GENOVA NELL’(ILLUSIONE) OTTICA DI ANNA MARIA ORTESE

Abstract

Anna Maria Ortese made several stops in Genoa through her novels, from L’iguana to Alonso e i visionari, but a city so truthful and at the same time illusory could be seen even more clearly and even earlier in her journalistic and epistolary writing. This essay focuses on the period between 1957 and 1964, on a travel reportage, two letters and an article, in order to highlight Genoa among Ortese’s cities and to include Ortese among the writers of literary Genoa, without overlooking the biographical dimension: she felt she was born in the wrong place and was searching for a safe haven. Maybe it was Genoa?