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A Woman
A Woman | Sibilla Aleramo
6 posts | 3 read | 9 to read
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 cclaimed translations into all th 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 sicle Italian politics and literary life--all set in the framework of a drama admiringly characterized by Luigi Pirandellow as "grim and powerful." For some other Italians, A woman touched ar aw 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
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Emilymdxn
A Woman | Sibilla Aleramo
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@ChasingOm #integrateyourshelf

Well this has been pretty much my worst reading month since I was at school! Which is a pity cause I was so excited for women in translation month. I did manage to read this brilliant short book translated from Italian, SO ahead of its time it felt like an earlier Elena Ferrante in a lot of ways. Can‘t recommend enough.

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GabrielleDubois
A Woman | Sibilla Aleramo
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Pickpick

"Time and space seemed to me to be fluid, carrying me on their stream; I was the Wandering Humanity, the aimless Humanity, yet inflamed with ideal: the Humanity enslaved by some laws and yet driven by a rebellious will to break them down, to make an existence free from them ..."
Absolutely fabulous! Please read it, especially if you're a mother, it's heatbreaking!
Please let me know if you read it, I'd like to share this reading.

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ladyclassics
A Woman | Sibilla Aleramo

"Nearly every Italian poet up to now had glorified an "ideal" woman: that Beatrice was a cypher and Laura a hieroglyph. The women the poets praised were unattainable: they never mentioned the women they lived with, who bore their children! Why? Shouldn't poets above all want their lives to be examples of frankness, honesty, coherence, and dignity?"

PREACH IT, SISTER ♡♡♡

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ladyclassics
A Woman | Sibilla Aleramo
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I'm trying to figure out why this book is not more talked about. Since it came out in 1906 in Italy, A Woman has been referred to as the "Book of Genesis in the bible of feminism," and is a staple within the literary realm of feminist writings. It is a beautiful autobiographical account of a woman trying to find herself as an integral part of society outside of the conventional expectations of being a wife and mother. So far I can't put it down!

ladyclassics @readinginthedark Great!! Let me know what you think--I'd love to hear another opinion :) 7y
readinginthedark @ladyclassics It might be a while before I get to it, but you'll hear about it for sure! 7y
ladyclassics No worries!! Our reading lists never get any shorter ;) @readinginthedark 7y
11 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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blueai
Una donna | Sibilla Aleramo
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“Ero una persona, una piccola persona libera e forte; lo sentivo, e mi sentivo gonfiare il petto d'una gioia indistinta.”

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aliceraps
Una donna | Sibilla Aleramo
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Alfine mi riconquistavo, alfine accettavo nella mia anima il rude impegno di camminar sola, di lottar sola, di trarre alla luce tutto quanto in me giaceva di forte, d'incontaminato, di bello; alfine risentivo il sapore della vita.