L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano o v e r - 6 0 m a l e f r o m t h e C a m p a n i a r e g i o n o f I t a l y named Domenico Starnone. He is both a novelist and j o u r n a l i s t . T h e y s e l e c t e d that author as his books had the most affinity in style and content with the novels writ- ten by Elena Ferrante. Italian investigative jour- nalist Claudio Gatti has a d i f f e r e n t o p i n i o n o n t h e matter. He believes it is not Domenico Starnone but his wife Anita Raja behind the literary sensation. Ms. Raja is an Italian professional translator specializing in G e r m a n . S h e t r a n s l a t e s German novels into Italian at the Edizioni E/O, Elena Ferrante's publisher. Anita Raja's mother was a Polish Jew who left Germany in 1937 to escape the Nazis. Gatti reported that finan- c i a l r e c o r d s h e r e c e i v e d from an anonymous source show a dramatic uptick in p a y m e n t s f r o m M s . Ferrante's publishing house in Rome to Ms. Raja since 2014 when Ms. Ferrante's novels took off worldwide. Gatti also found out that the c o u p l e p u r c h a s e d a n 1 1 - r o o m , 2 , 5 0 0 - s q u a r e - f o o t apartment in Rome with an estimated value of $2 mil- lion. What translator and writer can afford to buy sim- ilar luxury properties even t h o u g h t h e y a r e g o o d a t what they do? Gatti believes there is a l i t e r a r y c o l l a b o r a t i o n between wife and husband. The bestselling novels could be collaborative fiction by two authors who share cre- ative control of a story. H o w e v e r , b o t h M r . Starnone and Ms. Raja deny they wrote the books. Marcella Marmo, a pro- fessor of contemporary his- t o r y a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Naples Federico II, was the l a t e s t w r i t e r t o d e n y t h e a u t h o r s h i p o f F e r r a n t e ' s c r i t i c a l l y a c c l a i m e d N e a p o l i t a n n o v e l s . T h e claim came from a professor at the University of Pisa who investigated various details in Ferrante's The Story of a N e w N a m e s e t p a r t l y i n Naples and partly in Pisa. Ferrante's 13 novels are available in 47 languages. The English-language edi- tion is published worldwide b y E u r o p a E d i t i o n s i n L o n d o n , o w n e d b y t h e founders of Edizioni E/O in Rome. Ann Goldstein is the English translator. Sales have topped 20 mil- l i o n c o p i e s w o r l d w i d e . Ferrante's novels have sold 2 million and a half copies in the United States alone. My Brilliant Friend has been the subject of an on- screen adaptation thanks to its colorful characters and dramatic storyline. Saverio Costanzo directed the mas- sive TV hit. The third season of Costanzo's series will air i n t h e f a l l . A n d a N e t f l i x s e r i e s b a s e d o n t h e n e w n o v e l T h e L y i n g L i f e o f Adults is in the works. T h e n e w n o v e l , T h e Lying Life of Adults, a coming-of-age story, con- firms Naples as the element of continuity in the author's l i t e r a r y w o r k . N a p l e s i s Ferrante's true muse, a city t h a t c l i m b s , w h o s e p a r t s overlap each other. In 1995 Unesco declared N a p l e s a W o r l d H e r i t a g e S i t e a s o n e o f t h e m o s t ancient cities in Europe, one whose contemporary urban f a b r i c p r e s e r v e s t h e e l e - ments of its long and event- ful history. The rectangular grid layout of the Ancient Greek foundation is still dis- cernible. It has continued to provide the basic form for the present-day urban fab- ric. Naples remains an impor- tant central Mediterranean p o r t c i t y w h o s e m a z e o f s t r e e t s a n d s t a i r s a t m o s - p h e r i c a l l y c h r o n i c l e s a n i m p r e s s i v e h i s t o r y . A n d Ferrante captures the heart and soul of Naples, a histori- cally significant and com- plex city that international visitors still consider one of the most interesting in the world. Until the 1800s, it w a s o n e o f t h e f o u r t r u e metropolises in Europe. Ferrante's readers feel the c u l t u r a l v i b r a n c y a n d incredible texture of Naples. They perceive its orography, i t s s e d u c t i v e l a n d s c a p e s , M o u n t V e s u v i u s , a n d t h e Tyrrhenian Sea. Readers hear the sounds, the cacophony of the street, feel the pavement at their feet. Life is in the neighbor- hoods in Naples. Humans a r e n o t m e a n t t o l i v e indoors, said Aristotle 2,000 years ago. Readers enjoy the colors; t h e y i m a g i n e t a s t i n g t h e original Neapolitan pizza a n d a m i l l i o n o t h e r l o c a l delicacies of excellent street food. They meet and identify with the characters, a people b o t h e m p a t h i c a n d h o t - blooded. N a p l e s i s a c i t y f u l l o f excess and contradictions. It is no easy place to live. It can be a living hell in chaos, c o r r u p t i o n , a n d C a m o r r a crime that never sleeps. It has more secrets and hide- outs than any other Italian city. Yet, the splendor of its Rococo palazzos, the Gothic and Baroque churches, its f a n t a s t i c m u s e u m s a r e there. The incredible cata- c o m b s o f S a i n t G e n n a r o lurking beneath the city and the Duomo of St. Gennaro storing the relics of the city's patron saint are there where h i s b l o o d b e c o m e s l i q u i d twice a year. Naples is a great mix of reality, miracle, and super- stition. And it is still the Omphalos Mundi, the cen- ter of the world, for its resi- dents like it used to be for the Roman Emperors and the aristocrats relaxing in t h e i r m a g n i f i c e n t v i l l a s stretching across the shores of the Gulf of Naples in the s u m m e r t i m e . T h e c i t y s p e a k s f o r i t s e l f i n i t s ancient, slow dance. There is an indissoluble bond between Naples and E l e n a F e r r a n t e . W i t h o u t Naples, her stories would be as unimaginable as Tomasi d i L a m p e d u s a ' s I l Gattopardo without Sicily. But such stories written by an unidentified author unleash more creative free- dom for both the author and the readers. They seem to m a k e F e r r a n t e ' s w o r k stronger, transpersonal, uni- versal – and already authen- tic classics. A view of Naples' old town (Photo: Dmitry Kushch/Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Elena Ferrante, the enigmatic novelist, is not a person using a false name. She is a literary person, a persona, a heteronym, a creation with an imaginary biography and a 30-year-old his- tory Continued from page 20

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