THE IMAGE OF A WOMAN IN ALBA DE CÉSPEDES' NOVEL NESSUNO TORNA INDIETRO

Abstract

The paper is the result of a literary study focused on Italian-Cuban writer and journalist Alba de Céspedes’ novel Nessuno torna indietro (There's No Turning Back, 1938), which chronicles different stories of eight women students residing in a boarding house (Grimald in Rome) between 1934 and 1936. It is with this work that Alba de Céspedes, one of the most important figures in Italy’s literary and cultural ambit in the post-war period, made the first important step in entering the literary scene. The book, which focuses on the condition of women as a topic that takes center stage in de Céspedes’ writing, was immensely popular and saw translations into eighteen languages worldwide, but it also became the subject of censorship. In this paper, after preliminary considerations dealing with the genesis of the novel and its reception in Italy and abroad, we will examine the character of Silvia, which stands in sharp contrast to the Fascist model of a woman as an exemplary wife and mother. This way of portraying the protagonists of Nessuno torna indietro shows the writer’s disagreement with the accepted view, the status of women, and rules promoted by the Fascist ideology. One of the purposes of this paper is also to introduce the writer’s work and cultural practice to the Balkan region and offer the basis for further discussion on the subject.