«Con l’esercizio costante»: tra le carte e l’opera di Ada Prospero Marchesini Gobetti Con un racconto inedito dell’autrice

Abstract

Elisiana Fratocchi’s book “With Constant Practice”: Between the Papers and the Work of Ada Prospero Marchesini Gobetti offers a thorough re-evaluation of Ada Prospero—not merely as the wife of Piero Gobetti or an icon of anti-fascism, but as an independent author. Drawing on extensive archival research (notebooks, correspondence, typescripts, editorial records), the book traces the intellectual and literary evolution of Prospero through three key works: La musica più bella, Storia del gallo Sebastiano, and Diario partigiano, along with a previously unpublished short story, Racconto di guerra.

Fratocchi shows that Prospero’s writing, from her youth onward, was a continuous act of reflection, resistance, and testimony. She highlights the literary function of her work, beyond its political or pedagogical dimensions, emphasizing the complexity behind each piece, including multiple drafts and editorial negotiations. The archive becomes a tool for interpretation, allowing a reconstruction of thematic and stylistic coherence despite apparent discontinuities.

Through a philological and cultural lens, the book sheds light on lesser-known aspects of Prospero’s thought—from pedagogy to civic engagement and reflections on gender. What emerges is a multifaceted portrait of a thoughtful, cultured writer who transformed personal experience into collective memory. Fratocchi’s work is a significant contribution to the recognition of a figure still underrepresented in studies on Italian literature and Resistance history.