Italian women writers : gender and everyday life in fiction and journalism, 1870-1910 / Katharine Mitchell.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Italian Women Writers looks at the work of three of the most significant women in late nineteenth century Italy whose domestic fiction and journalism addressed a growing female readership.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this groundbreaking study, Mitchell (Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow) analyzes some domestic fiction and some nonfiction pieces--especially journalism and essays--of three middle-class Italian women who were professionally active between 1870 and 1910. Through close readings of their novels, Mitchell convincingly demonstrates that La Marchesa Colombi (1840-1920), Neera (1846-1918), and Matilde Serao (1856-1927) contributed to the debate concerning the "woman question" at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Written for female readers, the works of fiction showcase themes that were more progressive than expected, especially when related to women's spaces (private versus public spheres), women's relationships with other women, and emotions. The analysis also highlights how women's everyday lives were depicted differently from men's in these works and in the works of these authors' male contemporaries. Mitchell successfully argues that Colombi, Neera, and Serao can be included among the moderate emancipationists who strove for some emancipation for women--claims of all three that they opposed women's emancipation notwithstanding--while still sublimating themselves to family obligations. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --Chiara De Santi, SUNY Fredonia