Adelaide Ristori’s Literary and Linguistic Adventures and Misadventures
- A presentation by Antonella Valoroso
- Wednesday, October 18, 2023
- 5:30 – 7 PM at The Center for Italian Studies, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Room E4340
Adelaide Ristori (1822-1903) stands out as the preeminent tragic actress of the second half of the nineteenth century, earning accolades both in Italy and worldwide. Besides her compelling stage performances, she undertook political missions on behalf of Count Cavour and garnered admiration from notable figures such as Garibaldi, Queen Victoria, and the era’s most distinguished intellectuals and artists. Upon concluding her illustrious international career, she orchestrated the simultaneous publication of her memoirs in four distinct languages. This ambitious undertaking was not without its challenges, as it required dealing with various publishers and translators who tested the resilience and the resolve of Adelaide and her collaborators.
Antonella Valoroso is Senior Researcher and Consultant of the Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Sorbello Foundation (USA). She has published on Ristori, Ariosto, Leopardi, De Filippo, Verdi, Donizetti, Futurism and 1960s avant-garde theater. In 2005, she edited the first modern edition of Ricordi e Studi artistici by Adelaide Ristori (Roma, Dino Audino Editore). In 2019 she has co-authored with Ruggero Ranieri the book Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello. Un intellettuale tra due mondi (Perugia, Morlacchi Editore), and in 2022 she published the book Adelaide Ristori e lo specchio della scrittura (Roma, Carocci).
Free and open to the public.
