Description
Book SynopsisIn this stirring memoir by a member of the first generation of LGBTQ+ activists in Italy, Porpora Marcasciano tells her story and shares the struggles and accomplishments of her fellow activists who achieved so much in the 1970s yet suffered devastating losses during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
AntoloGaia offers an insider’s look at the beginnings of the gay liberation movement in Italy and reveals how it was intimately intertwined with other forms of left-wing activism. At the same time, it powerfully conveys the queer joy of a young person from a small village first encountering the vibrant sexual minority communities of Naples, Bologna, and Rome. As Marcasciano starts to embrace her trans identity, she meets the famous anthropologist Pino Simonelli, who introduces her to Naples’s unique
femminielli subculture and gives her the name Porporino, which she later shortens to Porpora. In keeping with this story of gender, sexual, and political discovery,
AntoloGaia is the first piece of Italian life-writing to use gender-neutral and mixed-gender language.
Trade Review"Porpora Marcasciano says of this electrifying memoir that, if she could, she would have written it in verse to better capture the wild anarchic energy of the world that fueled her activism. No need. Her life story is poetry enough. What a gift to English speakers for her story to find us now, when we need the inspiration of as much wild anarchic energy as possible." -- Susan Stryker * author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution *
"A fascinating look into Italy's radical queer and trans cultures and their fraught relationship with wider left-wing politics, Marcasciano's
AntoloGaia is just as much a guide to how to live one's life with courage, conviction, and creativity." -- Juliet Jacques * author of Trans: A Memoir *
"This is a book of exploration—of gender, of one’s life, of things one has dared to dream. Like the people we meet, the stories Porpora Marcasciano tells are cradled in a radical trans love, and isn't that one of the best kinds of love? As you read, you too will be cradled and never abandoned." -- Marquis Bey * author of Black Trans Feminism *
"This trans memoir by Porpora Marcasciano, someone who felt born into the wrong world, could not come at a better time. Sexual rights for minorities have been on the map since humans have shared their feelings about being in the world, and what a fitting opportunity that a trans story from 1970s Italy has come to light in this beautiful translation." -- Bernadette Wegenstein * coeditor of Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking: An Anthology *
"Marcasciano's life is a valuable part of trans history, and her account of the queer movement in Italy during the chaotic 1970s is eye-opening." -- Diana Goetsch * author of This Body I Wore: A Memoir *
Table of ContentsForeword: "Giving Voice to the Italian Trans Community," Sara Galli and Mohammad Jamali
Translator's Note, Francesco Pascuzzi and Sandra Waters
Preface to the Italian edition: "The Unbearable Lightness of Gender in History and Biography," Laura Schettini
Chapter One
Le début (1973–1976) Somewhere in the West
Traces of Dreams
The Source of Consciousness
Coming Out
It Happened
Trip
Other Dimensions
Changing the World
The Underground
Technical Rehearsals of Resistance
The Best of Youth
Rebel Music
Exodus, Displacement, Transition
Escape
Chapter Two
1977: Dreaming and Utopia And 1977 Exploded!
The First Lesbian
We Want Everything!
Alice in the City, Transversalism, Situationism, Fantasy
Strawberries and Blood
Between Class and Gender Consciousness
Nomadic Tribes
The Crush Continuous
The Biggest Piazza Was Too Small
The Transvestite Cries Out for Revenge in the Presence of the Phallus
Porporino
La dolce vita
Lud
With the Faguettes or With the Chavs
Being Overwhelmed
Flora and Fauna
Good Morning, Night
The First of May
Distress and Self-Awareness
Living in a Dream and Not Dreaming about Living
Chapter Three
Extravagance (1978–1982) Zanza
Valentina Sanna Cortese
Narciso
The Festival of Poets at Castelporziano
Capo Rizzuto and Gay Camping
Gay Activism and Its First Conference
Mario Mieli
Royal Family and Self-Defense Techniques
Monte Caprino
Extravaganza
Pisa
Desiring
Bologna and the Grand Duchy of Pistoia
Lesbians and/or Feminists
Punk
The '80s Began
Valerie
Theater
1981 and the First Gay New Year
Trans Manifesto for 164
Gay Occupations
Beaches
The Cassero
Chapter Four
Transition, Epic Passage (1983...) Then Night Came!
The Gay Plague
Blows to the Heart
Author Acknowledgments
Appendices
Timelines
Key Words
Porpora's Publications
Notes on Contributors
