Abstract

The essay analyses the last novel written by Fausta Cialente (1989-1994), "Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger", for which she received the Price Strega in 1976. With rational rigour, Cialente combines historical analysis and memoirs' recalling, political interpretations and human feeling revealing the delusion of those who had placed their hopes in the cause of unification. Cialente retraces the story of her mother's side of the family, marked by a naïve and deluded irredentism, typical of a certain part of the bourgeoisie which had invoked the reasons of the war without anticipating the devastating results. The Great War will sweep away the beloved world of "Wieselberger girls".