Fogazzaro was very attentive to the ideation of female characters, to deconstructing misogynistic clichés. The essay investigates the manifestations of psychological violence on women in Fogazzarian narrative. In the tales, there are many cases of pressure and tension in the family environment: the repudiation of daughters who do not conform to the expectations of the ‘Padreterno’ father (‘Fedele’, ‘Il testamento dell’Orbo da Rettorgole’ ‘The Peasant’s Will’); the psychological warfare suffered by the woman who returns to the family home following a marital crisis ( Un’idea di Ermes Torranza ‘An Idea of Hermes Torranza’); subjection to brutal life partners ( Idillii spezzati ‘Broken Idylls’); prejudices about women’s education ( Un’idea di Ermes Torranza , Malgari ). The essay also focuses on Piccolo mondo moderno ‘The Man of the World’; in this novel the female protagonist, Jeanne, faces the trauma of living with a ‘vicious husband’. Fogazzaro’s delicacy in dealing with this situation is remarkable. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .
Gianni Antonio Palumbo (Sun,) studied this question.