The image of the female elementary school teacher in the works of Edmondo De Amicis across literary and visual sources

The late 1800s saw strong feminization of the elementary teaching profession, a phenomenon that intensified over the 1900s. Female elementary school teachers began to populate the physical spaces of the classroom and the real-life spaces of the press, as well as places of the imagination such as novels and novellas. The construction of the woman teacher cannot be analysed without considering the works of Edmondo De Amicis, who, from his perspective as an investigative journalist more than as a novelist, offered skilful depictions of a gallery of schoolmistresses: from the idealization of lady teachers rich in pathos and the spirit of self-sacrifice in Cuore. Libro per i ragazzi [Heart] (1886), via condemnation of teachers’ difficult working conditions in Il romanzo di un maestro [A Novel about a Teacher] (1890), to more realistic and diverse representations of women teachers in Fra scuola e casa [Between School and Home] (1892), a collection of writings including Amore e ginnastica [Love and Gymnastics] and La maestrina degli operai [The Workers’ Little Schoolmistress]. From the decided and energetic Maria Pedani, admirer of the gymnastics coach Emilio Baumann and supporter of the De Sanctis Law – which in 1878 introduced physical education into the elementary curriculum – to the more timorous Enrica Varetti, De Amicis portrayed a set of teachers who were bitter, neurotic, or eccentric. To examine whether and how the collective imaginary surrounding this theme changed over the twentieth century, it is useful to analyse cinematic, TV, or cartoon adaptations of De Amicis’ works. What elements of collective memory concerning the image of the female elementary teacher survived beyond the nineteenth century? What, vice versa, was changed to suit the sensibilities of twentieth century viewers? The present study, which falls within the domain of historical-educational research into school memory, will examine La maestrina degli operai [The Workers’ Little Schoolmistress], an adaptation for television directed by Guglielmo Morandi (1970), Amore e ginnastica [Love and Gymnastics] directed by Luigi Filippo D’Amico (1973) and the filmic versions of Cuore directed by Luigi Comencini (1984) and Maurizio Zaccaro (2001). The Japanese animated series La scuola dell’amore: la storia di Cuore, a twenty-six-episode rendering of Heart, produced in 1981 by Nippon Animation, will also be analysed. This anime is of particular interest because it is the only adaptation of a work by De Amicis that specifically targets children. Hence, the research aim is to compare traditional literary sources with visual sources, with their intertwining of reconstructions of the past, interpretations of collective memory, and the need to adapt to changing historical and social conditions.