Renata Viganò

Renata Viganò (1900–1976) was an Italian writer best known for her neo-realist novel L'Agnese va a morire, published in 1949.[1] Viganò was an active participant in the Italian Resistance movement during World War II and featured fictionalized accounts of her experiences as a partisan in her written work.[2][3]

Life

Viganò was born in Bologna on 17 June 1900. As an adolescent, she published two books of poetry, Ginestra in fiore (1912) and Piccola fiamma (1915).[4]

Vigano was a member of the Italian Communist Party.[5] During World War II, she participated in the resistance as a nurse and courier in Emilia-Romagna.[6][7] Together with her husband Antonio Meluschi, she helped organize armed resistance activities in the Po Valley.[8]

Viganò published several novels in the postwar period, including L'Agnese va a morire (1949). L'Agnese tells the story of a washerwoman living in the countryside who joins the Communist resistance. The book became popular among Italian Communists at the time and established Viganò's position as a literary figure in the community.[8] L'Agnese won the Italian Viareggio Prize and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1976 by Giuliano Montaldo.[4]

In addition to L'Agnese, much of Viganò's other work also focuses on themes of labor, resistance, and women's role in Italian society.[5] Viganò wrote two collections of short stories (including Matrimonio in brigata, 1976, published in English as Partisan Wedding) and a reference volume about women who participated in the resistance (Donne nella Resistenza).[9] Viganò also worked as a journalist, contributing to L'Unità, Rinascita, Corriere Padano, and Noi donne. From 1951 to 1955, she wrote an advice column for Noi donne on topics related to womanhood and motherhood aimed at leftist women.[10] In 1952, Viganò published Mondine, a collection of personal essays about the so-called female mondina workers and the struggle to improve their conditions.[5]

Viganò died in Bologna on 23 April 1976.[11] In 2018, the city of Bologna in collaboration with ANPI erected a plaque commemorating the longtime home of Viganò and her husband.[12]

Works
  • Ginestra in fiore, 1913[8]
  • Piccola flamma, 1916
  • Il lume spento, 1933
  • L'Agnese va a morire, 1949
  • Mondine, 1952
  • Arriva la cicogna, 1954
  • Donne della Resistenza, 1955
  • Ho conosciuto Ciro, 1959
  • Una storia di ragazze, 1962
  • Matrimonio in brigata, 1976; English translation published 1999
  • Rosario, 1984 (posthumous)

References
  1. Branciforte, Suzanne (1999). "Introduction: Renata Viganò Life and Works". In Viganò, Renata (ed.). Partisan Wedding: Stories. University of Missouri Press. pp. 1-17. ISBN 9780826212283.
  2. McPhee, Jenny (2 January 2018). "Italy's Women Warriors". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  3. Wood, Sharon (1995). "From Fascism to Reconstruction". Italian Women's Writing, 1860–1994. A&C Black. p. 114.
  4. "Renata Viganò". Biblioteca Salaborsa. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  5. Ruberto, Laura E. (2009). Gramsci, migration, and the representation of women's work in Italy and the U.S. Lexington Books. pp. 40–47. ISBN 9780739144329.
  6. Branciforte, Suzanne (1999). "Introduction: Renata Viganò Life and Works". In Viganò, Renata (ed.). Partisan Wedding: Stories. University of Missouri Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780826212283.
  7. Pugliese, Stanislao (2004). "November 1943: Renata Viganò". Fascism, Anti-Fascism, and the Resistance in Italy: 1919 to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 228. ISBN 9780742579712.
  8. Brunori Deigan, Federica (2006). "Renata Viganò (1900-1976)". In Marrone, Gaetana (ed.). Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Routledge. pp. 1989–1991. ISBN 9781135455293.
  9. Branciforte, Suzanne (1999). "Introduction: Renata Viganò Life and Works". In Viganò, Renata (ed.). Partisan Wedding: Stories. University of Missouri Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780826212283.
  10. Morris, Penelope (2018). "Problems and Prescriptions: Motherhood and Mammismo in Postwar Italian Advice Columns and Fiction". La Mamma : interrogating a national stereotype. Springer. pp. 86–87. ISBN 9781137542564.
  11. "All'Archiginnasio l'archivio di Renata Viganò e Antonio Meluschi". Istituzione Biblioteche di Bologna. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  12. "Una targa in via Mascarella per Renata Viganò, partigiana e scrittrice". La Repubblica. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.