Cibarsi di parole: il cibo come medium di affrancamento in Virginia Woolf, Grazia Deledda e Karen Blixen
Feeding from Words: Food as a Medium of Emancipation in Virginia Woolf, Grazia Deledda and Karen Blixen

Summary/Abstract: Through an examination of the cases of three female writers, Virginia Woolf, Grazia Deledda and Karen Blixen, this essay points out the way in which they use food to elaborate about the condition of women. Woolf compares the meals served in male and female colleges to denounce the exclusion of women from the places of knowledge. The origin of this exclusion could be found in the role which women did not play during the sacrifice. The analogy between writing and cooking is evident in the writings of Deledda, who would feed her passion for telling while observing the preparation of typical Sardinian dishes. As those who desire to change their condition by nurturing the hope of going to a place of abundance, better known as “Paese di Cuccagna”, she dreams to become famous and eventually manages to do so by selling the oil and wine that she steals from her family’s cellar, in order to send her writings to the land. Similarly, the artistic soul hiding inside a chef, to whom Blixen gives voice in Babette’s Feast, can be seen in all of the women who express their own creativity. From this point of view, food, which has always been connected to household and therefore female roles, becomes a medium of emancipation.

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