El. knyga: Queer(ing) Gender in Italian Women's Writing: Maraini, Sapienza, Morante

"QUEER(ING) GENDER IN ITALIAN WOMEN'S WRITINGS is the first study of its kind to systematically use queer theory as a theoretical framework of analysis in Italian literature in general, and in Italian women's writings in particular. Focusing especially on writers Dacia Maraini, Goliarda Sapienza and Elsa Morante, and restricting the field of enquiry to works written during the feminist years, this book relates the chosen texts to their historical and cultural backdrop and illustrates the way in which their authors responded to the debates of the day in matters of gender and sexuality in a most original manner, thereby coming closer to current 'queer' formulations. Inevitably, Judith Butler is a ubiquitous presence in the few existing critical contributions offering a 'queer' reading of texts pertaining to the Italian literary tradition - which seem to rely predominantly on the philosopher's theorisation of the performative quality of gender. Although drawing, too, on the Butlerian performative, Queer(Ing) Gender in Italian Women's Writings incorporates additional concepts that are key to Butler's notion of queer, such as 'parody', 'citationality', 'drag' and 'undoing gender'. But it also considers other influential queer theorists, namely Teresa de Lauretis, Judith Halberstam, Lee Edelman, Sara Ahmed and (the author's queer reading of) Julia Kristeva - both to enrich existing critical debates on Italian women's writings and in the belief that to restrict the plurality intrinsic to the formulation of 'queer' is, also, to limit its potential as a tool for critical inquiry"--

QUEER(ING) GENDER IN ITALIAN WOMEN’S WRITINGS is the first study of its kind to systematically use queer theory as a theoretical framework of analysis in Italian literature in general, and in Italian women’s writings in particular.

QUEER(ING) GENDER IN ITALIAN WOMEN’S WRITING is the first study of its kind to systematically use queer theory as a theoretical framework of analysis of Italian women’s writing. Focusing especially on the writers Dacia Maraini, Goliarda Sapienza and Elsa Morante, and delimiting the field of enquiry to works written in the 1970s and 1980s, the book positions its chosen texts in their historical and cultural backdrop and illustrates the ways in which the authors responded in highly original ways to the debates of the day in matters of gender and sexuality, bringing them close to current «queer» formulations. Judith Butler is a key interlocutor here, as in the few existing critical contributions offering a «queer» reading of texts from the Italian literary tradition, but rather than rely predominantly on her theorisation of the performative quality of gender, this book incorporates additional concepts that are key to Butler’s notion of queer, such as «parody», «citationality», «drag» and «undoing gender». It further seeks to enrich existing critical debates on Italian women’s writing, and on Maraini, Sapienza and Morante in particular, by considering them in relation to other influential queer theorists – including Teresa de Lauretis, Jack Halberstam, Lee Edelman, Sara Ahmed and (the author’s queer reading of) Julia Kristeva – in the belief that the plurality intrinsic to the formulation of «queer» is crucial for its potential as a tool for critical inquiry.

This book was the Joint Winner of the 2017 Peter Lang Young Scholars Competition in Modern Italian Studies.