Abstract
Through reference to the texts 'Lettera aperta', 'Il filo di mezzogiorno', 'Le certezze del dubbio', 'L’arte della gioia', and 'Io, Jean Gabin', this chapter explores how Saienza’s queer fictions are expressed through narrations of her gender and sexual identity, which oscillate between a reflection and a contestation of socio-cultural norms. Anticipating the influential theories of Judith Butler, For Sapienza sex and gender are performative, as she challenges biological essentialism. However., although there are queer elements to her narrations, she often stops short of overtly articulating these, leaving them hidden between the lines: necessary fictions that remain unarticulated, unsaid. In this sense, we can think of her texts as heterotopias, as defined by Foucault: places that open up on other places, beyond the surface of the ‘real’, where the ‘real’ is contested.
Translated title of the contribution | Gender Identity and Sexuality in the Work of Goliarda Sapienza: queer fictions |
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Original language | Italian |
Title of host publication | «Quel sogno d'essere» di Goliarda Sapienza |
Subtitle of host publication | Percorsi critici su una delle maggiori autrici del Novecento italiano |
Editors | Giovanna Providenti |
Place of Publication | Rome |
Publisher | Aracne Editrice |
Pages | 223-242 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-88-548-4630-2 |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |