Female Freedom and The Neapolitan Novels (Part 2)

Abstract

Part 1 of this essay began to develop a philosophical interpretation of The Neapolitan Novels by grounding a vision of the work's moral psychology in the tradition of Italian difference feminism, particularly as it is expressed in the texts of the influential Milan Women's Bookstore Collective. Part 2 advances the interpretive argument by presenting a more detailed literary analysis of the character of Lila Cerullo. After motivating the interest of various aspects of her symbolization by connecting them to important motifs in feminist philosophy and literature, I present evidence of Lila's special status in the work, and the puzzles this status raises. I advance a reading of Lila as a brilliant woman capable of playing the superior role in a hierarchical relationship of entrustment—and of The Neapolitan Novels as a sympathetic yet critical exploration of the viability of such relationships and their connection to female friendship and female freedom. In support of this reading, I give an account of Lila's strange condition of smarginatura (“dissolving margins/boundaries”), the import of her perplexing earthquake speech in which this condition is explicitly addressed, and Elena Greco's troubling reactions.

Motivation and Image of Women With Disabilities in the Novel "Saraswati Si Gadis Di Sunyi" by A.A Navis: a Study of Literary Psychology

“…After motivating the interest in various aspects of her symbolization by connecting them to important motifs in feminist philosophy and literature (Shpall, 2022), the psychic aspect of women's self-image depicted by Saraswati in the novel "Saraswati Si Gadis dalam Sunyi" is shown in the following excerpt.…”

Williams and Cusk on Technologies of the Self

“…40 this "jumble of fragments" through so-called entrustment also recalls Diderot's aims in steadying. See (Shpall 2021(Shpall , 2022 for discussion. 38 These options may be compared with those Williams sees Ajax as potentially choosing between in his discussion of Sophocles' play.…”