This book provides a detailed analysis of the fiction of a Neapolitan novelist and journalist whose work spanned the turn of the last century and, widely translated, was in her own lifetime the object of both critical and popular acclaim. Serao is placed firmly in her socio-political context, against the background of post-unification Naples and the prelude to Fascism. Dr. Fanning identifies a particular tension for Serao which involves both her view of herself as a woman writer and the representation of women in her fiction, with some surprising results. Through a consideration of the roles allocated to Serao's female characters, the novelist is seen to explore genre from a specifically gendered perspective, and the nature of the impact of gender on genre is uncovered. Feminist and psychoanalytical theories are drawn on where relevant in support of the thesis that, despite her carefully constructed conservative public persona, in her fiction, through a complex web of gender-genre connections, Serao poses undeniably political challenges to specific social institutions. This analysis of a novelist who writes simultaneously within and outside accepted literary frameworks will be of interest to those concerned with the nineteenth and twentieth-century novel, women's writing and women's history.

Gender Meets Genre: Woman As Subject in the Fictional Universe of Matilde Serao (Publications of the Ucd Foundation for Italian Studies)

Literature & Fiction

Fanning, Ursula

History & Criticism

Irish Academic Press

This book highlights the centrality of the autobiographical enterprise to Italian women’s writing through the twentieth century—a century that has frequently been referred to as the century of the self. Ursula Fanning addresses the thorny issue of essentialism potentially involved in underlining links between women’s writing and autobiographical modes, and ultimately rejects it in favor of an argument based on the cultural, linguistic, and literary marginalization of women writers within the Italian context. It is concerned with Italian women writers’ various ways of grappling with constructions of subjectivity throughout the century and sets out to explore them. Fanning reads autobiographical writing as subject to many of the same constraints as fiction and, in doing so, draws attention to the significance of the recurring use of the terms “pure” and “impure” in many critical and theoretical discussions of the autobiographical (where “pure” is used to suggest a truthful representation of a life, while “impure” suggests the messy undertaking of mixing lived experience with fiction). Recurring patterns and paradigms are found in the works of the various writers considered (eighteen in all), and these paradigms are analyzed through close readings of their works. These close readings offer insights into approaches to the constructions of subjectivity in the narratives and are informed by feminist theories. The chapters focus on selves in relationship, taking their lead from the patterns unfolding in the writers’ work, hence the subjects are constructed as daughters (with different views of the self in relation to fathers and mothers), within the confines of the romantic relationship (which involves reconsiderations and rewritings of the romance plot), as maternal subjects, and as writers (with an eye on their relationship to the literary canon, as well as to the relationship with readers). This book argues that there is such a thing as gendered subjectivity and that its constructions may be traced through the texts analyzed.

Italian Women's Autobiographical Writings in the Twentieth Century: Constructing Subjects (The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies)

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

This book highlights the centrality of the autobiographical enterprise to Italian women's writing through the twentieth century-a century that has frequently been referred to as the century of the self. Ursula Fanning addresses the thorny issue of essentialism potentially involved in underlining links between women's writing and autobiographical modes, and ultimately rejects it in favor of an argument based on the cultural, linguistic, and literary marginalization of women writers within the Italian context. It is concerned with Italian women writers' various ways of grappling with constructions of subjectivity throughout the century and sets out to explore them. Fanning reads autobiographical writing as subject to many of the same constraints as fiction and, in doing so, draws attention to the significance of the recurring use of the terms "pure" and "impure" in many critical and theoretical discussions of the autobiographical (where "pure" is used to suggest a truthful representation of a life, while "impure" suggests the messy undertaking of mixing lived experience with fiction). Recurring patterns and paradigms are found in the works of the various writers considered (eighteen in all), and these paradigms are analyzed through close readings of their works. These close readings offer insights into approaches to the constructions of subjectivity in the narratives and are informed by feminist theories. The chapters focus on selves in relationship, taking their lead from the patterns unfolding in the writers' work, hence the subjects are constructed as daughters (with different views of the self in relation to fathers and mothers), within the confines of the romantic relationship (which involves reconsiderations and rewritings of the romance plot), as maternal subjects, and as writers (with an eye on their relationship to the literary canon, as well as to the relationship with readers). This book argues that there is such a thing as gendered subjectivity and that its constructions may be traced through the texts analyzed.

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Books by Fanning, Ursula

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fanning, Ursula. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Gender Meets Genre: Woman As Subject in the Fictional Universe of Matilde Serao (Publications of the Ucd Foundation for Italian Studies)

Italian Women's Autobiographical Writings in the Twentieth Century: Constructing Subjects (The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies)

Italian Women's Autobiographical Writings in the Twentieth Century: Constructing Subjects (The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies)