This week on The Italian Radio Hour: TINA, MAFIA SOLDIER.
In conversation with Sicilian writer Maria Rosa Cutrufelli and Robin Pickering-Iazzi, Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and translator of the book.
Sicily, 1980s: When she was just eight years old, Tina watched as her father, a member of Cosa Nostra, was murdered in cold blood. Now a teenager, she terrorizes her hometown of Gela, having made it her mission to join the mafia, an organization traditionally forbidden to women as made members. Nicknamed ’a masculidda, or “the tomboy,” Tina has taken charge of her own clan, and is notorious for her cruelty and reckless disregard for societal expectations.
When a news article is published about Tina’s latest crimes, a teacher living in Rome feels compelled to write a novel about her—even though it means returning to her native Sicily to gather material. She and Tina circle around each other in a dangerous dance of obsession and violence until their first, and last, explosive meeting.
This groundbreaking exploration of gender identity and clear-eyed presentation of an unseen side of the mafia is a landmark literary achievement by one of Italy’s feminist icons.
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Maria Rosa Cutrufelli
Robin Pickering-Iazzi Italian-Program UW-Milwaukee
Istituto Mondo Italiano - Centro di cultura italiana The Italian Radio Hour
