A Woman [Paperback]

Sibilla Aleramo (Author), Rosalind Delmar (Translator), Richard Drake (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1983 | ISBN-10: 0520049497 | ISBN-13: 978-0520049499

For a book that sent shock waves through the European literary establishment and, since its original publication in 1906 has gone through seven editions along with highly cclaimed translations into all th principal languages of Europe, A Woman (Una Donna) by Sibilla Aleramo (1876-1960) has remained curiously obscure in America. Aleramo's lightly fictionalized memoir presented a kaleidoscopic series of Italian images--the frenetic industrialism of the North, the miserable squalor of the country's backward areas to the South, fin de siècle Italian politics and literary life--all set in the framework of a drama admiringly characterized by Luigi Pirandellow as "grim and powerful." For some other Italians, A woman touched ar aw nerve, and many critics reacted to Aleramo with extreme hostility. However, whether one liked Aleramo's novel or not, the book was an iceberg in the mainstream of Italian literary life, impossible to get around without careful inspection. --From the introduction

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (March 16, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520049497
• ISBN-13: 978-0520049499
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Second Sex, August 2, 2010

By 

Stefanie Casey (The Cultural Sojourner) "Stef" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Woman (Paperback)

A very personal account of what it is like to be an Italian woman during the fin de siecle. During this political and socio-economic climate, you have a woman writing a book exploring feminism. This book is also a justifcation for leaving her rapist husband and adoring son to have a life to live. The following passage best summarizes her dilemma in terms of a woman being a 'human individual:' 'but how could she possibly become an individual if her parents handed her over, ignorant, weak, and immature, to a man unable to accept her as an equal, a man who treated her like a piece of property....' An important and controversial book still relevant to our post-modern times.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mi piace molto!, February 7, 2010

By 

C. Dowson "not a product of her environment" (truly abysmal S.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Woman (Paperback)

This well-written translation introduces a complex theme without being reductive or pretentious and without moralizing. The style is lucid and direct, and there are many moments throughout that are staggering by virtue of their incisiveness and content. Though by no means "escapist reading", A Woman is a pleasure to read, both for the spare elegance of the writing and the nuances of human experience it depicts. Its characters are human, not archetypes, and, like life, the story is inspired and apalling by turns. This book is now among my favorites.

11 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Una Donna, November 30, 1999

By 

Carrie - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Woman (Paperback)

I've read this book partly in Italian and in English. It, honestly, changed my life. It enabled me to see the error in selflessness. Selflessness means without self and Sibilla demonstrates without question the insanity of trying to live a selfless existence.