«Sposa amante ed amata». Galateo coniugale tra Otto e Novecento. Lingua e stile, con la riedizione di un testo raro di Anna Vertua Gentile

Rita Fresu

2021-01-01

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Abstract

In 1889, an etiquette story with the promising title "The Art of Making Your Husband Love You. Advice to a Young Bride" appeared in Milan for Giovanni Gnocchi. The author was Anna Vertua Gentile (1845-1926) from Lombardy, a paradigmatic figure in the panorama of multifaceted women's journalism, which literally exploded between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. Vertua Gentile's production is striking for the heterogeneity of the genres addressed, among which marital etiquette stands out, which enjoyed considerable success throughout the 19th century (and beyond), and which, albeit within different orientations, exalted the role of women as wives and mothers, whose only possible fulfillment remained within the domestic hearth. The volume retraces the marital manuals produced at the end of the nineteenth century, with forays into previous centuries that allow us to discern some constants in relation to the precepts imparted but also regarding the communication strategies and formal structures that convey them. It then focuses on the figure of Anna Vertua Gentile, examining her educational production from a historical-linguistic point of view, with specific reference to the etiquette for brides, and in particular to the 1889 vademecum, of which the complete re-edition is offered, dedicated precisely to the art of making oneself loved by one's husband.