The Italian Cultural Institute in New York is pleased to host the presentation of the English translation of Chiara. Elogio della disobbedienza – In Praise of Disobedience, Clare of Assisi by Dacia Maraini, edited by Jane Tylus.
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 University. Her works include a translation of the complete poetry of Gaspara Stampa, the co-edited collection Early Modern Cultures of Translation (with Karen Newman), and the monograph Reclaiming Catherine of Siena, which won the MLA’s Howard Marraro Prize.
(Rutgers University Press. Buy here.)
November 13, 2023 | 5PM
Italian Cultural Institute
686 Park Avenue, NY
