The Modern Novel

Biography

Sibilla Aleramo was born Rina Faccio in 1876 in Alessandria, Piedmont. Her father was a science teacher. The family lived in Milan till she was twelve and then moved to Civitanova, where her father had been offered a job running an industrial company. Her mother tried suicide but failed. However, she remained in a mental institution till her death in 1917. Rina was raped when she was seventeen and became pregnant but lost the baby. However, her family pushed her into marriage. She herself tried suicide but also failed. However, she turned to writing, publishing articles in newspapers and magazines. She also became involved in the early feminist movement, pushing for the vote for women. When she and her husband moved to Milan, she ran a feminist magazine. The family moved back to Civitanova, where her husband had a job, but she left him and moved to Rome, where she wrote and published her best-known work, Una donna (A Woman at Bay; later: A Woman). This was the first use of her pseudonym Sibilla Aleramo. She continued her feminist work as well as writing poetry and prose. During World War I, she had a famous affair with the poet Dino Campana. The affair was the subject of Sebastiano Vassalli‘s La notte della cometa (The Night of the Comet). She was a feminist, pacifist, fascist and communist at various stages in her life. She also had numerous heterosexual and homosexual relationships. She died in 1960.

Other links

Sibilla Aleramo
Sibilla Aleramo (in Italian)
Sibilla Aleramo (in Italian)
Sibilla Aleramo (in Italian)
Sibilla Aleramo (in Italian)
Sibilla Aleramo (in Italian)