Sworn Virgin - Couverture souple

Dones, Elvira

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1908276347 ISBN 13 : 9781908276346

Editeur : And Other Stories, 2014

Synopsis

When Hana's dying uncle calls her back from the city to the family home in the Albanian mountains, he tries to marry her to a local man who could run the household. Unable to accept the arranged marriage and determined to remain independent, Hana's only option is to follow tradition and vow to live the rest of her life in chastity as a man - and so Hana becomes Mark. For a sworn virgin, there is no way back.Years later, Mark - now a raki-drinking, chain-smoking shepherd - receives an invitation to join a cousin in the US. This may be Mark's only chance to escape his vow. But what does he know about being an American woman?

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Elvira Dones tackles cultural and gender disorientation and identity while seamlessly expanding upon immigrant and emigrant status and the multiple levels of transition. Mark's decision to shake off her oath after fourteen years and to re-appropriate what is left of Hana's body and mind by moving to the United States creates a powerful rupture. The transition to a new life as a woman striving to shed the burden of her virginity is fraught with challenges, and the first-generation assimilated cousins with whom Hana tentatively undertakes her new life make her task no easier."Sworn Virgin" is the first novel Elvira Dones wrote in Italian. She adds her voice to the burgeoning new generation of "blended" Italians, who deliberately adopt a "dirty" immigrant/exile approach to their language.According to Albanian tradition, if there are no male heirs, a woman can "choose" to become a man--and enjoy the associated freedoms--as long as she swears herself to virginity for life.Clever young Hana is ushered home by her uncle's impending death. Forced to abandon her studies in Tirana, she takes an oath and assumes the persona of Mark, a hardened mountain peasant--her only choice if she wants to be saved from an arranged marriage.Born in Durres, Albania, Elvira Dones is a novelist, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker currently based in the United States. After seven novels in Albanian, she wrote the two most recent in Italian, her adopted language. "Sworn Virgin" is the first of Dones's books to be translated into English.

Revue de presse :

'Elvira Dones is one of the most distinguished Albanian authors writing today. Astonishing, brilliant, and unabashed by taboos of any kind, she is as much at ease in Albanian as in the rest of European literature - The protagonist of this novel passes through all the tribulations of this frightening transformation like the actor in some extraordinary role in a classical drama that hurtles towards its denouement.' Ismail Kadare ------ 'Elvira Dones deals with issues at the heart of western civilisation today, such as migrant and gender identity, and the tormented relationships we may have our bodies.' Liliana Moro www.universitadelledonne.it ------ 'An intelligent and painful play on identity, and on the freedom of body and spirit' Lara Crino Repubblica Donne ------ 'An unusual and beautiful Bildungsroman' --Marilia Piccone Stradanove ----

'Increasingly these days, true stories are turned into fiction, and novelists are able to tell these stories more successfully than journalists. Elvira Dones has finally given a voice to those Albanian women who hope one day to regain the femininity they once denied in order to be counted equal in society.' --Silvia Mazzocchi Repubblica

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: And Other Stories
• Date d'édition: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1908276347
• ISBN 13: 9781908276346
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 256