. n. 34068 Relatore progetto: Maria GREGORIO Relatore teorico: Maria GREGORIO Docente di indirizzo: Rosanna RUSCIO ANNO ACCADEMICO 2019-2020 1 1 2 Il piacere di usare il cervello non ha eguali. Quindi tenetelo sempre acceso ed evitate che le banalità di cui tutti siamo vittime riescano a spegnere questa macchina straordinaria. Dario Fo Abbiamo vissuto insieme, per tanto tempo, una quantità di storie che in dieci libri non si possono ricordare. Dario Fo e Franca Rame 3 4 5 1998 - Tre ritratti fotografici di Franca Rame e Dario Fo realizzati dal fotografo Guido Harari, Milano. © Archivio Rame Fo – Fondazione Fo Rame 6 INDICE Introduzione 11 1. Dario Fo e Franca Rame: nel segno dell’arte 23 1.1 Dario Fo 25 1.1.1 Il premio Nobel 28 1.1.2 Mistero Buffo 31 1.2 Franca Rame 34 1.2.1 Il “femminismo” 37 2. Il “teatro popolare” di Dario Fo e Franca Rame 43 2.1.1 La quarta parete 50 2.1.2 Compagnia Teatrale Nuova Scena e Collettivo Teatrale La Comune 51 2.2 La Palazzina Liberty a Milano 55 2.3 Il legame con la città 59 3. La “casa” nella vita di Dario Fo e Franca Rame 65 3.1.1 Milano, Porta Romana 66 3.1.2 Alcatraz, Località Santa Cristina di Gubbio 68 3.1.3 Sala di Cesenatico 69 3.1.3.1 Prove aperte 72 3.2 Quando la casa si apre al pubblico 74 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from the Francoangeli Open Access Platform (
    10031.1_100.648 19/03/21 17:42 Pagina 1 1 0 Although belonging to the wider family of applied theatre, social theatre 0 3 LO SPE TTACOLO has some specific historical, methodological and contextual character- 1 . istics. When taking part in social theatre, people, groups and even larger, 1 DAL VIVO more recognisable social systems actively transform and improve their life- C PER UN A CULTURA . B worlds through their direct involvement in theatrical, ludic, festive and E DELL ’INNOVAZIONE R performative practices. The actors’, authors’ and spectators’ participation N A in such cultural practices – combined with powerful representations, ac - R D I , tions and relationships – leads to symbolic inner growth and regeneration in G . the social body. I N Claudio Bernardi This book, which opens with an introduction by Claudio Bernardi, ex- N O plores the whys and wherefores of social theatre with particular attention to C E and Giulia Innocenti Malini N Italy. It is structured around two types of contribution. One comes from the T I interventions of some of the speakers at the International Conference M (edite d by) A Performing the Social. Education, Care and Social Inclusion through Thea - L I N tre , held in Milan on 20-21 September 2019. I ( e They are Isabel Bezelga, Marco De Marinis, David Le Breton, Tim Prentki, d i t e Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Diana Taylor, James Thompson and Emmanuel Wallon. d PER FORMI NG b y The second part is a more direct result of the Research Project of Nation- ) al Relevance (PRIN) with the same title; namely the application of social theatre in the fields of education, health and inclusion.
    [Show full text]
  • Performing 1970S Italy with Narrative Theater by Juliet Fara Guzzetta a Dissertation Submitted in Partial
    Stages of History: Performing 1970s Italy with Narrative Theater by Juliet Fara Guzzetta A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Romance Languages and Literatures: Italian) in the University of Michigan 2013 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Giorgio Bertellini, Co-Chair Professor Vincenzo A. Binetti, Co-Chair Associate Professor Lawrence M. La Fountain-Stokes Professor Stacy Wolf, Princeton University © Juliet Fara Guzzetta 2013 Dedication This work is dedicated to Joshua Yumibe and Stella Antonia Guzzetta Yumibe ii Acknowledgements When I was 25 and beginning to think about graduate schools, I envisioned staying on the East Coast in part so that I could be in close proximity to my mom with whom I was very close. She was my confidante, oracle (a game we played) and protector, one of my favorite people to laugh with, make fun of other people with, and chat with (like a best friend). Given that before I was born she had lost a daughter who was four, and that my father died when I was four, my mom and I cultivated a particularly intense bond. In my vision of zipping back to the City at any time from school, sparkling along the coast in an Alfa Romeo Spider (that I have never owned, nor do I drive stick, nor do I enjoy driving), I had no premonition that by the time it came for me to take those GREs my mom would have died (cancer in six weeks). Besides the obvious enticements of joining the graduate school at the University of Michigan, some of the appeal for me had to do with the idea of nestling in the middle of the country, which seemed secure and comforting.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Body Politic on Stage: Women Writers and Gender in Twentieth-Century Italian Theater Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14k1n5r5 Author Streifer, Monica Leigh Publication Date 2016 Supplemental Material https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14k1n5r5#supplemental Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Body Politic on Stage: Women Writers and Gender in Twentieth-Century Italian Theater A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Italian by Monica Leigh Streifer 2016 © Copyright by Monica Leigh Streifer 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Body Politic on Stage: Women Writers and Gender in Twentieth-Century Italian Theater by Monica Leigh Streifer Doctor of Philosophy in Italian University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Lucia Re, Chair My comparative study of works for the stage by three twentieth-century women writers traces a distinct feminist genealogy in Italian theater. I focus on authors whose plays have been overlooked or merit new interpretation: Amelia Pincherle Rosselli (1870–1954) at the turn of the century, Anna Banti (1895–1985) at mid-century, and Franca Rame (1929–2013) in the 1970s– 1990s. I treat the works of these authors in terms of gender, revealing a vibrant tradition of female playwriting and performance in Italy that foregrounds women’s bodies, lives, and engagement with politics and culture. In exploring the intersections of feminism and theater, I show how drama is a particularly apt medium for the dissemination of feminist themes in the Italian context.
    [Show full text]
  • Fo Plays: Cant Pay? Wont Pay!, Elizabeth, the Open Couple an Ordinary Day V
    FREE FO PLAYS: CANT PAY? WONT PAY!, ELIZABETH, THE OPEN COUPLE AN ORDINARY DAY V. 2 PDF Dario Fo,Franca Rame,Stuart Hood,Leno Pertile,Gillian Hanna | 320 pages | 04 Jan 2004 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9780413680204 | English | London, United Kingdom The Open Couple & An Ordinary Day by Dario Fo Dario Foone of the leading figures in modern farce and political drama, was born in in the village of Sangiano Varese in Lombardy, Fo Plays: Cant Pay? Wont Pay! while still young he came into contact with popular theatrical and narrative traditions his grandfather was a well-known fabulatore. In he married the actress Franca Rame. In the couple founded their own company, in which Franca Rame was the leading lady and Fo the writer, producer, mime and actor. His collected plays include 70 or so works. In Fo was awarded the Sonning Prize. English French German Italian Swedish Biobibliographical Notes Fo Plays: Cant Pay? Wont Pay! Foone of the leading figures in modern farce and political drama, was born in in the village of Sangiano Varese in Lombardy, where while still young he came into contact with popular theatrical and narrative traditions his grandfather was a well-known fabulatore. Milan,publ. Garzani, In Engl. The Virtuous Burglars. In Engl. Mistero Buffo. Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Bertani, Milan, The Pope and the Witch. Bertani, Clacson, trombette e pernacchiprod. Trumpets and Raspberries. Messina, Dario Fo parla di Dario Fo. Einaudi, Tricks of the Trade. Dialogo provocatorio sul comico, il tragico, Elizabeth follia e la ragione con Luigi Allegri. Laterza, Dario Fo.
    [Show full text]