AntoloGaia: Queering the Seventies, A Radical Trans Memoir

Porpora Marcasciano's memoir, AntoloGaia, chronicles the struggles and accomplishments of LGBTQ+ activists in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, including her own journey of gender and sexual discovery. The book offers an insiders look at the beginnings of the gay liberation movement and conveys the queer joy of a young person encountering vibrant sexual minority communities. It is the first piece of Italian life-writing to use gender-neutral and mixed-gender language.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 364 pages
Publication date: 24 November 2023
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

In this captivating memoir by a pioneering member of the LGBTQ+ activism movement in Italy, Porpora Marcasciano vividly recounts her journey and highlights the remarkable achievements and devastating losses experienced by her fellow activists during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. AntoloGaia provides an insightful glimpse into the early stages of the gay liberation movement in Italy, revealing its close connections with other left-wing movements. At the same time, it vividly captures the euphoria of a young individual from a small village encountering the vibrant sexual minority communities in Naples, Bologna, and Rome. As Marcasciano embraces her trans identity, she meets renowned anthropologist Pino Simonelli, who introduces her to Naples' distinctive femminielli subculture and bestows upon her the name Porporino, which she later abbreviates to Porpora.

In alignment with this narrative of gender, sexual, and political exploration, AntoloGaia stands as the inaugural work of Italian life-writing to employ gender-neutral and mixed-gender language.

Weight: 59g
Dimension: 203 x 127 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978835788