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Nineteenth-Century Italian Women Writers and the Woman QuestionÌýfocuses on the literary, journalistic and epistolary production of ItalianÌýwriter Neera, pseudonym for Anna Radius Zuccari, one of the most prolific and successful women writers of late nineteenth-century Italy.

This study proposes to bring Neera out of the shadows of literary marginality to which she has long been confined by analyzing her contribution to literary and cultural debates as testimony to the pivotal role she played in the creation of a female literary voice within the Italian fin-de-siècle context. Drawing from the Anglo-ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ feminist critical tradition; modern Italian feminist theory on the maternal order and sexual difference; and a close reading of Neera’s literary, theoretical and epistolary writings this volume examines Neera’s work from a three-pronged perspective: as promoter of a maternal order in contrast to the existent paternal order, as one of few women writers to participate actively in Italy’sÌý±¹±ð°ù¾±²õ³¾´ÇÌýmovement and as epistolary correspondent of leading representatives within fin-de-siècle Italian literary and journalistic circles.　

Ramsey-Portolan's interest in Neera began during her PhD studies at the Unversity of Chicago when she chose the writer as the subject of her dissertation and whenÌýshe began working with Antonia Arslan, the curator of Neera's archive and prolific author on the writer's productions.ÌýIn her introduction to this volume, Ramsey-Portolano frames the work thus "Nineteenth-Century Italian Women Writers and the Woman Question: The Case of NeeraÌýrepresents the first monographic volume in English dedicated exclusively to this important Italian woman writer, repositioning her within the Italian literary landscape and canon." She goes on to say "Regardless of her accomplishments and the success she obtained in her time, today Neera is a member of what Antonia Arslan has labelled 'the submerged galaxy' referencing the many late nineteenth-century women writers now largely forgotten by critics and public alike."Ìý

This volume will go some way towards re-addressing Neera's status ²¹²Ô»åÌýrecognition.

Catherine Ramsey-PortolanoÌýis Associate Professor and Director of Italian Studies and Modern LanguagesÌýat ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, where she teaches courses on Italian language, culture, literature and film. She has completed a BA (The University of Tennessee-Knoxville), MA (The University of Wisconsin-Madison), Laurea (LUMSA University-Rome) and PhD (University of Chicago), all in Italian Literature. Her books includeÌýPerforming Bodies: Female Illness in Italian Literature and Cinema (1860-1920), The Future of Italian Teaching: Media, New Technologies and Multi-Disciplinary PerspectivesÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýRethinking Neera.　

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