Sinossi
Delicata confessione in equilibrio tra l’innocenza della giovinezza e le ambiguità del mondo adulto, Olivia è un romanzo ambientato nel collegio francese di Les Avons, dove la protagonista, sedicenne, viene mandata a completare la sua educazione, com’era d’uso nelle famiglie inglesi ai primi del ’900. In quel luogo in cui regna – per l’epoca – una straordinaria libertà intellettuale, Olivia scopre l’amore: è una delle direttrici della scuola, Mademoiselle Julie, a sconvolgerla, con tutta la violenza di una passione che si manifesta soltanto in piccoli gesti – una carezza, il regalo di un dolce – ma che non per questo è meno assoluta, segnata com’è da momenti d’inebriante felicità alternati ad altri di cupa disperazione. In un mondo così fragile che basta un sussurro per mandarlo in frantumi, la passione di Olivia è un tornado che scuote l’intero collegio, suscita gelosie, maldicenze, invidie e incomprensioni ed esaspera gli animi a tal punto che una tragedia è forse l’unica conclusione possibile…
Un classico di straordinaria attualità per il modo in cui tratta i temi dell’identità sessuale e dell’affermazione femminile, esaltato dalla magistrale traduzione di Carlo Fruttero e da una illuminante introduzione di André Aciman.
- ISBN: 8833211924
- Casa Editrice: astoria
- Pagine: 160
- Data di uscita: 23-01-2024
Recensioni
‘ I must feed on beauty and rapture in order to grow strong. ’ The volatile landscapes of sexual awakenings are often the grounds for great novels with emotions flowing like rivers for hearts to break upon the rocks. Olivia , Dorothy Strachey’s only novel, is not only an achievement of queer fiction in Leggi tutto
This was almost the first book I've read in over a year that I did not review. The only reason I decided to was because I was discussing it with a friend and while explaining to her my reasons for not wanting to review it, she said it was actually helpful enough to make her want to read it. Well, hop Leggi tutto
| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | | “And so that was what love led to. To wound and be wounded. ” Set in a French finishing school in the 1900s Dorothy Strachey's Olivia tells the story of a schoolgirl's infatuation with her headmistress. Narrated by its titular character, Olivia perfectly evokes adolesce Leggi tutto
I read Olivia, by Olivia in its very first 1949 edition. I made researches to know who Olivia could be and I found: Dorothy Bussy (1865-1960), English, published three works, only one of them was a novel: Olivia in 1949. She has it published under the pseudonym Olivia. In my 1949 edition, the name D Leggi tutto
I have no idea what to say about this - how to rate it or how to write a review about it. All I know is that I liked it, but I can't yet work out the level of my liking (not the best phrasing but you know what I mean). All I know for definite is that this stands somewhere between 3 and 4.5 stars, bu Leggi tutto
This is a supposed classic of lesbian fiction. I had to check it out. Sometimes novels (or movies for that matter) are named classics due to their sheer quality, originality and epic grandness, sometimes it is due to their contents being revolutionary for its day or for pioneering a new territory or Leggi tutto
i don't remember the last time i read 2 5 star books back to back but wow. the melodrama and romanticism of this put words to the feelings i had for women when i was slightly younger than olivia, so this was a deeply personal one. lyrical and dramatic and yummy and whatever you do, don't read the en Leggi tutto