'Tu hai voluto studiare questi cantucci d'umanita, che sanno di vecchia polvere'. Ada Negri and Maria Messina, akin and different writings of marginality

摘要

Ada Negri writes the preface to Le briciole del destino, a collection of short stories by Maria Messina published by Treves in 1918, referring to the young writer, whom she did not know personally, with the words "My little sister Maria". The brief text describes a commonality between the two writers on some significant themes such as personal and marginalization of the feeblest and most suffering people. In the preceding year Le solitarie, the first collection of short stories by Ada Negri, was published. This article aims at defining points of contact and differences in the production of the two writers, also to determine the innovative reach of a discourse on marginality - not only of women that, although set up differently in Negri and Messina, appears faced with courage and systematic approach.