Part 1: The Interesting Life of Alba de Céspedes.
Interwar Writer Alba de Céspedes inherited her quest for freedom from her grandfather, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. He was considered the “Father of the Nation” in Cuba for initiating the first revolt against Spanish rule in 1868, which started the Ten Years’ War.
Alba received a private education and, at fifteen, married Count Giuseppe Antamoro in 1926 to get Italian citizenship. She gave birth to a son in 1927. The marriage ended in divorce when she was twenty. After the divorce, she began working as a journalist for Piccolo, Epoca, and La Stampa. In 1935, she wrote her first novel, L’Anima Degli Altri.
Her fiction writing was influenced by her anti-fascist views, which she often critiqued and explored themes of political oppression and personal freedom. Alba’s female characters are defined by their struggles, desires, and complexities. They often judge the rightness or wrongness of their actions. The broader cultural shifts of the time saw a growing interest in understanding the human psyche. Alba’s novels often delve into the psychological aspects of her characters, exploring their motivations, fears, and emotional journeys.
Alba’s writing was influenced by the realism and neo-realism trends. Life was depicted as it was, often focusing on everyday struggles and the impact of political and social changes on ordinary people. Alba’s work is also feminist, challenging traditional gender roles and urging her readers to seek personal and political liberation.
On a personal note, the Italian authorities jailed her in 1935 for her anti-fascist activities. The Italian government also banned two of her novels: Nessuno Torna Indietro (1938) and La Fuga (1940). In 1943, authorities imprisoned her again for helping Radio Partigiana in Bari, where she was a Resistance radio personality known as Clorinda. From June 1952 to late 1958, she wrote an advice column called Dalla parte di lei for the magazine Epoca.
Alba de Céspedes' entry for the 1936 Olympic art competitions was her novel "Io, suo padre: romanzo sportivo" (I, His Father: A Sports Novel) (1935) . The story revolves around a boxer who gives up boxing to follow a woman to luxurious winter resorts. When she refuses to marry him, he returns home to his father and coach and resumes his sports career.
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