The Silent Victim: Rape and Sexuality in Giacinta and ‘Tortura’ by Luigi Capuana

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how Luigi Capuana addresses the theme of rape and female sexuality in his first novel, Giacinta, and the short story ‘Tortura’. It investigates how the author engages with post-traumatic effects, female agency and subjectivity through the depiction of female acts of resistance. Through a reading of treatises on nineteenth-century sexuality and sociological studies on the topic, it offers a more nuanced understanding of how Capuana represents the drama of sexual violence. It is argued that Capuana’s scientific interests and verista aesthetic principles constitute a driving force for interrogating the ills of a static, male-dominated society and that his scientific gaze on the female ‘other’ does more than represent her as a disruptive force. The article shows that his exploration of sexuality reveals signs of rupture in the normative conception of gender roles where sexual violence and subjection are condoned and normalised by a masculine scientific discourse.