L'opera narrativa di Melania G. Mazzucco: le forme dell'impegno

This research project focuses on the work of the contemporary Italian writer Melania Mazzucco. While memory, the role of women and social criticism are the most studied themes in her works, the main thread running through our research is the concept of commitment. This is a new critical perspective, in which impegno constitutes a kind of 'macro-category' encompassing all the many themes in the writer's output that have been analysed by critics. Mazzucco's commitment, which is evident in his literary output, consists of a marked interest in social issues, in caring for the oppressed and marginalised in society. It’s in this context that women play a very important role, as they are always the protagonists of his novels: they are often eccentric, dissatisfied women, perpetually in search of their own place in the world and their own identity. In short, this is a particular form of civic commitment linked to women's issues, and it develops mainly in two directions, which will form the second and third parts of our thesis: the female genealogies that Mazzucco reconstructs in his historical novels, with the intention of giving a life, a voice and a history to female figures from the past who really existed and who can be a source of inspiration for women today; the representation of contemporary Italy through female figures who highlight issues such as sexism, the migratory phenomenon, new family models. Women thus become a vehicle for addressing issues that affect both sexes equally. In our thesis, therefore, we have examined the presence of forms of commitment in Mazzucco's work by studying its manifestations in the two directions described above, in order to answer some fundamental questions: in the debate on literary commitment, which is very fertile in Italy today, how can we situate Mazzucco's work? In what forms and on what themes does his commitment express itself? Is it effective? Is it appreciated? Our thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, the aim is to situate Mazzucco in the Italian literary context, from the 1980s – the period of her formation – to the present day, in order to highlight influences, legacies and gaps. In the second part, we propose a cross-analysis of two novels, which are both historical biographies of women artists forgotten by history: La lunga attesa dell'angelo, which tells the life story of Marietta Tintoretto, the famous painter's favourite daughter who was encouraged by her father to exploit her talents despite the ban on women being painters; and L'Architettrice, which tells the story of Plautilla Bricci, the first woman architect in modern history, who was also the daughter of an artist. We wanted to understand why Mazzucco embarked on this recovery operation, and who these women of the past were whose life experience she wanted to pass on. My aim is to understand why Mazzucco embarks on this operation of recovery, who these women of the past are whose life experience she wants to pass on, and how she wants to pass it on. The third and final part of the thesis is devoted to the study of four novels set in the present day: Un giorno perfetto, Limbo, Sei come sei, Io sono con te. Storia di Brigitte. These books no longer set out to re-evaluate extraordinary women of the past in order to reintegrate them into Italian artistic and cultural history. Instead, they tell the ordinary stories of women in Italy today, struggling with problems of violence, discrimination and marginality within the family and/or society.