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Gender and Genre in Italian Feminist Literature in the Seventies

Author(s): Carol Lazzaro-WeisReviewed work(s):Source: Italica, Vol. 65, No. 4, Women's Voices (Winter, 1988), pp. 293-307Published by: American Association of Teachers of Italian

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Gender and Genre in ItalianFeminist Literature in the Seventies

CAROLLAZZARO-WEIS

Feminist criticsofmanypersuasions enerally egardheconceptofgenrewith suspicion, f notdownright ontempt.First,genretheoryhastraditionally een the domainofmale criticswho useditto establisha primarilymale literarycanon,and it couldeasilybeconstruedas afacile means to construct andmaintain unequal socialand literaryhierarchies.' Second, although rigid theories of genericclassification have been, in FredricJameson's terms, "thoroughlydiscreditedby modem literary theory and practice"(105), attemptsto historicize andtemporalize generic categories, including his own,

have made no serious attempt to incorporate women's writings.While not specifically addressing he shortcomingsof contemporarygenre theory in dealing with women's writing, Adena Rosmarinidentifies abasiccontradictionbetween the beliefs ofgenrecritics andthe nature of genre criticism itself. No matter how many moderncritics have redefinedgenre,she argues,they still fall into the trapof

defininggenreasapreexisting entity-a trapthat betraysthe vestigesof the traditional belief in the possibility of representation.2Generic

theory, Rosmarinstates, is necessarily at odds with representation,which

onlytoleratesaninductive

movement,while

genericcriticism

is ineluctably deductive, always moving from the general to the

particular (33).Rosmarinis not arguingthat genre theory is useless. Rather,she

maintains that critics should openly concede the necessarily prag-matic and rhetoricalnature of generic criticism instead of trying to

ground it in an ultimately verifiable fact or horizon. Genres, she

states, are designed to serve the explanatory purpose of critical

thought,not the otherway around(25).Rosmarinarguesfor what sheterms an "expressly deductive genre criticism," one which simul-

taneously makes the readerawareof its premisesandits explanatorypower.She describesherapproachas both deconstructiveand reader-

centered, since the job of the generic critic is to act rhetorically and

293







294 CAROL LAZZARO-WEIS

pragmatically,that is, to exploit the invented and rhetorical natureof generic schemes and to uncover how the text does the same.3

This line of argumentprovesextremely useful when we examineboth the form andfunction of several Italian feminist writings of theseventies which, asidefrom theirrevolutionaryclaims, demonstratemarked generic affinities. Armanda Guiducci's Due donne dabuttare: una donnadi buonafamiglia e una ex-prostituta confessanoil fallimento della loro famiglia (1976), while expressing radicalfeminist ideas, often in characterisitically contemporary vulgarlanguage, is still very much a confessional piece, and the authordefines it as such. Dacia Maraini'spublished narrativeof a female

thief, Memorie di una ladra (1972),bears a distinct resemblance tothe picaresqueon several counts;4andher Donna in Guerra(1976),besides being a quest narrative,includes many elements of fantasyand illusion normallyassociatedwith the romancegenre.What, then,is the connection between these works andgenre,andhow should we

explore affinities with their respective generic traditions?When speakingof these and other feminist novels of the early to

thid-seventies, critics like Anna Nozzoli emphasize their radicalcontent and assume aneutralityof form(147-70). Certainly,the link

between ideological debates on feminism and recent feministliterature cannot be denied. Furthermore, n contrast to the self-contained structures of verbalplay that characterizedmuch avant-

garde prose of the sixties, these narratives indeed appearedmore

"traditional,"at least on a formallevel. Since they were intended todisseminate information concerning women's lives, a concern to

representsomething, to "mirror eality"remainsfundamental. Their

language as well was purposely straightforwardand non-literary.Nozzoli terms it a kind of "degr6zero stilistico."5 Theirnemesis, asNozzoli describes

it,was the

"privatizzazione"of the femine role

(152).Despite the many political andjuridicalvictories of the feminist

movement, women were still viewed as the affective center of thehousehold when affective values were undergoing constantdevaluation in a capitalist economy. The popular slogan of

neofeminists, "the personal is political," expressed the belief that

political and personal realms were inseparable: the relegation ofwomen to privatedomains that society consideredunproductivewasa political action, the roots and ramifications of which feministwriters strove to define, examine, and expose.

Nonetheless, despite certain pragmatic goals which demandedamore representational writing style, these writers did not simply aim

to portray realistically women's problems. They also sought to alter

perceptions of these difficulties. Disillusioned by the fact that

progress made on the political front could be annulled by cultural







ITALIAN FEMINIST LITERATURE IN THE '70S 295

prejudices,neofeminists focused on the changingof mentalities as ameans of freeing women from the many inherited perceptions of

themselves andtheir role in society. Highly polemical discussions ofthe cultural and religious roots of women's oppression, of theirtreatment as objects of consumption in capitalist society, prevailedin the many consciousness-raising groupsformed around 1968 andwhich continued to be organizedinto the late seventies.6 Nozzoliviews the first-personnarrative echniquein feminist writings in theseventies as a reflection of this commitment to self-analysis (163).However, in the texts to be examined here, form also plays a role inthe process of unmasking basic assumptions concerningthe roles ofwomen and of

promoting recognitionof these roles as social

constructions.7InDue donne da buttare,Memorie di una ladra, andDonna in Guerra,the authors exploit generic constraints to giveimpetus to theirportrayalofhow women's private ives are structured

by external, patriarchalvalues and demands, many of which thenarrators have internalized. In all of these texts the inductiveobservations andreasoningsof the narratorsboth criticize society and

challenge genericdemands. Yettheirultimate cooperationwith suchconstraints demonstrates the impossibility of separating personalfrom political oppression. Genre becomes the "deductive,"explanatory aw which will be both obeyedandrefuted,but above all

exposed for what it is. Guiducci's confessions deconstruct the

patriarchalandgeneric myth, upheldbythe confessionalform,of theexistence of a strong, independent self-image unsoiled by society;Maraini's picara, Teresa, must by definition cooperate with the

society that has formed her. Donna in Guerraparticipates in theromanceform to exposethepoliticalbase oftheoriesofgenderderivedfrom biological or ontological premises and to demonstrate thedifficulties inherent in breakingtraditionalpatterns of behavior.

The confessional genre has dominated much women's writing,althoughit has rarely, f ever,depictedthe successful liberationof thefemale writer. ElisabettaRasyattributes the preferenceof women forconfessional and other private genres to tradition: women's active

appearanceon the literaryscene was linked, as in her example, thePrincesse de Cleve, to the promise to give the real story behind the

scenes, the truth about the mysterious and silent feminine domain

(37-40). Romanticism's emphasis on nostalgia and subjectivismhelped keep women writers in private genres such as the diaryand

the memoir. Women's personal narratives, including theirautobiographies,have been criticized for certain formal deviations

from male confessions and autobiographies, such as, for example,their disconnected, fragmentary, and cyclical nature, their

concentration on personal and marginal details, and their failure to







296 CAROLLAZZARO-WEIS

developthe writer'srelationshipto establishmenthistory.8However,despite such deviations, these writings are still characterizedby the

same search forself-understandingandself-possessionfoundin maleautobiographies.Accordingto Claudine Hermann,this search for a

private, autonomous self is the lot to which women have beenconfinedhistoricallyfor lack ofanyself-acquired, ocial identity (77).However, Janet Gunn, in her phenomenological approach to

autobiography,arguesconvincingly that the self as an absolute andineffable essence outside of and apart rom society is itself a genericconstruct of classical autobiographical heory, a construct based onthe self's privileged position in the Cartesian cogito (7-8).9Gunn,

herself, demonstrates only how male autobiographical writingschallenge rigid, fallacious generic restraints.However, the fact that

women's attempts to do so are different from men's and are

interpreted differently helps expose the extent to which womenconform to ratherthan challengepatriarchalassumptionswhen theyattempt to define anindependent,unifiedself. In aconfessional modethis paradoxis further complicated by the generically determinedneed to prove innocence.

Both confessions included in ArmandaGuiducci's Due donne dabuttare

openlyflaunt the

circular, repetitive,detailed nature

criticized in women's personal narratives. Guiducci's frustratedhousewife immerses the reader in descriptions of her endless and

repetitive duties as housekeeper,wife, and mother to which societyassignsno productivevalue. The remarksof the housewife about the

incapacityof household appliances ("elettrodomestici") o save timereflect topical protests of feminists againsta powerfulconsumerismthat reinforcedimages of the traditional housewife and that of the

superior male provider.'0 These and other criticisms of societyjudiciously reinforce the presentationof an intelligent andlucid selfthat has somehow remained intact despite banal adversity. Thehousewife is careful to separateherself from other more obsessive

acquaintanceswho franticallyswallow hormones to defeat the agingprocess, or who have allowed the tedium of their lives to drive theminto insane asylums. Women, she explains, are innately rational

beings,endowed with a "sensopratico,"asopposedto men who thinkin theoretical and abstract terms. However, her much vauntedcommon sense leads her to isolate herself fromfeminist groupssuchas the Comitato delle Arrabbiate,which she denounces as being too

unrealistic in their demands. Thus, her need to achieve a rationalpresentationof self createsaparadoxwhich criticElissaGelfandnotesin many women's confessions: having confronted the difficulty ofher situation, the narrator adopts survival mechanisms such as








withdrawal, isolation, and establishment of personal boundariesinstead of directly contesting these difficulties (126).

The force of the housewife's criticisms and her search for self-understandingare most seriously undercut,however, by her need to

prove her innocence. To fulfill this generic prerequisite, she mustframe much of her social criticism in the context of her cooperation.Inso doing,she revertsto portrayingherself as astereotypical,passive,obedient,self-sacrificing housewife. The housewife is not arebel,noris her confession a plea for the reevaluation of her activities; she infact acknowledgestheir trivial and useless nature. Heronly crime, towhich she pleads guilty, is that she conformed.As a child she had

believed the dictums of her father and schoolteachers: "Chi non hacasa e una poveretta, una spostata";"Una donna senza casa e unalumaca senza chiocciola" (11ff).She had dutifully andproudly givenbirth to the required"figlimaschi" and had successfully fought dustand found breadon Sundaymorningsallher married ife. Cooperationwith the patriarchyis inevitable, as her example of how even the

preparationof food, the fundamental function of the housewife and

mother,has been reducedto a macabreencounter with pollution anddeath:

Poi si dice il cancrosfidoio! Anche il manzo lo imbrattanodi genuinonon c'eneppure 'arianel latte delle vacchec'e smogveleno. Una donnasi sbatte venti anni in cucina per preparareveleni e pranzi funebri

mangiareper morire non ha senso (33).

Public cooperation and revolt in isolation is bound to fail, and the

housewife's rational self dissolves in the reservoir of male prejudicesshe herself retains. Her increasingly intense fear of aging confirms her

inability to formulate an identity independent of male judgment.

Overwhelmed by helplessness and fear, she capitulates to anapocalyptic vision of an uncontrollable and hostile environment:

genericconstraintsofrationalityand nnocence conspireto create the

image of a crazed stereotypical housewife who is helpless in any

attempt to effect social change:

... ah gir vedo un immenso polveronesi spaccheranno e fogne tutted'uncolposi alzerannocolonne nere dismogtutto l'unticcio del mondoin granbolloretutta la polverescacciata tornerAdalprofondodel mareoffuscherala terra... (66).

The prostitute Stella's confession of her experiences as a

professionalcallgirlbeforemeeting GFc,who forcedherto gostraightand get a job as a salesgirl in a department store, despite differences,








will follow roughlythe same pattern.Her belief in the myth of the

strongindependentself is evident in her rational andhumanist view

of the individual in society and her refusalto be considered a victim:Una vittimadellasocietA.E unbelpensierino fasentire antonobili,compassionevoli.Ma nessunodi questisfiori l cervelloneancheunavolta che la societA e ognuno di noi. Invece gli uomini ... tutti: glionorevolin mutande, li studenti iraseghe-giocano scaricabarile.PoverinaasocietA.Cherazza i mancanzaisensopratico ... Voltano

(gliuomini)semprea testa a cercarea societA ell'angolodove loronon stanno 102).

Stella's narratedself-image is, however, not an independent one,

but rather the result of an attempt to appropriatepatriarchalvaluesand language.Stella attributesher rise from a simple streetwalkertoa better-paid call girl to her ability to suppress weak, femininecharacteristics: she flaunts frigidityas a safeguardagainst becomingdependent uponmen forsexual gratification,as is the case with otherweakerprostitutes who have become dependentupon drugsas well.Stella views feminine power in capitalist terms: if women arecommodities in society then the only logical thing to do is to raise

one's price.Because Stella

rejects,on the

surface,patriarchalmagesof

womenandblames individualsinsteadofsociety, she can,like the housewife,point out many contradictions and injustices in society. In the endStellaadmits,however, that, all things considered,the prostitutehaseven less powerthan the housewife: "le prostitute sono fra le donneche non possonofareniente, quelle che possonofare meno di niente"

(115).The female trickster must inevitably be trickedby the societywith which she, like the housewife, has cooperated. Feelings of

alienation, anonymity, andguilt cause Stella to reenter a society inwhich she

claims,as G&c's

irlfriend,heis

againan "individual."

Yet,just as Stella cooperateswith patriarchalvalues to leave society, somuch she cooperate with them to return. Not surprisingly, as an"individual" Stella speaksof new feelings of marginalityandlack of

solidaritywith other women: "Non ho piti confidenza con la gente,specie le donne" (110). Dirt, the symbol of the lost battle with the

patriarchythat defines both the housewife and the prostitute asworthless andguilty, becomes anobsession for Stella aswell. Herlastwordsreflect pathetic hopes that her new bath lotion will absolve all

guilt and make her feel clean again: "Sperotanto nel mio nuovo

dopobagno" (124).While Guiduccidepictstwo females who aremarginalizedbytheir

attempts to conform in Memorie di una ladra, Marainidepicts thelife of a willfull outsider. The seemingly indestructible narrator,

Teresa, survives innumerable beatings, bombings, inhumane prisons








andinsaneasylums,andfamilypersecution,o mentiononlya fewof theadventuresn thisaction-packed,inearplot."1Thepicaresque

genrederives romcriminalconfessions, ausingClaudioGuill6n oidentify it as the "confessions of a liar" (120). However, if theconfessional pieces of Guiducci displaythe aporiaof the belief in theview that the personalself can be kept separatefrom the social, the

picaresquetraditionhas always reaffirmedthat there is no materialsurvival outside of society. Like the traditionalpicaro,Teresaprefersestrangementandroguery o any traditionally prescribed emale role,but she will always somehow adjust to social demands, however

defined, which are imposed upon her. Once againrevolt will reveal

itself as cooperation.Memorie di una ladra is a result of extensive research done byMaraini in the late sixties on the deplorableconditions in women's

prisons. In an interview that introducesBompiani'sreedition of the

work, she speaks of how reeducation in women's prisons aims at

producingmodel housewives (V).But in the episodic, action-packednarrativeitself, such ideological points aregiven short shrift by the

practical, down-to-earthTeresa who moves from one adventure to

another, never improving except to learn from experience how to

become a better thief. Like the traditionalpicaresque orphan,Teresais thrown unprepared nto a harsh society whose values she has tolearn anew. Society, its hardships, inequalities, and oppressions,becomes the natural foe of the picarowho, in his judgments,displaysa strongsense of moral rectitude. Typically, Teresa rails incessantlyagainstthe cowards,many of them male, who betrayher both in sexand in burglaries,and thus have "forced"her to go to jail. Her senseofhonoris basedon the rigidstandardsof "omerth," he underworld'scode of solidarity,which is based on remainingloyal and silent while

takingthe

rapalone.

The picaro's actions, however, usually betray his desire not to

challenge but rather to conform to and enjoy the system. Marainiidentifies with Teresa's rather concrete relationship to food andadmireswhat she terms her total estrangementfrom the values of aconsumer society. However, Teresa's obsession with food and the

many descriptionsof meals boughtwith stolen money-"soldi spesibene" (215)-, besides being generic traits,betraythe fact that she isnot totally indifferentto improvingher material existence either (V-IX).IfTeresa does not marryand settle down like many ofher female

cohorts in crime and in tradition, she is most happywhen she findsa "goodjob,"such as the one passing on stolen American traveler'schecks. The hours and money are good, the workload light; most

important, she feels a sense of fulfillment since the job allows her to

display her native intelligence and her acquired shrewdness:








Hotrovato n belmestiere l lavoro&eggeromi diverto ure guadagnosenza atica.Toccava verunpo'dicervello,questosi, toccava ssere

intelligenti furbi sapere arlare,apersi isimpegnareuandoiravaun bruttovento(213).

Suchburlesquingof society's values reveals a spiritof cooperationthat is indeed ashypocriticalas the society the narrativecriticizes sowell. However, the form defines both possibilities and limits.

Although Teresa may appear free to refuse any involuntaryinvolvement with the traditionalfeminine role,hersuccess, howevermuch it reflects the economic changesin postwarItaliansociety, still

depends on her ability to manipulate the patriarchalinstitution.Cooperationwith the picaresqueformdoesnot, however, invite self-

deprecation: in contrast to Guiducci's narrators, Teresa is an

unrepentant female who can unabashedly unmask society'shypocrisies since she is society's model student.

Although Guiducci's narratorsexpose strategies of oppressionin

society, theircooperationwith genericrestraints,especially the needto prove innocence, prevents them from challenging stereotypicalimages and assuming responsibility for their lives. Likewise, by

constructingher

identity accordingto the rules of the

picaresque,Teresatypically blames othersorthe force of destiny forher actions,thus beggingthe question ofwhether she experiencestrueautonomyor any sense of personal responsibility.

In Donna in Guerra,Maraini confronts the theme of acceptingresponsibilityfor one'slife, asdifficultas thatmaybe,in herdepictionof the transformationof a withdrawn, dependentfemale who hidesbehind her traditional subservientrole into one readyto accept therisks involved in assuming responsibility for one's life. Narrator/

protagonistVannina is a meek and mild

elementaryschoolteacherof

Sicilian origin marriedto a Neapolitian mechanic Giacinto who,despite many good qualities, is hopelessly paternalistic. Giacinto's

paternalismis not consciously malicious but instinctive andnatural,or so he believes. He blatantly disregardshis wife's intellectual andsexual needs, relyingon her to cook, wash, clean, accompanyhim tothe cafe for aneveningice creamwhile they areonvacation-in short,to representthe feminine which he defines as a natural, biologicalstate: "Tu, di natura (my emphasis) sei buona, calma, affettuosa,paziente,remissiva."Thus,he considersanyactionofVanninawhich

contradicts this restrictivedefinition of the female as wrongbecauseit is "contro natura"(141).Theories of gender difference rooted in

ontologyorbiologygovernthe behaviorandself-imageof the womenas well as the men. Vannina complies with Giacinto's requestsbecause she believes in his superiority. When Suna, one of the catalyst








figuresn Vannina'sransformation,ries opointout theself-servingnature fGiacinto's ttitudes ndbehavior,Vanninahinks o herself:

Non pensavoniente. Non sapevoche rispondere.Quello che diceGiacintoo facciomio. Nonmie maivenuto nmentedicontraddirlo.Pensoche e miglioredime,che haragione, helo amo,chequellochedice havalorepertutti e due(90).

For the most part,however, the narrativedoes not dwell onVannina'snternal houghtsbut focuses on hersocial andpoliticalencounters.Vannina articipatesnpoliticalmeetingsandwitnesses

politicalterrorism xercisedbyhernew acquaintanceswho kidnap

a corruptprisonwardenand forcea confessionfrom him at gunpoint.Along with Suna, she interviews exploited poor and uneducatedwomen in Naples involved inlavoro nero,pieceworkdone athome for

meager wages. Throughout these and many other adventures,Vannina's narrative stance remains descriptive and objective.Augustus Pallotta emphasizes this objectivity when he argues thatthe text is not a novel, or "the psychologicaltreatment of individual

rapportwith reality,"but a "utilitariandidacticapproach .. capableof demonstratinglucidly the intellectual tenets of feminism andthesocial

problemsaffectingwomen"

(360).But if the

representationof

socio-political problemstakes precedenceover that of psychologicaldevelopment, the narrative s still not a documentarybut a fictional

representationof political, psychological, and feminist theories that

again both unmask and comply with the romance genre.Fromthe beginningof the romancetradition in GreekandRoman

literature,through ts manydisplacementsuntil the presenttime, theactions of romance stereotypicalcharactershave been justified with

philosophical,psychological,andevenproverbial heoriesor truisms.The characters,who could be extremely realistic, even radical at

times dueto the inclusion ofmany topicaltheoriesandattitudes, hadno need to learn and develop. Ruledby chance, fortune, or God, and

immersed in adventureswhich took place in hostile environments

peopledbyvarioustypes motivatedby self-interestor uncontrollable

passions, romancecharactersneeded only to survive the adventures

and reach a certain tranquillity. Human dependency upon higherpowers for survival was implied by the unchanging nature of the

characters,the interpolatednarrativesordisgressionswhich, as theystill do in Donna in Guerra,demonstratethe failureof those seeking

independence and the general chaos resulting from individualsearches for self-satisfaction.2

The romance today, as Kenneth Bruffee tells us, instead of

preaching man's dependency upon the higher powers, explores the

difficulties encountered in freeing oneself from long-standing social








structures, traditional human relationships, and the dependentmentalities they foster and maintain.13 Describing the male elegiac

romance in this century, Bruffeelists several characteristics of thegenrewhich also applyto Donna in Guerra.In elegiac romance, the

traditionallypassiveprotagonistconfrontshis own complexly-rootedresistance to changeaswell as a cultural,social, andpolitical milieu

undergoingprofoundand irresistible change. Due to its adventure

plot, romancedoes not try to rendermental processes directly, as isthe case in some modem novels and the Bildungsroman;rather,itcreates a thematic relationshipbetween the outsideworld,the hostilesocial environment,and the narrator'squest. Thequest is most often

unknown at the beginning, and the recalcitrant narrator earns latethat he or she must createsomething new: a self which is responsiveto new needs and which can survive without heroes and nostalgicillusions (59-72).

Donna in Guerra reverses the archetypal romance quest. Theadventures and separations do not lead to the marriage of the

essentially passive protagonists. Instead,a marriedwoman, after aseries of adventures andabriefseparation rom herhusband,decidesto divorce and, in her own words, start all over again.The symbolicnature of the adventures is announced

clearly bythe

abruptarrival

of Vannina's menstrual period, "un rivolo di sangue benefico" (4),which occurs on the first day of the couple's vacation in a poorsouthern fishing village where the liveliest moment is in the earlyevening when the boredwives of rich German "industriali"leavetheir villas and come to the piazza to find bed partnersamong the

willing, adaptablevillage youth. However, this obvious symbol, aswell as others in the narrative,is isolated by the mundane eventswhich immediately follow. Giacinto leaves early every morning to

fish, and Vanninafills the day by shopping, cleaning,washing,

and

ironing,banal activities shedescribes n the samematter-of-fact,non-

judgmental way in which she narrates the story. This banality isunderlined in Vannina'soft-repeatedmock chants of the housewife:"Ho lavatoi piatti,ho sgrassato e pentole. Hosciacquatoi bicchieri,"first appearingon page4, andwhich varies only slightly duringthenarrative. Often this litany is repeatedin the place of a reaction or

judgment from Vannina to some controversyshe is reporting,thus

making any progressive change in her more difficult to gauge.Initially, Vannina's only unusual excursions are trips to the

laundryof Toto and Giottina, two strong, lively Sicilian types who,in mock allegorical fashion, tell of magicaltransformationsand wildsexual acts which supposedly take place in the villas of the rich at

night:








-Alla VillaTrionfo'amore i fa sputazza-La sputazza i fa semenza-La semenzasi fa veleno-La servasi fapadrona.... (12-13)

However, neither of these women who chant in witch-like fashion,eat pastries, iron, and recount these "inquietanti giochidell'immaginazione"(14)to apassiveandslightly nauseated Vannina

preaches revolt. Rather,they offer consolation and relieve boredomin this private and isolated feminine world.14

Typically, Vannina,as well, is not anxious to effect change andis

suspicious of those who advocateit. Therefore,herpassiveness,more

than her "reasoningandreflection," as Pallotta suggests, makes herappeara less stereotypicalandstrongercharacter.Shecopes with the

noisy Neapolitan family roomingupstairs,who throw their garbageon her orin her courtyard,by following Giacinto's advice to grinandbear it: "Quella gente li bisognafare finta che non c'&, e reagiscie

peggio" (60).To complicate matters further,this philosophy seems

justifiedby narrativeevents. A brief outburstof rageresults in a door

being slammed in herface, andwhen Vannina is convinced by Sunato file a complaint, the family successfully accuses her of attackingthe

grandmotherin

public. Likewise, amongVannina's

acquaintances, those who revolt end up causing more trouble forthemselves. Furthermore,since most of the characters'actions aremotivated by topical philosophical, psychological, and politicaltheories, their actions become more predictable and they becomemore stereotypicalas the narrativeprogresses.Suna,a beautiful and

relativelywell-off paralytic,throughwhom andwith whom Vannina

participates in the adventures, preaches female emancipation,independence, and sexual liberation. Yet she herself falls into the

easily recognizable trapof using sexual promiscuity to compensatefor her handicap and, despite her fervent rhetoric against male

domination, she developsa traditionaldependenceonher fickle loverSantino. She dies from a fall brought on by her depression whenSantino is arrested and she loses him as a lover. In so doing Suna

appearsno less stereotypicalthan many fictional male counterpartswho kill themselves or waste awayfor love of unfaithfulprostitutes.

Sunais not the only characterwho revertsto traditionalpatterns.Vittorio, the leftist terrorist, despite his radicalpolitical views, stillviews women as objects who in revolution should remain as

subservient as before. His marriageto a submissive and rich Swissvirgin is a critically parodic,but typical and predictable ending for

such a macho-terroristtype. Vanninaherself, in a rare moment of

introspection, defines her love for Giacinto as a need to dependon a







304 CAROLLAZZARO-WEIS

strongmale figure:"hauna forzaterribile n quelle sue braccie biondee con questa forza tiene in piedi il nostro matrimonio. Io sono

innamorata di quelle braccie"(142).Such commonplaces that havealways served in romance to enhance the verisimilitude of thecharactersand their actions emphasizehere the difficulty of freeingoneself fromthe archaicpatternsofbehaviorandmeaningwhich haveand continue to inform judgmentsand perceptions.

Donna in Guerra,however, ends with a call for solidarity and

courageto continue to overcomeone's limits. True to romanceform,the narrative ends on an epiphanicnote: Sunaappears n a dream toVanninato offerher crutches to a now-crippledVanninawho, after

attemptingto flyhadcrashedto earthandlost bothlegs. In the elegiacromance, the narrator's liberation is often announced when hisadmiration for another deceased male ceases (Bruffee15, 27-28).Patricia Merivale points out that in the female variant the bondbetween narratorandthe personshe reportsuponis one of only faintinterest since female solidarity,in contrast to its male counterpart,is slowly andunexpectedly revealed(46-48). Vannina'srelationshipto Sunais indeed cool at the beginning,andSuna is never arole-modelforher.'5 Hercrutches,however,give Vanninathe strengthto decideto abort Giacinto's

child,a

pregnancywhich resultedfrom a

surprisesexual attack, and to strike out on her own.

However, as is also typical of romance, the call for commitmentto change includes no specific advice on how to implement suchtransformations.Romance charactersreceive no magic wand; and,ifSuna's crutches appearto be a dubious aid, it is, in part,because inmodern romance all who depend upon archaic myths, theories,philosophies, and truisms which reappearn displacedanddisguisedforms, are crippled in some way. To begin again, Vannina mustabandon her passive nature, become involved,

despiteher

vulnerability to those fundamentalstructuresof meaningthat shapeher understanding.

With literary conventions as crutches and guides, Guiducci andMaraini revealed similarities in strategies of oppression andunmasked the illusion that political fact could be separatedfrom

private life. The strict relationship between the personal and the

political implied at times in the above narrativesby the gender/genrerelationship may appeartoo mechanical for feminist critics in the

eighties who arguefor a differentrapportbetween the personal and

the political.'6 Nonetheless, despite certain differences, the morerecent novels of both Maraini and Guiducci, I1 treno per Helsinki

(1984) and A testa ingiht (1984) respectively, continue to examine

many of the crippling myths and social conventions that were

revealed by the generic experiments of the seventies. With these








experiments,iteraryeminismbegan he difficult ask ofdisplacingthe literatureof the pastaccordingo the perceptions f women asa historicalgroup,a movement definedby MoniqueWittig as

unavoidable f women writers are ever to move on to revisedrepresentationsnd new terminologies.'7

SOUTHERNUNIVERSITY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NOTES

'Inapaperdeliveredat the 1986MLAConventionentitled "AuthorizedVersions,"

Nancy Miller usedthe exampleofArtaud'srecentlypublishedvolumes of Histoirede

la litterature ranqaisetoargue hat the classificationof women'sworks,which Artaudnowincludes,accordingo established enreshas theparadoxicalffect of makingwomen writers invisible again.Rather hanappearingn the table of contents, womenwriters are included under rubrics such as the "roman sentimental" and other

secondary genres. A notable exception to this negative attitude toward genericcriticism is The VoyageIn:Fictions of FemaleDevelopment, a series of essays which

show how the genericcategoryof Bildungsromancan be fruitfully appliedto variouswomen's texts.

2Rosmarinprimarilyreviews the theoriesof E.D. Hirsch,RonaldCrane,Northrop

Frye,Tzvetan Todorov,RalphRader,and Hans RobertJauss.3Otherrecentarguments orgenretheorystress the role of the critic in identifying

genresas well. Inhis recentarticle"HistoryandGenre,"RalphCohenarguesthat thesametext canparticipate n severalgenericgroupings inceauthors,readers,and critics

have different reasonsfor identifying texts as they do.

4AugustusPallotta,in "DaciaMaraini:FromAlienation to Feminism,"describes

the text as a "remarkable, atter-daypicaresquenovel" (n. 362).s167-169. Nozzoli explainsthatalongwith vulgar anguage,manyfeminist writers,

especially Guiducci andMaraini,purposelyused faulty grammarandpunctuation as

well as dialectical expressions to attack the artifice of literary language and

demonstratehow languageperpetuates he divisionsbetweenoppressedandoppressor.

Many passagesquoted in this article reveal elements of this technique.'For a gooddiscussionof Italianculturalorneo-feminism, see LuciaBirnbaum,La

liberazione della donna, pp. 79-103. Anther more personal but very informativeaccount of Italian neo-feminism can be found in Susan Bassnett's Feminist

Experiences:The Women'sMovementin FourCultures,Chapter3.

7Theargumentthat the ideaof women is anartificialmale construct canbe found

in several cultural and historical interrogationson women. Two well-known and

influential feminist inquiries include Maria Rosa Cutrufelli's, L'invenzione della

donna:miti e tecniche dellosfruttamentoandGiannaPomata's nscienza e coscienza:

donna e potere nella societh borghese.

8See Estelle Jelinek's introduction to Women's Autobiography, pp. 10-20.

9Although Gunn is not a generic critic, she agrees with other reader-centered

approaches o genre: "genre s an instrument of reading .. [that]enables the reader

to locate himself or herself beforethe text" (21).10Cf.Susan Bassnett, Feminist Experiences:The Women's Movement in Four

Cultures, 116: "However in the marketing of the 'new life' through advanced

technology(. .. Italiancoineda new wordelettrodomestico,anindicationof the extent

of the reorganizationof the running of the home), care was taken to stress the








continuation of old values." Bassnettquotes Italianfeminist writerAdrianaSeroni,writing in the magazineDonne e politica (July,1973):"Enormous iches ... have allbeen sacrificedon the altarof chaotic developmentof twisted privateconsumerism.

In the wake of all this, woman,herimage,and herbeautyhave beendegradedo servea politicalvision. ... She has been shut out for the most part romproduction,andhasbeen exalted as a symbol and instrument of twisted consumerism."

11LikeGuiducci'sDue donne,Memorie di una ladrais basedon areal-lifeaccount.

However,Maraini admits to makingmany changesin the presentationof the story.Forexample,Marainicomments that Teresa lackedany chronologicalconception of

time; therefore, orpurposesofclarity, n therewritingof thetext,whichMarainiclaimsto have done threetimes, she adheres o a strict,chronologicalorder(Memorievi-ix).

12Foran excellent, in-depth discussion of the romancein antiquity, see Arthur

Heiserman,TheNovel beforethe Novel:Essaysand Discussions about theBeginningsof Prose Fiction in the West.

'3ElegiacRomance: CulturalChangeand the Lossof the Hero n ModernFiction,esp. Chapter2, "ElegiacRomance: A Modem Tradition."

14These scenes are reminiscent of the visits of Vittorini's narratorSilvestro toEzechiele's cave in Conversazione in Sicilia. Joy Potter, in "An IdeologicalSubstructuren Conversazione n Sicilia,"defines Ezechiele'shumanist criticisms ofthe "mondo offeso" as impotent and useless since they representan intellectualist

position of isolation and withdrawalfromthe world of experienceand thus describeculture's main function as one of consolation.

lSVanninafirst describes Suna as "una che fa teatro ... improvvisamente l'hotrovataridicolaeantipatica" 59).Evenwhen she follows SunatoNaplesto aid n Suna's

investigations of exploitedfemale workers n cottage industries,she admits that she

is going to see Orioagain.Vanninahad had a brief affairwith Oriowho was dying ofa stomach tumor in a hospital in Naples.

'"SeeTeresade Lauretis, n "Issues,Terms and Contexts,"p. 9, who calls for "a

recastingof the notion that the personal s politicalwhich does not simply equateand

collapse the two .. . but maintains the tension between them precisely throughthe

understandingof identity as multiple and even self-contradictory."'7See RosalindJones,"FrenchTheoriesof the Feminine,"p. 91.

WORKS CITED

Abel, Elizabeth, Marianne Hirsch, and Elizabeth Langland, eds., The VoyageIn: Fictions of Female Development. Hanover: UP of New England, 1983.

Bassnett, Susan. Feminist Experiences:The Women's Movement in FourCultures. London: Allen and Unwin, 1986.

Birnbaum,Lucia Chiavola. Liberazione della donna: Feminism in Italy.Connecticut: Wesleyan UP, 1986.

Bruffee,Kenneth. Elegiac Romance: Cultural Change and the Loss of theHero in Modern Fiction. Cornell: Cornell UP, 1983.

Cohen, Ralph. "History and Genre." New Literary History 15:2 (1986): 203-221.

Cutrufelli, Maria Rosa. L'invenzione della donna: miti e tecniche dello

sfruttamento. Milano: Mazzotta, 1974.DeLauretis, Teresa. "Issues, Terms and Contexts," in Feminist Studies/

Critical Studies, ed. Teresa DeLauretis. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1987.1-19.

Gelfand, Elissa. Imagination in Confinement: Women's Writings fromFrench Prisons. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1984.








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Rizzoli,1976.

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. A testa in giui.Milano: Rizzoli, 1984.

Guillkn, Claudio. Literatureas System. Princeton: PrincetonUP, 1972.

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Jameson,Fredric.The Political Unconscious. Ithaca:Cornell UP, 1981.

Jelinek, Estelle, ed. Women's Autobiography. Bloomington: Indiana UP,

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Feminine," in Making a Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism, eds.

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