The Italian Cultural Institute in New York is pleased to host
the presentation of the English translation of
Chiara. Elogio della disobbedienza – Chiara. In Praise of Disobedience
by Dacia Maraini, edited by Jane Tylus.
(December 2022, Rutgers University Press. Buy here.)
On the occasion, Dacia Maraini in conversation with Jane Tylus.
November 13, 2023 | 5PM
Italian Cultural Institute
686 Park Avenue, NY
RSVP at iicny.rsvp@gmail.com
Mentioning “Maraini”
Description: An author receives a mysterious e-mail begging her to tell the story of Clare of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian saint. At first annoyed by the request, the author begins to research Saint Clare and becomes captivated by her life. We too are transported into the strange and beautiful world of medieval Italy, witnessing the daily rituals of convent life. At the center of that life is Saint Clare, a subversive and compelling figure full of contradictions: a physically disabled woman who travels widely in her imagination, someone unforgivingly harsh to herself yet infinitely generous to the women she supervises, a practitioner of self-abnegation who nevertheless knows her own worth. A visionary who liberated herself from the chains of materialism and patriarchy, Saint Clare here becomes an inspirational figure for a new generation of readers.
DACIA MARAINI is one of the most important figures of Italian culture. Writer, poet, playwright, journalist, screenwriter, essayist and director, she has written over thirty plays, as well as such novels as Voci (Voices) and the international bestseller La Lunga Vita di Marianna Ucrìa (The Silent Duchess). She has won many awards, including the Strega, the Campiello, the Alabarda d’oro, the Cimitile, the Pinuccio Tatarella, the Fregene, and the Viareggio.
JANE TYLUS is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale. She previously taught at NYU and the U. of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Siena, City of Secrets; Reclaiming Catherine of Siena; and Writing and Vulnerability in the Late Renaissance. She has translated the poetry of Gaspara Stampa and Lucrezia Tornabuoni de’Medici, as well as Dacia Maraini’s Chiara di Assisi: Elogio della disobbedienza. Her book “Who Owns Literature?” is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press’s Elements series.
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