Oct. 14 – Matilde Serao (1856-1927), Anna Maria Ortese (1914-1998), Gina Lagorio (1922-2005) and Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006) are just four of the many Italian women who steered their careers between journalism and literature. Their lives will be the topic of discussion on October 23 at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York (at 6pm). The debate will see the participation of Andrea Baldi (Rutgers University), Teresa Fiore (Montclair University), Pietro Frassica (Princeton University) and Gabriella Romani (Seton Hall University). “The (contemporary and historical) status of women, their autobiographies, their psychology, family history and relationships – said a statement by the ICI – are among the main themes that a considerable number of Italian women writers both in journalism and in literature choose to write about over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Despite the range and quality of their work, these figures only recently begun to receive the critical attention they deserve, even outside of Italy.” The topics they deal with range from love to disillusionment, friendship, family and social life, including the political status of women in Italy, and the impact of feminism on Italian culture. What emerges from their works is a series of portraits that reflect the diversity, dynamism and creativity of women writers in modern Italy.
