Al di là della realtà. Paola Masino e la maternità in “Figlio”

Abstract

In the short story “Figlio” (Racconto grosso e altri, 1941), the Italian writer Paola Masino develops the theme of motherhood from a twofold approach: on the one hand, by referring to the hardship of abortion in the Fascist period and, on the other hand, by using strategies of the fantastic – such as the double, the shadow, and the mirror – to deal with the protagonist’s trauma of the abortion and the unborn child’s materialisation. The analysis draws upon psychological and psychoanalytic studies and the philosophical theory of becoming.

Keywords: Paola Masino, Racconto grosso e altri, motherhood, fascism, becoming, shadow