LITERARY PRESENCES, HISTORICAL ABSENCES: RESCUING FEMALE FIGURES FROM THE PAST FROM THE HAND OF ITALIAN WRITERS

Abstract

In the present study, the subject of the Italian historical novel will be approached from a perspective that has been –and scarcely- recognized in literary studies, that is, “feminine”. The result of the incorporation of women into the historical narrative supposes an evident distancing, in certain aspects, from the traditional historical novel since, on the one hand, the validity of the traditional historiography is questioned by making evident the lack of the feminine presence and, on the other, the creation of their own space within history is required through literary forms. Thus, at the end of the sixties, and coinciding with the push of the feminist movement, women began to fight to build their place in history and in literature, where little by little they could be recognized as historical subjects, always present and, therefore, worthy of study.