This module aims to examine how Italian women writers have responded to the social, political and cultural changes in Italian society in the twentieth century.  Areas of special interest examined in the course will include the representation of the female self, the relationship between mother and daughter and the construction of a female genealogy. Aspects to be covered include history and critical theory.

• Show perception of Italian women’s writing in its broader context.
• Explain the importance of women’s writing in the history of Italian literature.
• Draw on the historical, social and cultural background of the novels examined.
• Describe how a single text can be read at a variety of levels.
• Discuss in an informed manner the importance of the novels examined in the module.

The module will be taught through a blend of live online classes and guided, interactive online tasks and activities, designed to fulfil the learning outcomes. These will be delivered remotely, and on-campus if the University deems it safe and practicable.

• A capacity for analysing and evaluating complex arguments in prose narrative by women writers and critical theory.
• Critical awareness, and the ability to argue and rebut a case, justifying own viewpoint, in analysis and comparison of a range of works by women writers, considered in relation to the Italian context.
• Present arguments in a structured, logical and coherent manner.
• Demonstrate basic word-processing skills.

The method(s) of assessing the learning outcomes for this module are set out in the Assessment Table, which also contains the weightings of each assessment component.

Novels from Italian literature by female authors such as Sibilla Aleramo, and Anna Banti.

Sibilla Aleramo, Una donna Universale Feltrinelli, 1994

Anna Banti,  Lavinia fuggita (this text will be provided in class)

Critical theory

Gilbert, Sandra M. and Gubar, Susan. The madwoman in the attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination. Boston South End Press, 1981

Heilmann, Ann and Llewellyn, Mark Metafiction and metahistory in contemporary women’s writing. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

Kaplan, Carla. Erotics of talk : women’s writing and feminist paradigms.  New York : Oxford University Press, 1996

Lashgari, Deirdre (ed.) Violence, silence, and anger: women’s writing as transgression. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1995

Lury, Celia. Difference of women’s writing: essays on the use of personal experience. Manchester : Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, 1987

Moy, Toril. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. New York: Methuen, 1985

Robbins, Ruth. Literary criticism. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan 2000

Warhol, Robyn and Price Herndl,  Diane. Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991

Roe, Sue (ed.). Women reading women’s writing. Brighton : Harvester, 1987

Rosello, Mireille(ed.) Infiltrating culture: power and identity in contemporary women’s writing. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1996

Showalter, Elaine. New feminist criticism: essays on women, literature and theory. London : Virago Press, 1986

Showalter, Elaine. Speaking of gender. New York ; London : Routledge, 1989

Spacks, Patricia A.M. The female imagination : a literary and psychological investigation of women’s writing. London : Allen and Unwin, 1976

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today. New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc., 1999

Historical and Literary context

Amoia, Alba. 20^th Century Italian women writers: the feminine experience. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 1996

Cento Bull, Anna and Giorgio, Adalgisa (ed.). Speaking out and silencing: culture, society and politics in Italy in the ‘70s. London, Legenda, 2006

Giorgio, Adalgisa (ed.) Writing mothers and daughters : renegotiating the mother in Western European narratives by women. New York ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2002

Jones, Verina R. and Lepschy, Anna L. (ed.). With a pen in her hand : women and writing in Italy in the nineteenth century and beyond. Exeter, Society for Italian Studies, 2000

Panizza, Letizia and Wood, Sharon. (ed.). History of women’s writing in Italy. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press 2000

Russi, Anotinio. Narrativa italiana dal neosperimentalismo alla neoavanguardia (1950-1983). Vol.1, Roma : Lucarini, 1983

Simborowski, Nicoletta. Secrets and puzzles: silence and the unsaid in contemporary Italian writing. Oxford : Legenda, 2003

Wood, Sharon. (ed.) Italian women’s writing. London ; Atlantic Highlands, NJ : Athlone, 1995

Sibilla Aleramo

Conti, Bruna e Morino, Alba (ed.). Sibilla Aleramo e il suo tempo : vita raccontata e illustrata. Milano : Feltrinelli, 1981

Contorbia, Franco, Melandri Lea, [et al.]. Sibilla Aleramo : coscienza e scrittura. Milano : Feltrinelli, 1986

Scaramuzza, Emma.La santa e la spudorata : Alessandrina Ravizza e Sibilla Aleramo ; amicizia, politica e scrittura. Napoli : Liguori, 2004

Anna Banti

Biagini, Enza. Anna Banti. Milano : Mursia, 1978

Di Blasi, Maria Luisa. L’altro silenzio : per leggere Un grido lacerante di Anna Banti nel segno di una trascendenza femminile. Firenze : Le Lettere, 2001

Valentini, Daria. and Carù, Paola. (ed.) Beyond  Artemisia : female subjectivity, history, and culture in Anna Banti. Chapel Hill, NC : Annali d’Italianistica, 2003