Alba e Carlos Manuel. Tre declinazioni del rapporto padre-figlia in Fuga

Abstract

This essay is based on one of the most famous and exhaustive interviews that Alba de Céspedes gave to Rai in the eighties: in describing the parable of her personal formation and the evolution of her writing, The Italian-Cuban author pointed out that the role played by her father, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, was decisive in defining her human and intellectual experience, especially in relation to the conviction that woman was not only a free creature and the custodian of equal dignity with respect to man, but above all any woman wishing to exercise this freedom should be ready to assume all kinds of social and professional responsibility. The article then goes on to investigate three tales from the collection Fuga, in order to demonstrate how the father-daughter relationship, declined in three distinct forms and all equally interesting, represented a cornerstone of the history and writing of Alba de Céspedes, especially in the initial compositional phase.