In Praise of Disobedience Clare of Assisi

DACIA MARAINI

FOREWORD BY RUDOLPH BELL

TRANSLATED BY JANE TYLUS

“This hybrid work–part epistolary novel, part essay, part biography–struck a deep chord in me. Maraini, among the most outspoken and important authors in Italy today, posits a series of connections and disconnections between author and reader, the Middle Ages and Modernity, possession and renunciation. Jane Tylus’ translation is resonant and immensely readable.”

—Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Whereabouts

“This book is not only about the life of Saint Clare, it is a woman’s view of the world, an engaging dialogue between the writer and a mysterious reader, the past and the present, faith and reason, and between the ‘happy’ and ‘unhappy’ bodies. It is a very inspiring read.”

—Amara Lakhous, author of Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio

An author receives a mysterious e-mail begging her to tell the story of Clare of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian saint. At first annoyed by the request, the author begins to research Saint Clare and becomes captivated by her life. Inspired by Saint Francis, the wealthy young noblewoman renounced every last shred of her luxurious former lifestyle to joyfully embrace poverty. Yet in this abjection, she found a source of strength, starting her own religious order, becoming the first woman to pen a set of monastic guidelines, and gaining the love and respect of the townspeople and the nuns under her care.

As the author grows ever more fascinated by her subject, we too are transported into the strange and beautiful world of medieval Italy, witnessing the daily rituals of convent life. And at the center of that life is Saint Clare, a subversive and compelling figure full of contradictions: a physically disabled woman who travels widely in her imagination, unforgivingly harsh to herself yet infinitely generous to the women she supervises, a practitioner of self-abnegation who nevertheless knows her own worth. A visionary who liberated herself from the chains of materialism and patriarchy, Saint Clare becomes an inspirational figure for a new generation of readers.

DACIA MARAINI is one of Italy’s most pre-eminent and beloved writers. In 1973 she founded the Teatro delle Maddalene, dedicated to works by women; she has written over thirty plays, as well as such novels as Voci (Voices) and the international bestseller La Lunga Vita di Marianna Ucrìa (The Silent Duchess).

JANE TYLUS is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University. Her works include a translation of the complete poetry of Gaspara Stampa, the co-edited collection Early Modern Cultures of Translation (with Karen Newman), and the monograph Reclaiming Catherine of Siena, which won the MLA’s Howard Marraro Prize. Other Voices of Italy

January 2023

Historical Fiction

158 pp 5 x 8

978-1-9788-3458-3 paper $22.95T

978-1-9788-3459-0 cloth $59.95SU

January 2023

Literary Studies • Cultural Studies