Pleasure of Writing: Critical Essays on Dacia Maraini

Introduction

Rodica Diaconescu-Blumenfeld Introduction Dacia Maraini is a controversial figure. Sheis controversial in the context of Catholic Italy, and even that of the Italian left, where women had been secondary, then fought for emancipation , then for sexual difference, and are now being reabsorbed in a "postfeminist" complacency. While Maraini does not, normatively , use the termfeminist to describe herself, preferring . the adverbial phrase "dalla parte delle donne" ("on the side of women"), this volume celebrates Dacia Maraini in her life and art as in the fullest sense feminist, a feminism that is humane, complex; and uncompromising. A committed activist, Maraini fights as a woman "on the side of women." Unrelenting in her opposition to gender roles that repress women and render them vulnerable to abuse and violence , Maraini listens to the voices of women and gives voice to their silences. Attentive both to the discourses of theoretical feminism and to the experiences of women, she keeps up with the changing forms of oppression. Maraini's art, in particular her continuous engagement with writing, bears witness to her struggle dalla parte delle donne as to the lived intelligence that nurtures this into poem and story. It is for this reason that the lack of sustained critical attention to the work of an author so widely read in Italy must be understood in its full poli~ical force. Interpretation is not merely the affectation of isola~ed academics and intellectuals; it is a crucial mode of either reinforcing or remaking a lived cultural canon. In this introduction, I propose first to give a brief overview of Marainl's oeuvre for readers unfamiliar with her work, in order to record her productivity and range; then to analyze 3 Introduction Maraini's exclusion from the Italian literary canon, relating this issue to those of signature and sexed voice. *** Born in Florence in 1936, to an anti-Fascist family, Maraini spent part of her childhood in Japan, where she was eventually imprisoned with her family in a concentration camp toward the end of World War II. Maraini started her career in 1962 with the novel La vacanza (The Holiday), followed by L'eta del malessere in 1963 (The Age of Malaise), works that may be termed proto-feminist. The second of these novels details the dreary life of Enrica, a working-class young woman whose actions are at first subordinated to and determined by male presences and narratives but whose gradually awakening selfconsciousness marks the possibility of an independent agency. The novel won.the international prize Formentor. From 1963 to 1967 Maraini established her place in Italian culture by participating in contemporary debates, especially those of the neoavant -garde Gruppo '63. Living in Rome during this period, she developed close friendships with many of Italy's leading artists and intellectuals, including Pier Paolo Pasolini and Alberto Moravia. In 1966 the volume ofpoetry Crudelta all'aria aperta(Cruelty in the open air) appeared. In 1967 she published the novel A memoria (By heart) and started the experimental theater company.II Porcospino. The next year, 1968, marked the beginning ofMaraini's feminist activities and activism: she ~onducted sociological inquiries (e.g., on conditions in women's prisons), published articles, wrote and produced plays. In this year she started another experimental theater,Lacompagnia blu, and published Miomarito: racconti (My husband: short stories). . From 1969 to 1973 Maraini wrote, produced, and published plays, and directed her first and only feature film, L'amore coniugale (Conjugal'love). Her play Il manifesto dates from these early years. In 1972 Maraini published Meinorie di una ladra (Memoirs ofa Female Thiej),,a novel based on the "ad- .ventures" of a convicted thief, Teresa, whom she had met during her prison investigations. She shared the royalties from the novel and the resulting movie with her collaborator. In Memorie 4 Introduction Maraini investigated the dynamics of the underworld, shown to be quite as damaging as those of Teresa's supposed rehabilitation . In 1973 the author published E tu chi eri? Interviste sull'iri/anzia (And you, who were you? Interviews on childhood ), a collection of interviews with well:..knownfigures in Italian cultural life .such as Roberto Rossellini, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Alberto Moravia, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and, most importantly , An.na Maria Grtese, Liliana Cavani, Natalia Ginzburg, and Rossana Rossanda. In 1974 Maraini published the collection of feminist poetry Donne mie (Women of mine), and Fare teatro: materiali, testi, interviste (Making theater: ma~ terials, texts...