The collection contributes to the recent renewed interest in Sapienza by introducing her to an international audience and contextualizing her work both within a European and Italian context through multiple critical approaches, such as queer, feminist, psychoanalytic, postcolonial, and affect theories. As such, the text sheds light on an intriguing and little-known literary figure of the twentieth century who will be of interest to scholars and students of Italian, European, comparative literature, queer, and women’s studies. Readers will be immediately captured by the editors’ introduction, which not only describes the structure of the collection and the fourteen contributions, but also skillfully explains Sapienza’s literary oblivion through the difficulties she had in publishing her work, her “ex-centric” life, and the originality of her writing. The editors highlight two fascinating periods in Sapienza’s life and literary development.... [T]his volume’s strengths lie in its theoretically rich, carefully wrought, and meticulously documented essays which offer readers a mosaic of intriguing perspectives on the recently rediscovered figure of Goliarda Sapienza.

gender/sexuality/italy

As the very first critical edition to appear in English to appear on Sapienza, this volume represents an important step forward in scholarship on her work. . . As a collection of intuitions, lights and fragments, Goliarda Sapienza in Context offers a rich seam of material for current scholars of Sapienza, modern Italian literature, life-writing, and canonicity.

Oxford Comparative Criticism & Translation