Valeria Iaconis
Uni Zürich, Romanisches Seminar, Alumnus
- Italian Studies, Woman Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Late Nineteenth Century Italian narrative, Feminist Literary Criticism, History Of Emotions, and 9 moreHistory of Family and Sexuality, Feminist history, Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Law and Literature, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Feminist jurisprudence, Transcultural Studies, and Cultural Studiesedit
This volume examines how the question of divorce was discussed towards the end of the nineteenth century in the novels by five women writers: Virginia Tedeschi Treves, Beatrice Speraz, Anna Franchi, Grazia Deledda and Fanny Zampini... more
This volume examines how the question of divorce was discussed towards the end of the nineteenth century in the novels by five women writers: Virginia Tedeschi Treves, Beatrice Speraz, Anna Franchi, Grazia Deledda and Fanny Zampini Salazar. With their works, they contributed to the debate on a theme of great significance in post-unification Italy, offering a new perspective on the (practical and symbolic) meaning of the conjugal bond. Their reflections on divorce also extend to the law itself and to broader themes such as lack of representation, discrimination against women and their exclusion from the decision-making process.
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Tra il 1878 e il 1902 il Parlamento italiano discusse otto proposte di legge sul divorzio. Questo volume intende analizzare il modo in cui tale tema è affrontato nei romanzi coevi di Virginia Tedeschi Treves, Beatrice Speraz, Anna... more
Tra il 1878 e il 1902 il Parlamento italiano discusse otto proposte di legge sul divorzio. Questo volume intende analizzare il modo in cui tale tema è affrontato nei romanzi coevi di Virginia Tedeschi Treves, Beatrice Speraz, Anna Franchi, Grazia Deledda e Fanny Zampini Salazar.
Immediately after World War I, while Italian feminist associations were experiencing a structural crisis, women’s ambition for social and political recognition led to the creation of a number of periodicals produced by and for women.... more
Immediately after World War I, while Italian feminist associations were experiencing a structural crisis, women’s ambition for social and political recognition led to the creation of a number of periodicals produced by and for women. These included Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale (Genoa, 1919-1927), which was founded by the journalist Flavia Steno. The periodical declared itself neither “feminine” nor “feminist”: it was designed as an information and political and cultural education tool for women. Accordingly, La Chiosa discussed current events, examined social, political and cultural matters affecting women in Italy and abroad and, by involving women with different skills and Weltanschauung on the editorial board, promoted fruitful debate on women’s issues and feminism. This paper deals with these facets of La Chiosa’s activity and with its editorial history and political editorial line. The aim is to investigate how La Chiosa discussed feminism and femininity from its “marginal” viewpoint (in terms of gender, decentred geographical location, and relative disconnection from the major Italian cultural networks), and how it challenged the growing antifeminism of the Fascist regime.
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After World War I, Italian socialists confronted the many marital irregularities caused by the conflict by promoting a divorce law. The discussion in Parliament of Guido Marangoni and Costantino Lazzari’s law proposal (May 1920) aroused a... more
After World War I, Italian socialists confronted the many marital irregularities caused by the conflict by promoting a divorce law. The discussion in Parliament of Guido Marangoni and Costantino Lazzari’s law proposal (May 1920) aroused a heated debate in the public opinion.
Using women’s press as a source, my paper analyzes women’s reactions to the law proposal, focusing in particular on the criticism voiced against it. Thus, I intend to provide an insight into how women reinforced the notion of traditional family as the core of the nation against the backdrop of the socio-political instability of the postwar phase. In particular, the paper deals with the weekly review «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale» (1919-1927) founded in Genoa by the writer and journalist Flavia Steno. The journal expressed a clear anti-divorce stance and addressed the divorce issue in three ways: by promoting a survey among readers, publishing in appendix Flavia Steno’s novel Gli orfani dei vivi, and reporting the progress of the law through the legislature. The paper carefully considers and contextualizes the features of «La Chiosa»’s plea for indissoluble marriage: the emphasized metaphor of the family competing with ideals of individual liberty, the construction of the family as a child-centered institution and the portrayed consequences of divorce in the Italian community.
Using women’s press as a source, my paper analyzes women’s reactions to the law proposal, focusing in particular on the criticism voiced against it. Thus, I intend to provide an insight into how women reinforced the notion of traditional family as the core of the nation against the backdrop of the socio-political instability of the postwar phase. In particular, the paper deals with the weekly review «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale» (1919-1927) founded in Genoa by the writer and journalist Flavia Steno. The journal expressed a clear anti-divorce stance and addressed the divorce issue in three ways: by promoting a survey among readers, publishing in appendix Flavia Steno’s novel Gli orfani dei vivi, and reporting the progress of the law through the legislature. The paper carefully considers and contextualizes the features of «La Chiosa»’s plea for indissoluble marriage: the emphasized metaphor of the family competing with ideals of individual liberty, the construction of the family as a child-centered institution and the portrayed consequences of divorce in the Italian community.
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La scrittura di mano femminile, fenomeno vistoso dell’Italia del secondo Ottocento, porta all’attenzione del pubblico le problematiche legali e sociali legate alla condizione della donna. Questo articolo analizza la novella Dopo la... more
La scrittura di mano femminile, fenomeno vistoso dell’Italia del secondo Ottocento, porta all’attenzione del pubblico le problematiche legali e sociali legate alla condizione della donna. Questo articolo analizza la novella Dopo la sentenza (1894) di Bruno Sperani, pseudonimo di Beatrice Speraz, quale esempio di tematizzazione dell’omicidio d’onore e di critica femminile ai codici postunitari. L’indagine si soffermerà sulle strutture narrative del testo, che privilegia il punto di vista situato del reo e l’uso sistematico delle figure dell’ellissi e della reticenza. Più che sulle informazioni esplicite nella novella, questa lettura si concentrerà sulla ricostruzione di quelle censurate. A tal fine verranno formulate ipotesi e deduzioni, instaurando un dialogo tra il testo e il contesto culturale e legale ad esso sottostante. Verranno così individuate le coordinate della percezione sociale del delitto d’onore, se ne osserverà il significato simbolico, e si evidenzierà la contestazione della nozione di rilevanza legale, attuata attraverso la valorizzazione del punto di vista femminile. Questo approccio, che prende le mosse dal movimento Law and Literature e dagli assunti del giusfemminismo, permetterà in ultima battuta di comprendere le dinamiche della violenza di genere ritratte da Sperani, violenza perpetrata materialmente dal protagonista, ma permessa e legittimata dall’orizzonte giuridico e sociale coevo.
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The Italian Pisanelli Code (1865) proposes a definition of women’s rights and duties strictly related to their social status and/or parental relationships. In particular, the regulation of marriage (articles 130-158) enshrines the... more
The Italian Pisanelli Code (1865) proposes a definition of women’s rights and duties strictly related to their social status and/or parental relationships. In particular, the regulation of marriage (articles 130-158) enshrines the subordination of the wife to her husband, and defines the family as the centre of a woman’s life. Furthermore, the Pisanelli Code, following the example of the Napoleonic Code, makes a clear distinction between legitimate and illegitimate offspring, basing this differentiation on the relationship between the parents at the time of conception. This article aims to analyse the novels La nuova Eva (1904) by Flavia Steno and Cavalieri moderni (1905) by Fanny Salazar, which expressly criticise the patriarchal structures of the Italian Code and their consequences in the regulation of women’s lives. They specifically address the issues of divorce and search of paternity, respectively the object of Agostino Berenini and Ugo Sorani’s legislative proposals in 1901. These issues are reinterpreted in the novels from a female point of view, which is focused on the legal and social conditions of the single mother and the legally separated wife. This paper will analyse the relationship between these marginalised characters and the legislation, which fails to protect them and, in some cases, is responsible for worsening their situation. These links are emphasised by narrative strategies, ranging from the humanisation of the issues faced to the thematisation of the possibility for female writings to influence the political sphere, which will be addressed in order to demonstrate the important role played by the narratives of women writers in shaping female identity in the post-Unification Italy.
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Ibsen's "Casa di bambola" (1879) caused a strong reaction amongst the Italian public because of the protagonist's final decision. Indeed, some spectators found it inacceptable, whereas others praised it. Nora's escape can be read as an... more
Ibsen's "Casa di bambola" (1879) caused a strong reaction amongst the Italian public because of the protagonist's final decision. Indeed, some spectators found it inacceptable, whereas others praised it. Nora's escape can be read as an emancipatory action, as well as the woman's need to impose herself as a subject, and not only as wife or mother; the necessity to acquire an active role in her life; and the theme of a feminine nostos. Nora's paradigmatic figure is surrounded by several other protagonists who take her experience as a model for their own. Nora's character can be interpreted in various ways. For instance, Sibilla Aleramo sees her as a model of real life experience. On the other hand, scholars such as Sfinge and Maria Messina ponder on her future. Therefore, I shall determine how intertextual nets are established around Ibsen's play in the three examples aforementioned, analyzing how Nora's choice is presented and elaborated, and how the source is translated or betrayed.
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My paper will focus on the intense recovery of forgotten women’s identities operated by the Italian journal «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale», published weekly in Genoa between 1919 and 1927. The... more
My paper will focus on the intense recovery of forgotten women’s identities operated by the Italian journal «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale», published weekly in Genoa between 1919 and 1927. The journal, whose editorial board consisted mainly of female journalists, contributed actively to the interwar discussion of gender roles, aiming to be a medium of political and cultural “alphabetization” of its female readership. In this sense, the composition, the structure and the contents of «La Chiosa» can be seen as a challenge to stereotypical notions of femininity.
An important component of the cultural and political program of the journal was the construction of a women’s intellectual tradition. Its legitimization was enabled by recovering and discussing numerous profiles of notable women of the past, both Italian and international. I will focus on «La Chiosa»’s enactment of a transnational female genealogy from a two-fold perspective. On the one side, relying on the methodology and tools of the Digital Humanities, I will display an accurate map of the women’s profiles collected by the journal, both in chronological and geographical terms. Through the examination of «La Chiosa»’s reception of unconventional female experiences and activities, I intend to investigate the role of cultural mediators of peripheral realities and actors (such as the city of Genoa and women journalists).
At a second stage, I will focus on selected and relevant examples of the journal’s reception. Observing the re-functionalization of these women’s profiles, I will claim that «La Chiosa»’s operation of recovery can be understood as an act of resistance to (common) interwar definitions of femininity because it both validates a women’s tradition of intellectual authority and thematizes its oblivion.
An important component of the cultural and political program of the journal was the construction of a women’s intellectual tradition. Its legitimization was enabled by recovering and discussing numerous profiles of notable women of the past, both Italian and international. I will focus on «La Chiosa»’s enactment of a transnational female genealogy from a two-fold perspective. On the one side, relying on the methodology and tools of the Digital Humanities, I will display an accurate map of the women’s profiles collected by the journal, both in chronological and geographical terms. Through the examination of «La Chiosa»’s reception of unconventional female experiences and activities, I intend to investigate the role of cultural mediators of peripheral realities and actors (such as the city of Genoa and women journalists).
At a second stage, I will focus on selected and relevant examples of the journal’s reception. Observing the re-functionalization of these women’s profiles, I will claim that «La Chiosa»’s operation of recovery can be understood as an act of resistance to (common) interwar definitions of femininity because it both validates a women’s tradition of intellectual authority and thematizes its oblivion.
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Il settimanale genovese «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale» vede la luce il 20 novembre del 1919. La rivista nasce a seguito di due eventi importanti per la ridefinizione della condizione giuridica delle... more
Il settimanale genovese «La Chiosa. Commenti settimanali femminili di vita politica e sociale» vede la luce il 20 novembre del 1919. La rivista nasce a seguito di due eventi importanti per la ridefinizione della condizione giuridica delle italiane: l’abolizione dell’autorizzazione maritale e la discussione di un progetto di legge sulla concessione del diritto di voto alle donne. La sua direttrice, Flavia Steno (pseudonimo di Amelia Osta Cottini), presenta «La Chiosa» come uno strumento di “alfabetizzazione” politica e sociale delle lettrici, la cui entrata nella sfera politica, in questo momento, sembra prossima e sicura.
Il mio intervento si occuperà della rilettura attuata dalla rivista genovese dell’emancipazionismo ottocentesco, prendendo in esame il numero inaugurale de «La Chiosa». In particolare, mi soffermerò sulla visibilità data dalla redazione alle protagoniste e agli eventi del primo femminismo nella sua accezione non solo italiana ma europea. Intendo così sottolineare la dimensione transculturale che anima questa particolare rilettura delle battaglie emancipazioniste ottocentesche. «La Chiosa» si auto-rappresenta inoltre come ereditiera di una tradizione giornalistica “al femminile” che prende le mosse dal quotidiano francese «La Fronde», fondato nel 1897 da Marguerite Durand. Il legame così innescato con un passato di rivendicazioni si pone alla base degli intenti programmatici della rivista di Steno che, nel celebrare le vittorie del primo femminismo, dimostra di considerarne le battaglie ancora attuali.
Il mio intervento si occuperà della rilettura attuata dalla rivista genovese dell’emancipazionismo ottocentesco, prendendo in esame il numero inaugurale de «La Chiosa». In particolare, mi soffermerò sulla visibilità data dalla redazione alle protagoniste e agli eventi del primo femminismo nella sua accezione non solo italiana ma europea. Intendo così sottolineare la dimensione transculturale che anima questa particolare rilettura delle battaglie emancipazioniste ottocentesche. «La Chiosa» si auto-rappresenta inoltre come ereditiera di una tradizione giornalistica “al femminile” che prende le mosse dal quotidiano francese «La Fronde», fondato nel 1897 da Marguerite Durand. Il legame così innescato con un passato di rivendicazioni si pone alla base degli intenti programmatici della rivista di Steno che, nel celebrare le vittorie del primo femminismo, dimostra di considerarne le battaglie ancora attuali.