Gender, Narrative, and Dissonance in the Modern Italian Novel

Combining close textual readings with a broad theoretical perspective, this book is a study of the ways in which gender shapes the characters and narratives of seven important Italian novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Silvia Valisa is an assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University.

‘A rich and ambitious study… Valisa’s book offers a brilliant reading of the modern Italian novel, and it would be fascinating to see a similar approach applied in a comparatist frame.’

Andrea Sartori:

‘This is a thought-provoking book… Faculties and graduate students focusing on post-feminist theory and the burgeoning field of affect studies will undoubtedly find food for thought.’

Allison A. Cooper, Department of Romance Languages, Bowdoin College:
“Valisa’s elucidation of the relationships between character, gender, ideology, and epistemology represents an original and significant contribution to contemporary scholarship on the modern Italian novel.”

Tommasina Gabriele, Department of Italian Studies, Wheaton College :
“Gender, Narrative, and Dissonance in the Modern Italian Novel is a study of the dynamic ways in which gender shapes the principal characters and narratives of several important Italian novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from Manzoni’s I promessi sposi to Morante’s Aracoeli. Silvia Valisa shows an impressive ability to embrace a range of novels that span over 150 years and to include male and female authors and characters in her discussions of gender and genre.”