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The classic of Italian literature, On Her Side (1949), is a novel about the deep psychological crisis of a young woman in fascist Italy, written in the form of a diary that reveals traumatic layers of the past and present.
Céspedes, a Cuban-Italian writer (1911–1997), masterfully explores the situation of women, love, motherhood, and the struggle for identity in a patriarchal society. Alessandra Corteggiani, a 29-year-old wife and mother, writes a secret diary in Rome in the 1940s, faced with the emotional emptiness of her marriage to Francesco Minella, an idealistic anti-fascist professor.
She recounts her childhood in flashbacks: her mother dies young, her father is cold, and she flees to her grandmother Nonna’s farm, where she learns about traditional gender roles. In her youth, she meets Francesco – a passionate love that leads to marriage – but the idealized relationship disintegrates into routine: Francesco becomes absent-minded, obsessed with politics, while Alessandra suffers from jealousy, loneliness, and loss of self. The diary becomes cathartic: it reveals infidelity, a mother’s love for her son, and a desire for freedom, highlighting how fascism stifles not only political but also intimate life.
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