If you have spent any time in the Twittersphere recently, you will be aware of the #Ferrantefever phenomenon. Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neopolitan Novels’ – currently a trilogy, soon to be a quartet- have recently been translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.
On 16th September, Slightly Foxed bookshop in West London played host to a Ferrante evening to discuss the novels and, inevitably, their enigmatic author. This piece aims to give you a flavour of the evening whilst being at pains to avoid any spoilers of these intensely exciting books.
Pizza (of course!) and wine were kindly provided by Daniela Petracco of Europa UK and our able guides for the evening were Joanna Walsh, editor of 3:AM Press and whose novel Hotel Bloomsbury will appear in 2015; Jonathan Gibbs, author of Randall and journalist at Telegraph online; and Catherine Taylor, journalist, critic and Deputy Director of English PEN.
We began the evening with a short reading from each of the three novels. Joanna explained that, in essence, the books dealt with reversals of fortunes, language, networks……and sex.
The author herself is difficult to introduce. It is thought that she is from Naples but that Elena Ferrante is a pen name. We know little else about her. There is one work, Fragments, as yet unpublished in the UK, which is a collection of interviews and correspondence. She shuns all publicity and generally refuses interviews. This is almost a radical act for an author today and she appears to be taking at face value Roland Barthes’ thesis in Death Of An Author.
Catherine Taylor pointed out that the author’s invisibility allows readers to take what they want from the novels. They can be read as romans á clef, a family drama, melodrama, political history or even a detective story.
At the beginning of the novels, we find ourselves in Naples at the end of World War 2. Lena and Lila are about 6 years old. They are growing up in the convulsive atmosphere of Southern Italy in this period and within the confines of a small neighbourhood. Their environment is inherently violent. Don Achille is a figure that casts a shadow over their childhoods. They fear his violence and his influence. History here is not narrated. Events outside the neighbourhood all take place behind the scenes.
Language is important in the novels, in particular the difference between Neopolitan dialect and ‘proper’ Italian. Daniela explained that the books are written in Italian with only occasional references in dialect. The translation is excellent and completely captures the direct style of the original.
Interestingly, it was observed, despite the setting, religion is almost completely absent from all of the novels. The novels follow Lena’s trajectory from rags to riches but all the while she is looking back at her childhood friend, Lila, with her ‘special spark’. Lila talks of the existential crises she suffers as ‘ dissolving margins’ but this term could be used to describe the relationship between Lila and Lena. Their lives mirror each other and the novels chart the devotion and rivalries of female friendships.
Lila and Lena have a complex relationship. At times it is a tussle between hatred and admiration. The arrival of Nino into their lives, for example, is very uneasy. The books start with the disappearance of Lila but, in large sections, they are effectively narrated by her. The characterization is uncompromising and the writing very fresh. It is traditionally plotted but book number 3, Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay, is very political.
The audience was anxious to know when book number 4 would be published. Sadly, Daniela confirmed that this will take about another year to appear in English.
To close, Jonathan read us some extracts from Fragments. In talking about her earlier work, Days Of Abandonment, dealing with the effect of divorce on a female protagonist, Ferrante said that she had stuck a finger into certain wounds she had that were still infected. In response to the inevitable question as to what extent her works were autobiographical she replied ; ‘When one makes a creative work, one is inhabited by others’.
Ferrante herself remains a mystery, even her translator doesn’t meet her when working on her novels.
My thanks to Daniela Petracco for an invitation to this fascinatingly feverish evening.
Helen Stanton blogs about books at helannsta.com – you can also follow her on twitter @Helannsta