Women, space and ideal worlds in early modern Italian Utopian literature

My research examines how ideas of femininity and female space are constructed differently in male- and female-authored uptopian texts in early modern Italian literature. Where traditional utopianism is male-centric, I argue for a critical shift in the definition of utopian literature to include and legitimise the female experience. Reading through the lens of female historiography, literary criticism and spatial theory, I examine how male-authored utopias construct an image of 'woman' and confine women to precise roles and spaces, before revealing how female authors challenge this portrayal by creating 'spaces of resistance' that offer an alternative conceptualisation of feminism.