UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Out of Italy: Italian Women Exiled under Fascism Reimagine Home and the Italian Identity A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the Degree of Philosophy in Italian by Nicole Hardy Robinson 2016 © Copyright by Nicole Hardy Robinson 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Out of Italy: Italian Women Exiled under Fascism Reimagine Home and the Italian Identity by Nicole Hardy Robinson Doctor of Philosophy in Italian University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Lucia Re, Chair Vera Modigliani (1888-1974), Maria Brandon Albini (1904-1995), and Joyce Lussu (1912-1998) were antifascist activists who emigrated from Italy—fuoriuscite—and wrote novels, memoirs, and poetry about their varied experiences both during their period of exile, and well after it in the course of their literary careers. In my dissertation, I conduct a comparative study of these women’s narratives. I offer a nuanced study of the women’s literary works in order to fill a pronounced gap in current exile literature scholarship of the period, which has focused almost exclusively on male authors. My critical framework for this research is interdisciplinary, structured predominantly around the narrative theory of life writing. In addition, I also pull from exile, feminist, and sociological theory. Ultimately, I demonstrate that there are experiences and literary themes common to the three ii women, despite the fact that they were not closely linked in their exile. I examine the following leitmotifs, among others: the tension between an Italian cultural identity and the marginalized identity of woman, Jewish, or other; the reciprocal influence of memory and narration; the tension between narrating memories and the passage of time; and gendered identity construction through narration. I thus delineate the beginnings of a typology of women’s exile literature that male-oriented scholarship has previously been unable to detect and map. iii The dissertation of Nicole Hardy Robinson is approved. Thomas J. Harrison Efrain Kristal Claudio Fogu Lucia Re, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... vi Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The History of the Fuoriusciti in France ................................................................................... 12 Exile v. Fuoriuscitismo ..................................................................................................................... 12 Early Years of Fuoriuscitismo .......................................................................................................... 20 Years of Action (1929–39) ............................................................................................................... 40 Fuoriuscitismo and WWII ................................................................................................................ 62 Returning to Italy .............................................................................................................................. 69 Remarks on the History of the Fuoriuscite ...................................................................................... 72 2. Self-Revision and Identity Creation in Joyce Lussu’s Fronti e frontiere ................................. 76 The Extraordinary Life of Joyce Lussu ............................................................................................ 77 Self-Revision and Self-Presentation in Fronti e frontiere ................................................................ 85 Representations of Borders in Fronti e frontiere ............................................................................ 112 Identity creation and recovery ........................................................................................................ 122 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 130 3. Toward a Feminist Historical Narrative: Hybridity and Precariousness in Vera Modigliani’s Esilio ............................................................................................................................................ 134 Vera Modigliani: More than a Forgotten “Moglie di” .................................................................... 140 Esilio: an Unacknowledged Feminist Text? ................................................................................... 148 A Retrospective Diary: Creating Authenticity and Structure in Esilio .......................................... 161 Esilio, the First, but Forgotten, Historical Account ........................................................................ 167 Precarità as an Inspiration for, and a Leitmotif in, Esilio .............................................................. 183 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 188 4. “Non è veridico, ma vero”: Narrative Representation through Time in Il paese in esilio and La gibigianna by Maria Brandon Albini .......................................................................................... 189 Maria Brandon Albini: “un’Emigrata in Patria” ........................................................................... 193 A Life/Narrative Interrupted ........................................................................................................... 199 Gendered Bodies in Memory .......................................................................................................... 211 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 226 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 231 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 236 v Acknowledgments I would like to express my deepest thanks to my co-Chairs Lucia Re and Claudio Fogu. Professor Re introduced me to Joyce Lussu my first quarter at UCLA, sparking my interest and putting me on the path towards this finished dissertation. Throughout the years she has remained an invaluable source of knowledge and guidance as the project has evolved, and I am grateful for this opportunity. Prof. Fogu’s insights have also proven invaluable throughout this journey, and I feel lucky to have been able to benefit from his supportive teachings. The Department of Italian at UCLA has provided me with an amazing doctoral experience, and I am thankful to Prof. Harrison for his departmental and educational support. Thanks to the unique opportunities I have received at UCLA, I am poised to begin the next chapter of my life fully prepared to tackle any challenge. Special thanks are owed to my parents Bill and Jean Robinson. My mother’s real-life example of how to thrive professionally and personally gave me the confidence to pursue the Ph.D. It is also largely thanks to her gracious but constructive encouragement and readings of my drafts that this project continued to move forward. To my friends and colleagues at UCLA and beyond, thank you for sharing this experience. We are a small and unique group to tackle this undertaking, and I could not have asked for a better cohort. Lastly, I owe a special thanks to my husband Isaac. For your support and understanding, even when times got rough, I thank you. We never could have imagined this life all those years ago, but I know I am lucky to share it with you. vi Curriculum Vitae Education: University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, Ph.D. candidate, 2016 (expected) Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT and Florence, Italy, 2008, M.A. in Italian Linguistics, 2008 New York University, New York, NY, B.A. in Italian Studies, 2007 – cum laude Professional & Academic Experience McKINSEY & CO., San Francisco, CA...………………………………………….….……starting Sept. 2016 Associate Consultant UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA………………………………………………………….……2011 to present UCLA Student Fee Advisory Committee, Los Angeles, CA Graduate Student Representative (6/14–6/16): Appointed to represent graduate students interests in the $20M Student Services Fees budget while assessing proposals for sustainability and evaluating funded units. • Identified $400K+ in underutilized funds and proposed redistribution to maximize student impact, resulting in $120K savings and innovative proposals for graduate support programming. UCLA Graduate Student Association, Los Angeles, CA President (6/13–6/14): Elected head of the Graduate Student Association, representing 13,000+ graduate students at UCLA and 50,000+ students system-wide. Managed $900K budget as part of the larger 501(c)3 organization. • Collaborated with UC President, Janet Napolitano, on quality of life improvements and greater graduate support, which resulted in the co-founding of the Doctoral Student Support Task Force. • Co-sponsored the first annual Masters and Ph.D. Career Symposium while