Abstract

The genesis of Lalla Romano's novel Maria (1953) was complex and discontinuous, as documented by a large amount of drafts held at Lalla Romano Archive (Biblioteca Brera of Milan). The first and most significant step was the bipartite tale "Le Storie di Maria", rejected by the publishing house Einaudi in 1946. This article focuses on the novel's editorial history (through the corrispondence between the author and the editors Cesare Pavese and Natalia Ginzburg), the features of the original tale as well as its evolution into the unitary structure of the novel.