"Partire da sé e non farsi trovare." Il porto di Toledo: Storia di un'autobiografia fantastica.

In light of contemporary literary criticism autobiography seems to be an almost impossible exercise. If it is impossible to recount one's story as it has been lived since truth and authenticity must be partially abandoned to take into account the "fictional" elements of one's life, what sense is there in writing autobiography? Is it possible then to write a fictional autobiography that is also true to one's life experience?

In this article, I explore Ortese's most complex literary endeavour: the creation of a "fantastic" autobiography: Il Porto di Toledo (1975) where the facts of her life are openly transformed into fiction in the attempt to represent a constantly evolving "utopian" female identity that is determined to escape a predetermined status of social inequality.