Women in the Old and New Left: The Evolution of a Politics of Personal Life

Trimberger, Ellen Kay

doi:10.2307/3177504

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…3 The gendered dimensions of the autobiographies will also be analysed. As observed by scholars of American Cold War history, autobiographies written by communist women, compared with men, have tended to elaborate more on personal life, blurring the line between public and private, and providing important insights not only on political history but also on women's gendered subjectivities (Trimberger, 1979;Barrett, 2008: 403). Autobiographies, moreover, make clear how understandings of revolutionary politics changed across time and generations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Autobiographies, moreover, make clear how understandings of revolutionary politics changed across time and generations. , Trimberger (1979 observed that the writings of women belonging to the Old Left presented a 'distinct sensibility' when compared with the writings of women involved in the New Left and in feminist movements in the United States. 4 This 'distinct sensibility' of women belonging to the antifascist generation is also apparent in the autobiographies analysed in this essay.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Red Girls’ Revolutionary Tales: Antifascist Women's Autobiographies in Italy

Bonfiglioli¹

2014

Feminist Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay focuses on recent autobiographies written by Italian women born in the 1920s who engaged in revolutionary politics during and after the Second World War: Luciana Castellina (La scoperta del mondo, 2011), Bianca Guidetti Serra (Bianca la rossa, 2009), Marisa Ombra (La bella politica, 2010), Marisa Rodano (Del mutare dei tempi, 2008) and Rossana Rossanda (La ragazza del secolo scorso, 2005). In these autobiographies, personal narratives of passionate engagement are entangled with the urgency of antifascist resistance, and with the social and political conflicts that traversed Cold War Italy. Women's multiple forms of political engagement within the Italian Communist Party are analysed, as well as the contradictory, ambivalent connection between Western European communist activists and Eastern European socialist regimes. The intersections between antifascist, communist and women's rights politics are also explored, since some of the authors were leaders of the nation-wide left-wing Union of Italian Women. The autobiographies tell the story of an antifascist, left-wing 'middle wave' that fought pioneering battles for women's political and social rights, and narrate its complex, conflictual encounter with second-wave feminism in the 1970s. These writings, therefore, allow us to reflect on changes in gendered subjectivities and revolutionary politics across time and generations. keywords gender; autobiography; Italy; Cold War; antifascism; communism feminist review 106 2014 (60-77)

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Red Girls’ Revolutionary Tales: Antifascist Women's Autobiographies in Italy

Bonfiglioli¹

2014

Feminist Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…She compared the autobiographies of Old Left activist, Peggy Dennis, and New Left Elinor Langer and emphasized that 'For the Old Left the political was personal; but the personal had not yet become political.' [6] According to Trimberger, women of the Old Left 'made decisions about personal life privately without much discussion with men or with women friends.' [7] She explained that these women did not feel a great need for psychological insight into their own and others' behavior and kept personal issues separate in the more segregated private realm.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%