Attraversamenti di confini e pratiche di scrittura nella narrativa di Elvira Dones

Albanian writers have provided an invaluable contribution to Italian literature and to contemporary Italian culture in the past thirty years. Such contribution is the most recent development of a long-standing relationship between the two countries. The present article shortly summarizes the crucial moments in which the history of Italy has intersected the history of Albania, focusing on mass migrations from Albania to Italy and, in particular, on Albanian migrant writers and the ways in which they include different kinds of transitions in their narratives. The article also specifically examines the literary production of Elvira Dones and concentrates on her novel Vergine giurata, on the border crossing enacted in the text – mainly from the perspective of nation and gender –, and on the complex process of constructing transnational identities.