author
Emma Boghen Conigliani
1868–1956
A pioneering Italian critic and teacher, she wrote with unusual energy about literature, education, and women’s intellectual life at the turn of the twentieth century. Her work ranges from school texts to literary studies, with a special interest in Giacomo Leopardi.
1 Audiobook
La donna nella vita e nelle opere di Giacomo Leopardi
by Emma Boghen Conigliani
About the author
Born in Venice and active in Rome, she was an Italian Jewish writer, translator, literary critic, and teacher. Reliable biographical sources describe her as coming from a highly educated family, and they note that she published across several genres while also teaching in girls’ and teacher-training schools.
Her writing included school anthologies, literary histories, criticism, journalism, and studies of major authors. She is especially remembered for her work on Leopardi, including La donna nella vita e nelle opere di Giacomo Leopardi, and for helping bring serious literary criticism into educational settings.
Sources I found agree on her year of death, 1956, but differed on her birth year, with some giving 1866 and others 1868. Because of that conflict, it is safest to say she lived from the late nineteenth century well into the mid-twentieth century and built a long career in Italian letters and education.