Una Donna - Aleramo

Sibilla Aleramo, an Italian feminist, wrote her first novel, Una Donna, in 1906. The book closely follows the incidents in the author’s personal life. Sibilla, the author's pseudonym, is also the name of the protagonist. While not an exact autobiography, the novel is characterized as a fictionalized account of her experiences.

In the first pages of the book, Sibilla shows many similarities to her father. They are both strong and proud, holding a sense of superiority. Sibilla emits some physically masculine qualities as well, notably her hair. She had cut it off “making [her] look like a young boy – at [her] father’s suggestion, [she] had sacrificed [her] glossy pigtails with their golden gleams” (15). However, once her opinion of her father had changed, when she learned of his affair, she began to grow to be more like her mother. She and her mother “embroidered to pass the time” (41), an activity she had formerly claimed was a waste of time, and her hair she “let grow again” (42).

This change in her character shows her rebellion against her father’s, in her opinion, appalling decisions. The ultimate revolt against him occurred when she married her former coworker. Sibilla explained beforehand that she “would never be happy unless [she] could go on working, and that furthermore all girls should do the same as [her], for marriage was a mistake – Father said so” (29).