Retrieving or revising? Using mythology in contemporary Italian literature against femicide

Abstract

This article investigates two contemporary Italian novels treating femicide: Undicesimo comandamento (2011) by Elena Mearini and Padreterno (2015) by Caterina Serra. It draws on feminist insights that consider practices of revising and retrieving mythology as an opportunity to launch a process of re-symbolisation, one capable of challenging patriarchal discrimination and violence. In particular, the article examines Mearini’s decision to rewrite the Christian myth of the cross in order to tell the story of a woman annihilated by her partner’s violence. It also explores Serra’s use of the Greek myth of Aristaeus to retrieve a story of femicide told by a male offender who undergoes a process of self-awareness. It approaches these texts as part of a contemporary Italian impetus to tackle lethal gender violence against women by means of literary representations and storytelling.