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MLN 117.1 (2002) 227-240



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"Sono uno storico in quanto scritore":
Imagining the Past in Maria Bellonci's Rinascimento Privato

Susanna Scarparo


Rinascimento Privato, first published in 1985, confirmed Maria Belllonci as one of the most accomplished Italian writers of historical novels. It recounts the story of Isabella d'Este's life through the eyes and words of its heroine, who becomes both a historical figure and a fictional character. The book has been celebrated as a compelling fictional history that uses its protagonist to explore the nature of the Italian Renaissance. 1 Yet Rinascimento Privato is not simply a novel intended to capture history in fictional form. It also problematizes the relationship between history and fiction by reflecting upon the position of women in history.

Depite the many literary prizes she won or the print runs of her books, Bellonci has been marginalized by the Italian literary establishment. Along with others of her generation (such as Alba de Céspedes, Lalla Romano, Fausta Cialente and Anna Maria Ortese) she belongs to a generation of Italian writers who have been disadvantaged and disempowered mostly on account of their gender. Their work has not been widely studied in Italy, nor has it attracted the attention of many [End Page 227] Italian critics. 2 There are few monographs about these writers. They are rarely included in anthologies and dictionaries of contemporary Italian literature, and when they are mentioned it is usually briefly and in asides. 3

Feminists have overlooked Bellonci's work on account of her ostensibly pessimistic view of women's emancipation. 4 She wrote most of her novels before feminism became a political force in Italy, and later she did not wish to identify with it. She was suspicious of the very word feminism and resented being identified as a feminist writer. Nonetheless, like other women writers of her generation, in her work she betrayed a profound awareness of the discrimination against women in the literary, social and political arenas. 5

Laura Fortini suggests that feminists have found it too painful to acknowledge the truthfulness of Bellonci's view that "la libertà non è data alle donne se non a prezzo di un' amarissima disfatta," 6 and commends the writers of Bellonci's generation for their willingness to [End Page 228] denounce openly the "bitter defeat" that for many women has been a reality. 7 In this article, I discuss Isabella d'Este's "amarissima disfatta", as she experiences it in Rinascimento Privato, to explore the relationship between fictional recreation and historical interpretation, and reflect on the process and implications involved in writing women's history through fiction.

Rinascimento Privato is divided into seven chapters of varying length, each with its own title. The chapter titles comment on and summarize particular events. The story and its writing begin in a fictional room, la stanza degli orologi, and at a specific time, in the year 1533. The writing always takes place in the same place and time while the story also ends in the room and in the year in which it begins.

The book opens with an image of Isabella d'Este sitting in the room of the clocks reading the letters of a foreign correspondent who writes in jagged handwriting and whose identity is revealed only later. His name is Robert de la Pole, and he is an English priest who spent several years in Italy. Isabella writes her life story as she reads Robert de la Pole's letters. The events she narrates range from 1500 to her present. Events before 1500 are introduced as flashbacks. The twelve letters of the priest serve to introduce and comment on the events. De la Pole, in fact, becomes a second narrator; his letters provide information that Isabella cannot give, since she is not an omniscient narrator.

All seven chapters have their own plots, but they are also linked to form the novel's complex overall plot. The narrative progresses from the capture of Ludovico il Moro by the French army of Louis XII in 1500, via...

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