National originality of the italian gynocentric novel of the second half of the 20th century: themes, poetics, context

Identificator

EDN: FRSPMN ; УДК: 821.131.1

Authors

Krasnitskaya Alena Evgenievna, lecturer, Institute of Philology and Journalism, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod. Russia, Nizhny Novgorod. E-mail: alenakrass@gmail.com

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №4 (40), 2025

Section

PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Pages

121-127

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the national distinctiveness of the Italian gynocentric novel of the second half of the 20th century as a unique cultural phenomenon that emerged in response to radical socio-political transformations in post-war Italy. Its formation and evolution exhibited pronounced national specificity, fundamentally distinguishing it from the development of gynocentric prose in the Anglo-American and Francophone contexts, where it evolved synchronously and in close connection with organized feminist movements. In Italy, however, the genesis of this literary direction was determined by a complex interplay of unique factors, including a profound crisis of national identity, the total dominance of Catholic values in public discourse, and an exceptionally slow process of female consciousness emancipation. The work provides a detailed analysis of the key thematic and narrative directions of the Italian gynocentric novel, focusing particularly on the family as an institution of patriarchal control and simultaneously a space of female resistance, physicality and sexuality as a field of struggle for personal autonomy, and the acute reflection of the contemporary socio-political context through the prism of individual female experience. Special attention is paid to the specific poetics of the genre, including the extensive use of autobiography and documentary styles, conscious linguistic experimentation with the integration of dialects and colloquial speech, as well as innovative narrative strategies such as compositional fragmentation, stream of consciousness technique, and polyphonic text construction. Through examining works by key authors – Elsa Morante, Natalia Ginzburg, and Alba de Céspedes – the study demonstrates how the Italian literary tradition, despite its belated development, managed to synthesize acute social engagement with radical artistic innovation, thereby creating a distinctive gynocentric model that remains understudied in comparative literary studies and has enriched the broader European feminist discourse.

Keywords

gynocentric literature gynocentric novel women's writing 20th century Italian literature feminism

Recieved

02.09.2025

Published

19.02.2026

References

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