Ombretta Frau

Ombretta Frau is Dorothy Rooke McCulloch Professor of Italian. Her scholarly interests include nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italian authors and public intellectuals, and the material culture of literature. She has published numerous articles, books, book chapters, blogs and encyclopedia entries on Italian authors including Pirandello, Jolanda, Mantea, Sfinge, Mara Antelling, Annie Vivanti, Flavia Steno, Matilde Serao, Dacia Maraini, Aldo Palazzeschi, Vincenzo Cerami, and on motherhood, the connection between language, gender and violence online, the relationship between fascism and culture, and new studies in conservative contemporary feminism. With Cristina Gragnani, she is the author of the critical edition of Luigi Pirandello’s Taccuino di Harvard, based on their extraordinary discovery of a previously unknown Pirandello manuscript (Mondadori, 2002), and Sottoboschi letterari. Sei case studies fra Otto e Novecento: Mara Antelling, Emma Boghen Conigliani, Evelyn, Anna Franchi, Jolanda, Flavia Steno (Firenze University Press, 2011). With Juliet Guzzetta, she is the guest editor of a special issue of g/s/i Gender/Sexuality/Italy] on Italy’s current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s unique brand of conservative feminism, and the author of a forthcoming article on the elusive rhetoric of the right.

Among her recent publications are articles on Mount Holyoke’s Giamatti Dante Collection, on the importance of literary description in Italo Calvino(and his 1984 visit to Mount Holyoke), on Matilde Serao’s correspondence, and on nineteenth century Italian intellectual Angelo De Gubernatis. She is currently at work on several projects on the Italian city of Venice and on Alvise Piero Zorzi’s cultural legacy.

In the United States, Frau has taught at Boston College, Rice University, and Harvard University, where she received awards for teaching excellence. At Mount Holyoke, she teaches Italian culture and literary studies, including courses on the material culture of literature, on Children’s Literature, Travel, Theatre, Food culture, Fascism, and the Mediterranean. Her courses incorporate many pedagogical tools, and she believes in creating a classroom atmosphere that encourages discussion and exchange of ideas. A frequent, passionate, and tireless traveler, Frau has lectured all over the USA, her native Italy, and the world, from Australia to Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Poland, the UK, and more.

A past president of the American Association for Italian Studies’ Women Studies Caucus, Frau collaborates with the Enciclopedia delle Donne and the Dizionario Treccani. She is the recipient of the 2022 Meribeth E. Cameron Faculty Award for Scholarship.