Eccentricity and sameness: discourses on lesbianism and desire between women in Italy, 1860s-1930s - 22

Dispelling widespread views that female same-sex desire is virtually absent from Italian literature and cultural production in the modern era, this study demonstrates that narratives of lesbianism are significantly more numerous than has been previously asserted.

Focusing on texts published between 1860 and 1939, the author traces and analyses the evolution of discourses on female same-sex desire in and across a wide variety of genres, whether popular bestsellers, texts with limited distribution and subject censorship, or translations from other languages.

All the works are considered in relation to broader socio-cultural contexts.