Abstract: Raboni, who discovered Jolanda Insana’s poetic talent, has placed the poet in the ranks of the macheronians, among those who participate in the «Gadda function» that Contini has definitively pointed out. In the survey of female poetry that developes between the late Twentieth century and the early 2000s, the work of Jolanda Insana (1937-2016) stands out by her absolutely original linguistic mixture, which is either violent or epic in her ancestral memories: «blasphemy» and «curse» are the words that have been associated with this irreverent poetic voice, largely still to be investigated. From the beginning with Sciarra amara Insana loads her words with an overwhelming energy, by contaminating the average Italian language with the harshest expressions of the Sicilian dialect, and with the eccentricities of her neologisms: however, this expressive organism, that «hulls and devours», and which is gifted with an autonomous consistency, is inspired by sociopolitical reasons, with the intention of rationally criticizing and then upsetting the conformism of Italian society through the harshness of its sounds. Many of her titles hint at this form of dissent: from Sciarra amara (1977) to Fendenti fonici (1982), from La stortura (2002) to La tagliola del disamore (2005). Moreover the illness of an entire nation, sometimes of the entire planet, is associated with the body and existence disease and here the intense rhythm of invectives is replaced by a broader breath of meditation.

Dottore di ricerca in Italianistica, studia le tendenze sperimentali nella letteratura italiana della prima metà del Novecento, tra Novecentismo e Immaginismo. Ha lavorato sulla produzione giornalistica di Anna Maria Ortese e, in prospettiva teorica, sulle autobiografie politiche della Resistenza. Ha scritto con G. Vassallo e E. Fratocchi il volume Il pane e le rose. Scritture femminili della Resistenza (Bulzoni, Roma 2019).