1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910791556503321

Autore

Giannetti Laura

Titolo

Lelia's kiss : imagining gender, sex, and marriage in Italian Renaissance comedy / / Laura Giannetti

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Canada] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2009

©2009

ISBN

1-4426-9753-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (346 p.)

Collana

Toronto Italian Studies

Disciplina

852/.05230902

Soggetti

Italian drama (Comedy) - History and criticism

Italian drama - To 1700 - History and criticism

Sex role in literature

Gender identity in literature

Sex in literature

Marriage in literature

Masculinity in literature

Femininity in literature

Theater - Italy - History

History

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Italy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : Lelia's kiss and Renaissance comedy -- Women in men's clothing : female cross-dressing plays and the construction of feminine identity -- Woman with woman : 'ma che potrà succedermi se io donna amo una donna?' -- Men in women's clothing : male cross-dressing plays and the construction of masculine identity -- Pedants, candlemakers, and boys : sodomy and comedy -- The playing of matrimony.

Sommario/riassunto

In Lelia's Kiss, Laura Giannetti offers a new perspective on the way



gender and marriage were portrayed, imagined, and critiqued on stage during the Italian Renaissance. Going beyond the traditional canon, Giannetti focuses her study on the social and cultural scripts found in a wide array of comedies of the period to reveal the relativity of sex and gender roles and their cultural construction in Renaissance society. Giannetti argues that the comedic dialogue and cross-dressing characters so prevalent in Italian Renaissance comedies played with the presuppositions of the day and engaged with contemporary social norms, expectations, and desires. Cross-dressing female characters reveal the relativity of sex and gender roles, and also present a vision of female empowerment. At the same time, cross-dressing male characters suggest a unique perception of the male life cycle that was more uncertain and contested than often assumed, and show more broadly how masculinity was also socially and culturally constructed. In discussing marriage, sexuality, and gender roles, the comedies deploy a social scripting that not only reflects and comments on the everyday life of the time, but also interacts with it with playful humor and revealing insight.