Review: In Praise of Disobedience: Clare of Assisi, A Novel by Dacia Maraini

An author receives a mysterious e-mail begging her to tell the story of Clare of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian saint. At first annoyed by the request, the author begins to research Saint Clare and becomes captivated by her life.

As a meandering Catholic, I still retain that absolute fascination with cathedrals, saints, and every bit of ritual and pageantry that goes along with it. Let’s not even go into the hoard of rosaries I collect from every cathedral I visit with a singular obsessiveness.

That in mind, of course I picked up Dacia Maraini’s novel, In Praise of Disobedience. St. Clare of Assisi isn’t a saint I’m particularly familiar with, but disobedience appeals to me, and her mentor, Francis, was a significant household presence growing up.

Like I said, disobedience appeals.

Maraini’s novel is difficult to classify, though, which is appropriate because Clare herself is difficult to classify.

Disobedience is definitely a novel, but a novel imbued with historical facts and details that only a devoted academic could locate and only a skilled writer could convey. There is also an openness and a vulnerability to the author’s internal monologues when it comes to Clare and what her experiences in 13th-century Italy must have been like.

Why would the daughter of a wealthy Italian family renounce everything at eighteen and live a life of isolation, silence, and extreme poverty?

Maraini’s novel is an attempt to answer that question. It’s a contemplation of the role of women - in the 13th-century and the 21st. A meditation on choice, autonomy, and spirituality without being particularly preachy about any of them.

There are very few novels that I have no criticism of (even ones I adore), but In Praise of Disobedience is one I fully recommend to everyone.