Original scientific paper
From Gowns to Uniforms and from the Palace to the Brothel: Women’s Lives and Political Allegory in D’Annunzio’s Rijeka, 1919–1921
Ana-Maria Milčić
; The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom
Abstract
In this article, I consider the role of women and allegorical female characters in the political life of Rijeka during the occupation by Gabriele D’Annunzio, 1919–1921. In doing so, I look into letters, diaries and small newspaper articles of and about women who were in the city during this period. Making use of these sources, I explore how these women experienced life on a daily basis and the traces of female networks and activities. This inquiry reveals that women were―depending on their nationality, class and age―affected by political unrest to various degrees and had different levels of access to the public sphere. A heterogeneous set of materials comprising newspaper caricatures, political speeches, propagandistic materials
and avant-garde artworks that personify cities and nations as female figures exemplify the rhetorical framework. This paper does not only restate with new examples what has already been established about public monuments, political rhetoric and women, but it also focuses
on instances where the allegorical female figure is disempowered, and also brings into question claims that D’Annunzio’s Rijeka was a place of sexual freedom. The juxtaposition of the ‘real woman’ and ‘allegorical woman’ shows that in political narratives, Italy and Rijeka
were portrayed as female figures; however, women were, for the most part, excluded from public life.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
244567
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2019.
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