L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano I n an earlier period, W e s t e r n m e d i e v a l l i t e r a r y t e x t s w e r e anonymous. Stories and tales were not meant to have an author; they would circulate anony- mously. Even centuries later, sev- eral writers had their books published under a pen name or still anonymously. For instance, the founder of the historical novel genre, Sir W a l t e r S c o t t , w r o t e W a v e r l e y ( 1 8 1 4 ) a n o n y - mously. A few years later, he w r o t e a c l a s s i c , I v a n h o e (1819), with the pseudonym of Lawrence Templeton. On a more contemporary note, four decades ago, an I t a l i a n p u b l i s h i n g h o u s e brought to life one of the m o s t i n t r i g u i n g l i t e r a r y mysteries in recent Western h i s t o r y . I r e f e r t o E l e n a Ferrante, a true interna- t i o n a l l i t e r a r y s e n s a t i o n whose novels have a pas- sionate readership world- wide. Hillary Clinton is a superfan of Ferrante. The enigmatic novelist is not a person using a false name. She is a literary per- s o n , a p e r s o n a , a h e t - eronym, a creation with an imaginary biography and a 3 0 - y e a r - o l d h i s t o r y , enriched over time by the narratives that, as happens in legends, have grown up around her in a very lively Naples, a great forge of sto- ries. " I b e l i e v e t h a t b o o k s , once written, do not need their authors. If they have something to say, they will sooner or later find readers; if not, they won't," wrote Elena Ferrante in a 1991 let- t e r a d d r e s s e d t o S a n d r a Ozzola and Sandro Ferri, h e r p u b l i s h e r s i n R o m e , founders of Edizioni E/O. In t h a t l e t t e r p r e - d a t i n g F e r r a n t e ' s d e b u t n o v e l Amore Molesto (Troubling Love), published in 1992, Ferrante explained her will and determination never to reveal her true identity. She was soon unequivo- cal: "I won't participate in discussions and conferences whenever invited. I won't go and accept prizes I might win. I will never promote my books, especially on TV, not in Italy or, as the case may be, abroad." Over the years, the Italian novelist has proven to be fiercely loyal to her wishes to protect her anonymity amid an astonishing inter- national success. H e r d e b u t n o v e l (Troubling Love) was turned i n t o a f i l m b y M a r i o M a r t o n e i n 1 9 9 5 , s o o n screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Among her relevant books a r e T h e D a y s o f Abandonment (2002), the s t o r y o f O l g a , a w o m a n abandoned by her husband; and The Lost Daughter (2006), about a divorced scholar who finds herself morbidly drawn to a family she sees on the beach. These early novels prefigure many of the themes of her iconic Neapolitan stories, focusing o n f e m a l e r e l a t i o n s h i p s , motherhood, and class. Ferrante has won glowing praise for representing the world of women, predomi- nantly female friendship. In this, My Brilliant Friend (2011) is a masterpiece. It is the first installment of her N e a p o l i t a n q u a r t e t , a n extraordinary modern por- trait of the complexities of f e m a l e f r i e n d s h i p - L i l a Cerullo and Elena Greco, two girls living in a deprived neighborhood of Naples in the postwar years. In the novel The Story of a New Name (2012), Lila and Elena grow up in increasingly different social spheres, showing the cultur- a l a n d e c o n o m i c d i v i d e b e t w e e n n o r t h e r n a n d southern Italy. It follows Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2013) and The Story of the Lost Child (2014), the final part of the quartet completing the double Bildungsroman that has spanned 60 years. R e c e n t l y , I c a l l e d F e r r a n t e ' s p u b l i s h e r s i n Rome to ask for a written interview with their mysteri- MARIELLA RADAELLI ous author, but they imme- diately declined. H o w e v e r , i n t h e p a s t , F e r r a n t e g a v e a f e w r a r e w r i t t e n i n t e r v i e w s . S o m e years ago, she told Paolo Di S t e f a n o f r o m t h e d a i l y Corriere della Sera that she n e v e r r e g r e t t e d c h o o s i n g a n o n y m i t y b e c a u s e " t h e media tends to stress the author's image over their work. In that case, the book functions like a pop star's sweaty T-shirt: it is a com- pletely meaningless garment without the star's aura. It's that type of emphasis I don't like," she said. Also, in a 2014 interview with the New York Times, c o n d u c t e d v i a e m a i l , F e r r a n t e e x p l a i n e d h e r choice of anonymity. " W h a t c o u n t s m o s t f o r me is to preserve a creative space that seems full of pos- sibilities, including technical ones," she wrote. "The struc- tural absence of the author affects the writing in a way that I'd like to continue to explore." But paradoxically, with t h e a u t h o r a n a b s o l u t e secret, the risk is that the emphasis is more on finding out who might be the myste- rious novelist than focusing o n h e r a r t f u l l y w r i t t e n books. In 2016, an international team of literary experts led b y s c h o l a r s f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f P a d u a researched to discover her real identity by using quan- titative analysis methods. Researchers put together a large corpus for their analy- sis: 150 novels by 40 con- temporary Italian novelists explicitly selected for the specific purpose. The acade- mic study concluded that t h e w r i t e r b e h i n d E l e n a Ferrante is presumably an Beautiful Naples, the home of mysterious author Elena Ferrante (Photo: Minnystock/Dreamstime) The mystery of Elena Ferrante, a genius mind in Naples LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Continued to page 22

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