ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Neera’s personal experiences as a woman and a writer in fin-de-siècle Italy in order to construct an intellectual biography of the writer. Drawing principally from her autobiographical texts Confessioni letterarie and Una giovinezza del secolo XIX, and from her letter exchanges, this chapter analyzes what spurred Neera to write in a period of Italian history when intellectually creative professions were not easily accessible to women. This chapter addresses issues specific to Neera’s production, such as the portrayal of familial relations in her autobiographical and narrative writings and modern criticism on her “two faces,” a term used to refer to the contradictions many critics note between the feminist approach observed within her narrative production and the declared antifeminism of her essays. Topics relating to women writers in general, such as the use of pseudonyms and the difficulties they faced in the male-dominated literary circles of the time, are also examined.
