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DWF
donnawomanfemme
Roma, Editrice coop. UTOPIA, 1986-
Naughty and bizarre, 1997, n. 33
EDITORIAL, Naughty and bizarre, pp. 2-4
BONO Paola (edited by)
Mae West, or Goodness had nothing to do with it, pp. 5-14
FORTINI Laura
Lucifer of the housewives, pp. 15-27
BONO Paola
An unruly life, pp. 28-36
CARRANO Patrizia
A true 'carabiniere', pp. 37-44
BOELLA Laura
An unpublished correspondence, pp. 45-50
MURARO Luisa - DE VITA Antonia
Margherita Porete 'beguine moult suffisant' and the Beguine
movement of the thirteenth century, pp. 51-78
Continuing a reflection on female freedom, and in order to discover its signs both in the present and in the past, this issue deals with some women whom we call "naughty and bizarre". They are "figures" able to communicate a strong awareness of their being women, and also of their oblique and mocking play with a codified "feminine".
BONO Paola (edited by), Mae West, or Goodness had nothing to do with it,
pp. 5-14
A choice of Mae West's delightful, naughty and bizarre quotes, taken from her movies, accompanied by a short biographical note. Mae West always wrote her own dialogue, and was often the author of the story and/or the screenplay, creating a powerful 'persona', a female figure who both fulfilled and subtly ridiculed all male dreams, wishes and fears about women's sexuality.
FORTINI Laura, Lucifer of the housewives, pp. 15-27
The author retraces here the life of Paola Masino, a contemporary Italian writer, who together with her partner Massimo Bontempelli was a central figure of the intellectual life of the first half of our century. Sharply aware of the conflict between the possibility of female freedom and the role and identity a woman was given as woman, Masino turns this awareness - and the awareness of an indomitable defeat - into her novel Nascita e morte di una massaia (Birth and Death of a Housewife).
BONO Paola, An unruly life, pp. 28-36
The author looks at the autobiographical Narrative of the life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke, showing the ways in which Charke, an actress and the daughter of actor, playwright and theatre manager Colley Cibber, plays her - female and male - roles both on the stage and in life, both sustaining and subverting the theatrical and social practices of eighteenth century England.
CARRANO Patrizia, A true 'carabiniere', pp. 37-44
An outline of the life and career of Tina Pica, a theatre and movie actress steeped in the great Neapolitan tradition: "In the Italian cinema of the Fifties, she gave voice to a certain - very Southern - female roughness and crustiness; the roughness of women who perhaps go to church and obey the police, but knowing all the time that the soul and the flesh can lead elsewhere".
BOELLA Laura, An unpublished correspondence, pp. 45-50
This section of the journal, devoted to philosophical issues and edited by Angela Putino, presents here a reflection by Laura Boella in the form of a correspondence with Putino herself: "The question - writes Boella - is that sexual difference for me is neither an object of thought nor a method: it is a bare fact".
She argues for the conclusion she has reached, which is - she says - "double edged": "many changes and ruptures in our philosophical tradition can be interpreted only as effects of difference (and in our century women thinkers, with their experiences, language, and teachers, must be taken into account as well) - but this does not mean that difference as such speaks".
MURARO Luisa - DE VITA Antonia, Margherita Porete 'beguine moult suffisant'
and the Beguine movement of the thirteenth century, pp. 51-78
In this section of the journal, a feminist scholar of some standing introduces a younger scholar. Here philosopher Luisa Muraro introduces an essay by her student Antonia De Vita, about Margherita Porete, author of Lo specchio delle anime semplici (The Mirror of Simple Souls).
Porete is a Beguine of Dante's time, whose book has been recently "rediscovered" and is considered a masterpiece of medieval mystical literature. It cost the author her life at the stake, where she was burned in 1310 in Paris. De Vita looks at Margherita as a figure of history, at her representation in Lo specchio, and at the "difference" represented by this representation. Thus, she analyses Porete's text, at the same time discussing today's points of view on the female difference of her text.