Mirna Cicioni

Visions and Revisions: Women in Italian Culture Mirna Cicioni

Jacket Description/Back: This book, a collection of essays in English dealing with women in Italian culture, consists of two sections reflecting a variety of themes and intellectual and political interests. The first section, "Women and the Male Gaze: The Literary and Artistic Heritage", analyses ways in which women were constructed by men through a variety of literary and other discourses, from the Divine Comedy to the twentieth century. The second section, "Tradition and Transformation: Women in Society and the Movement towards Liberation", focuses on definitions by women themselves on their cultural and social identity, and the gradual and at times contradictory evolution of these definitions - changes in women's attitudes towards marriage and the family, proposed reforms to the laws on domestic and sexual violence, and lullabies in Northern and Central Italy as an expression of women's frustration and anger at their position. Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-231) and index. Publisher Marketing: This book, a collection of essays in English dealing with women in Italian culture, consists of two sections reflecting a variety of themes and intellectual and political interests. The first section, "Women and the Male Gaze: The Literary and Artistic Heritage, " analyses ways in which women were constructed by men through a variety of literary and other discourses, from the Divine Comedy to the twentieth century. The second section, "Tradition and Transformation: Women in Society and the Movement towards Liberation, " focuses on definitions by women themselves on their cultural and social identity, and the gradual and at times contradictory evolution of these definitions - changes in women's attitudes towards marriage and the family, proposed reforms to the laws on domestic and sexual violence, and lullabies in Northern and Central Italy as an expression of women's frustration and anger at their position. Publisher Marketing: This book, a collection of essays in English dealing with women in Italian culture, consists of two sections reflecting a variety of themes and intellectual and political interests. The first section, Women and the Male Gaze: The Literary and Artistic Heritage, analyzes ways in which women were constructed by men through a variety of literary and other discourses, from the Divine Comedy to the 20th century.

Contributor Bio:  Cicioni, Mirna Mirna Cicioni is a Senior Lecturer, in the Department of Italian Studies, at La Trobe University.