Adultery and Hysteria in the Nineteenth-Century Novel: The Case of Gabriele D’Annunzio

This work examines D’Annunzio’s female protagonists, both as a response to the crisis of the bourgeois female role, and to the ascent of feminist and nationalist movements. This study reflects on D’Annunzio’s representation of women, with reference to the different female typologies he depicts in five selected novels (Il Piacere, L’Innocente, Il Trionfo della Morte, Le Vergini delle Rocce and Il Fuoco) and the psychological introspections he gives of these characters. This reading focuses on the medicalization of sexuality and its impact on class and gender divisions, through the themes of adultery and hysteria.