Sibilla Aleramo was an Italian author and feminist celebrated for her autobiographical explorations of womanhood in late 19th-century Italy. Her debut work chronicled her courageous decision to leave her husband and son and relocate to Rome, a move that propelled her into vibrant political and artistic communities. During this formative period, she dedicated significant writing to feminist issues and the understanding of homosexuality. Her prose offers a powerful, intimate perspective on the personal and societal challenges faced by women of her era.
This gripping novel tells the story of a young Italian woman who is forced to flee her abusive husband and seek refuge in a convent. Through her experiences, readers will gain insight into the challenges faced by women in early 20th century Italy, and the ways in which they strove to overcome them. It is a must-read for anyone interested in feminist literature and women's history.
For a book that sent shock waves through the European literary establishment and, since its original publication in 1906, has gone through seven editions along with highly acclaimed translations into all the principal languages of Europe, A Woman (Una Donna) by Sibilla Aleramo (1876-1960) has remained curiously obscure in America. Aleramo's lightly fictionalized memoir presented a kaleidoscopic series of Italian images—the frenetic industrialism of the North, the miserable squalor of the country's backward areas to the South, fin de siècle Italian politics and literary life—all set in the framework of a drama admiringly characterized by Luigi Pirandello as "grim and powerful." For some other Italians, A woman touched a raw nerve, and many critics reacted to Aleramo with extreme hostility. However, whether one liked Aleramo's novel or not, the book was an iceberg in the mainstream of Italian literary life, impossible to get around without careful inspection. --From the introduction