The story of Ida awarded
Adei Wizo Italy Prize

Katharina Adler’s Ida, a historical novel set in Vienna in the first half of twentieth century, has won the XX edition of the Wizo Italy Prize, in the name of Adelina Della Pergola. The book, recently translated into Italian and published by Sellerio (2019, 552 pp.) tells the story of Ida Bauer, alias Dora, who is the subject of Freud’s famous case history of an adolescent. The author, who is the great-granddaughter of Ida, offer a unique perspective on the life of this strong-willed woman depicting her as neither a hysteric or a hero, but a woman looking for her freedom.
Ida (1882–1945) became a patient of Sigmund Freud when she was 18 years old and after 11 weeks breaks off the treatment. He wrote about her in a “Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria” (1901), one of his notable early papers, using the pseudonym Dora. Since then, Dora’s case has elicited a wide critical response and an enduring fascination on readers across the world. Through historical researches and family memories, Adler’s novel follows Ida’s life from childhood to her death, portraying at the same time the daily life of a well-to-do secular Jewish family in Austria and Ida’s brother, Otto Bauer, a leading member of the Austro-Marxist movement, struggles toward democracy.
The other finalists were Olocaustico by Alberto Caviglia (Giuntina, 2019) and Il mostro della memoria by Yishai Sarid (edizioni e/o, 2019). Eventually, the novel L’interprete di Annette Hess, (Neri Pozza, 2019) was awarded the Premio Ragazzi, thanks to a jury of high school student. The Special Prize was awarded to L’ultima intervista by Eshkol Nevo (Neri Pozza, 2019).