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"No lines sector off the sky so high above, though all the nations of the Earth be bound about with borders."

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  • Cristina in blue dress stands side on looking down and averting her gaze from Peppino Fiorillo who stands watching her intently in the distance. Cristina's hand grips her parasol tightly. She has a hat and her hair is braided down her back. From Matilda Serao's work Cristina

    Matilde Serao and the Life of Cristina

    Matilde Serao was unusual. In 19th century Naples, she was a successful journalist, writer and newspaper proprietor. Her fiction was widely published and quite a few of her works were translated into English in her own lifetime. Cristina is the main character of Matilde Serao’s short story of the same name. But Cristina lives in another world. The story’s opening words begin to sketch its nature. While Cristina leant over to gather a fragrant clump of basil with which to flavour her tomato sauce boiling in the kitchen, she heard a brief and sweet whistle. Mentre Cristina si chinava a cogliere un ramoscello di basilico odoroso, da mettere come aroma…

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    Emperor Frederick II, the Wonder of the World and the Art of Falconry

    February 18, 2020
    Lacedonia - haystacks in distance. Frank Cancian image

    Lacedonia – Frank Cancian’s Pictures of a Disappearing World

    April 14, 2020

    Italy’s Rapunzel, Cinderella and other Italian Fairy Tales

    September 16, 2019
  • Laura Terracina: For Who is Enemy to Woman

    “How dare you raise hand, against so young and beautiful a vision?” With such words does Laura Terracina (1519 – 1577) defend her sex. Born in Naples, she was the most published poet of Italy’s sixteenth century and a feminist before the word “femminista” existed. She was part of a movement of italian Renaissance women writers whose existence is often overlooked in the historical record. So much were women absent from tellings of the Renaissance and so mixed their lived experience, that it caused Joan Kelly to famously ask “Did women have a Renaissance?” While the answer is complex, the Renaissance saw for the first time in Europe, substantial publication…

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    Tahirih – Herald of the Emancipation of Women

    June 22, 2017

    Martha Root — An Astonishing Life

    May 14, 2017
    Students and teachers of Tarbiyat Girls school - gender equality

    Women and Men Have Been and Will Always Be Equal

    April 26, 2017
  • Pitch Perfect 2 promo

    Pitch Perfect 2 – Feminist Storytelling

    Warning, this one has some plot spoilers. Pitch Perfect 2, is a great dose of quirky, catchy and exuberant musical fun. And just for fun here are the Barden Bellas with their re-mix of Just the Way You Are from the first Pitch Perfect movie.   But this fun movie has a serious message, not far from the surface. The explicit and implicit feminist sub-texts of Pitch Perfect 2 are gracefully woven into the latest adventures and music of the Barden Bellas, an all female a capella group, for whom the label ‘misfits’ is spelled with a capital “M”. The characters of the Barden Bellas are a collective challenge to…

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    You May Also Like

    The Duty of Kindness and Sympathy Towards Strangers and Foreigners

    October 18, 2011

    Martha Root — An Astonishing Life

    May 14, 2017

    Laura Terracina: For Who is Enemy to Woman

    May 27, 2019
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