Sibilla Aleramo

Sibilla Aleramo (14 August 1876 - 13 January 1960) was an Italian author and feminist best known for her autobiographical depictions of life as a woman in late 19th century Italy.

Life and career

Born Rina Faccio in Alessandria, Piedmont, she was forced to drop out of school at 16 and marry the man who raped her. Drake, Richard. Sibilla Aleramo and the Peasants of the Agro Romano: A Writer's Dilemma. "Journal of the History of Ideas", Vol. 51, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1990), pp. 255-272]

Her first book described her decision to leave her husband and son and move to Rome, which she did in 1901. She became active in political and artistic circles. During this time she writes extensively on feminism and homosexual understanding.

In 1908, she met Cordula "Lina" Poletti at a women's congress, and their one-year lesbian relationship formed the basis for the novel "Il passaggio." Poletti was described as being beautiful and rebellious, and was prone to wear men's clothing. She is sometimes credited with being one of the first women in Italy to openly flaunt her lesbianism. Poletti would later become involved with actress Eleanora Duse.

Sibilla Aleramo would go on to be one of Italy's leading feminists. Her personal writings to Poletti have, in more recent years, been studied due to their open minded views toward homosexual relationships. While Aleramo was involved with Poletti she was also in love with a man, Giovanni Cina. Aleramo expresses in her letters to Poletti that she never felt guilt for having loved both of them at the same time.

In later life Aleramo toured the continent and was active in Communist politics after World War II. The 2002 film "Un Viaggio Chiamato Amore" depicts Aleramo's affair with writer Dino Campana.

elected works

* Una donna (A Woman, 1906)
* Il passaggio (The Crossing, 1919)
* Andando e stando (Moving and Being, 1921)
* Momenti (Moments, 1921)
* Trasfigurazione (Transfiguration, 1922)
* Endimione (Endymion, 1923, play)
* Poesie (Poems, 1929)
* Gioie d'occasione (Occasional Pleasures, 1930)
* Il frustino (The Whip, 1932)
* Sì alla terra (Yes to the Earth, 1934)
* Orsa minore (Ursa Minor, 1938)
* Diario e lettere: dal mio diario (Diary of a Woman, 1945)
* Selva d'amore (Forest of Love, 1947)
* Aiutatemi a dire (Help Me to Speak, 1951)
* Gioie d'occasione e altre ancora (More Occasional Pleasures, 1954)
* Luci della mia sera (Lights of My Evening, 1956)
* Lettere (Letters, 1958)

References

Bibliography

*Aldrich, Robert and Garry Wotherspoon. "Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to World War II." Routledge, London, 2001, ISBN 978-0415253697

External links

* [http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/iww/authoridx.pl?auth_code=A0002&showfullrecord=ON Sibilla Aleramo] via Italian Women Writers database
* [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.archiviodistato.firenze.it/memoriadonne/bio_aleramo.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DSibilla%2BAleramo%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG Sibilla Aleramo]
*gutenberg author | id=Sibilla_Aleramo | name=Sibilla Aleramo
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n79-32996