Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series) - Hardcover

Alaya, Flavia

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9781558612211: Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558612211 ISBN 13: 9781558612211

Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 1999

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Beneath its "scandalous" surface, Flavia Alaya's life story goes to the heart of women's struggles for independence, self-definition, and sexual agency.

Flavia was 22 years old, a radiant but sheltered Italian American on a Fulbright in Italy, when she met Father Harry Browne. When the attraction that began in a cafe in Perugia grew too compelling to resist, they embarked on a relationship that violated one of the most powerful taboos of the Church and of society, yet endured for over 20 years. By day, they were subsumed in progressive community organizing. By night, they were subsumed in a relationship carried out, even through the birth of their three children, in absolute secrecy–sub rosa, or "under the rose."

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From the Publisher:

Flavia Alaya tells her story in a voice unfailingly intelligent and unflinchingly candid. Her ear is tuned to the operatic vitality of an Italian American extended family as well as to the zealous disorder of an Upper West Side community organizing session. Her prose captures the pain of a woman whose transgressions cut her off from the world, the passion of a woman whose love is a world unto itself, and the courage of a woman determined, against all odds, to live in a world of her own making.

Under the Rose is the ninth contribution to The Feminist Press's Cross-Cultural Memoir series, which also includes (among others) Alice Cook's A Lifetime of Labor, Toni McNaron's I Dwell in Possibility, Jo Sinclair's The Seasons, Meena Alexander's Fault Lines, and Shirley Geok-lin Lim's Among the White Moon Faces.

It is suitable for course use in autobiography, ethnic literature, Italian American literature, religious studies, and urban studies.

About the Author:

Flavia Alaya was the founding director of the School of Intercultural Studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey and taught at New York University and Hunter College, CUNY. She is the author of many scholarly works. She has held Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships.

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