Éducation et émancipation féminine dans l’Italie des guerres du Risorgimento: l’histoire de Clémentine De Como (1803-1871), écrivaine et féministe du 19e siècle. Educazione e emancipazione femminile in Italia durante le guerre del Risorgimento: la storia di Clémentine De Como (1803-1871), scrittrice e femminista del XIX secolo

The thesis aims to discover, through her biography and works, the figure of Clementina De Como, who was born in Provence in 1803 and died in Piedmont in 1871. This forgotten history, little known even by Italian specialists and the various women's and feminist movements, involves the major events of the 19th century and the early debates about women's emancipation, particularly in the context of the Risorgimento and the birth of the Kingdom of Italy after 1861. Clementina De Como is the author of a two-volume autobiography with an explicitly combative title: “Emancipation of Woman”; almost one thousand two hundred pages, published in French, in Turin in 1853 and recently republished by Wallada, anticipates by almost a decade the pioneering work of feminism in France and Italy, such as Jenny Héricourt's, La femme affranchie (1860) and Anna Maria Mozzoni's, La liberazione della donna (1864). Her memoirs bear both direct and indirect witness to 19th-century politics in both France and Italy. The story of this Provençal schoolteacher, as well as principal of many schools, offers an original glimpse into the Italian history of her time, including through 'meeting many figures of Italian unification, such as Giovanni Battista Niccolini, Pius IX, Charles Albert of Savoy, Vincenzo Gioberti. Her autobiographical account also recounts her tragic love affair with a poor poet and author of historical novels, Pietro Corelli (1815-1867), who exploited her financially and psychologically by torturing her for more than a decade. Thes thesis was organized in two parts and the chapters follow the chronology of the writer’s life. The first part examines his training and his goals, which he pursued first in France and then in Italy. Her participation in the events of the Risorgimento changed her way of thinking and brought her even closer to Italy, her adopted homeland. The second part is devoted to Clémentine’s works in prose and verse, which are presented for the first time. The six chapters present the formative works up to the last philanthropic novel.