Alba de Céspedes ranks among the most important Italian women writers of the past century. Although her novels, short stories, and poetry have been read either in the original or in translation in thirty-three countries, Italian critics and academics neglected her work until the last decade of the twentieth century. The reconsideration of her impressive production has inspired many scholarly projects in Italy and abroad. Often viewed as the Italian Simone de Beauvoir, de Céspedes always demanded consideration as a feminine, rather than feminist, writer; like de Beauvoir, she is mostly remembered for her acute analysis of the female condition. In her terse style, de Céspedes portrayed women who fought relentlessly for their own emancipation and carefully depicted the obstacles they encountered with sociohistorical accuracy.

De Céspedes had an illustrious lineage that harked back to Cuba. Her grandfather, Carlos Manuel...