Friends or Foes: Gendered Environmental Relationships in Italo Calvino's La Speculazione Edilizia.

In this article, I conduct an analysis of the characters of Italo Calvino's La speculazione edilizia. I specifically focus on their relationship with the natural environment to highlight gender-related differences. I argue that while men are more inclined to be seduced by the material gain of real estate speculation that damages the environment, women actively demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and display a strong connection to nature that is neither subordinate nor passive. Through my analysis, I demonstrate how women offer male characters a chance for redemption through the awakening of their emotions, in a consistent effort to establish a human relationship that parallels the retrieval of a lost environmental one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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