Eleonora Duse and Women: Performing Desire, Power, and Knowledge. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Re, Lucia
• Is Part Of: Italian studies. Volume 70:Number 3(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 363
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; Italy -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 945
• DOI: 10.1179/0075163415Z.000000000106
• Languages: German
• ISSNs: 0075-1634

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The article explores Eleonora Duse's particular take on feminism before World War One and the influence she had on intellectual women through her acting, her letter-writing and her persona as a liberated, professional and creative woman. Duse is seen as a precursor of later feminist practices of <italic>affidamento</italic> (entrustment) in Italy. Through both her creative performance and interpretation of women's stories on stage and her complex web of often-intimate female friendships, Duse fostered a new sense of legitimacy for women's thought, women's writing, and women's autonomous subjectivities. The autobiographical narratives about Duse by Ofelia Mazzoni and Enif Robert are examined as exemplary cases.</p> </abstract>