The present edited collection of essays on the Sicilian author Goliarda Sapienza includes contributions from established and emerging scholars working in the field of contemporary women's writing. Essays in this volume examine Sapienza through multiple perspectives, taking into account the articulation of subjectivity through autobiographical writing and the complex representation of gender and sexual identities. Also considered here is Sapienza's oblique position within the Italian literary canon, with contributions moving beyond isolated textual analyses whilst attempting to situate the author's works within a framework of intertextual and contextual cultural references. Exploring the fertile network of explicit and implicit intersections with Italian and European literature (English and French in particular), as well as with Western philosophical thought in which Sapienza's texts are embedded, this volume will provide an overdue contribution to the belated appraisal of an author whose due recognition is, in Cesare Garboli's words, only a matter of time: "Time will work in favour of Goliarda Sapienza's works. And this is not a wish; it is a certainty."
Acknowledgments Introduction, Alberica Bazzoni, Emma Bond and Katrin Wehling-Giorgi Part I: Life, Writing and the Ethics of Subjectivity 1. Goliarda Sapienza's Permanent Autobiography Mariagiovanna Andrigo 2. Reforging the Maternal Bond: Motherhood, Mother-Daughter Relationships and Female Relationality in Goliarda Sapienza's L'arte della gioia' Aureliana Di Rollo 3. "A Backbone Held Together by Joy": The Transformative Power of L'arte della gioia Andre Bella 4. Nomadic Modesta Monica Farnetti 5. Goliarda Sapienza: The Unknown Scriptwriter Emma Gobbato Part II: International Intertextuality 6. Goliarda Sapienza's "French Connections" Charlotte Ross 7. "A World without Men": Interaffectivity and the Function of Shame in the Prison Writings of Goliarda Sapienza and Joan Henry Emma Bond 8. Orlando and Modesta: Two Voices for the Freedom of Women Belen Hernandez Part III: The Italian Context 9. Beyond the Canon: Goliarda Sapienza and Twentieth Century Italian Literary Tradition Laura Fortini 10. Agency and History in Sapienza's L'arte della gioia and Morante's La Storia Alberica Bazzoni 11. The Art of Change: Race and the Body in Goliarda Sapienza's L'arte della gioia Goffredo Polizzi Part IV: Spaces of Recollection 12. Changing Recollections: Goliarda Sapienza and Fabrizia Ramondino Writing and Rewriting Childhood Laura Ferro 13. "L'acqua in gabbia": The Space of the (Female) Prison between Dystopia and Heterotopia in Memorie di una ladra and L'universita di Rebibbia' Maria Morelli 14. `"Ero separata da me": Memory, Selfhood and Mother-Tongue in Goliarda Sapienza and Elena Ferrante Katrin Wehling-Giorgi Bibliography Index About the Authors
