Une tragédie au féminin est-elle possible ? La réponse de Valeria Miani Negri dans Celinda (1611)

Abstract

In the last decades of the sixteenth century, a « dramaturgy of answer » (Siro Ferrone) developed in Italy, taking into account the significant changes in the field of performance such as the expansion of audiences and the large access of women to the theatres. Female authors assert themselves in productions dominated by men, and seek to prove the ability of female brains not only to understand but also to write plays. They then propose a new feminine dramaturgy, distinct from that of men, especially in the genre of pastoral, of which they renew some codified characters like the satyr. Only one of them dares to write a tragedy, Valeria Miani Negri, whose play Celinda was published in 1611. This paper analyzes Miani’s answer to the question asked by previous theorists such as G. B. Giraldi Cinzio : is a women’s tragedy possible, not only in terms of reception, but also in terms of creation?

Keywords

• Italian theatre of the 16th century
• Valeria Miani Negri
• women’s dramaturgy
• pastoral
• tragedy