Neapolitan Novels

The Neapolitan Novels is a 4-part series by the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein and published by Europa Editions (New York). They include the texts: My Brilliant Friend (2012), The Story of a New Name (2013), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014), and The Story of the Lost Child (2015). The series has been characterized as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story.[1] In an interview for the Harper's Magazine, Elena Ferrante stated that she considers the four books to be ""a single novel", published serially for reasons of length and duration.[2]

The series follows the lives of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Elena (sometimes called “Lenù”) Greco and Raffaella (“Lila”) Cerullo, from childhood to adulthood as they try to create lives for themselves amidst the violent and stultifying culture of their home– a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy.[3] The novels are narrated by Elena Greco.

It has been reported that a 32-part television series ‘’The Neapolitan Novels’’ is in the works and will be co-produced by the Italian producer Wildside for Fandango Productions, with screenwriting led by the writer Francesco Piccolo.[4]

Themes

Central themes in the novels include: women’s friendship and the shaping of women’s lives by their social milieu, sexual and intellectual jealousy and competition within female friendships, female ambivalence about filial and maternal roles, the ascent of intelligent children out of violent domestic and social environments, class conflict, the role of literature and the social responsibility of the writer amidst social upheaval and within protest movements, the changing conditions of women in the 1970s, early computerization, and the Italian factory strikes of the 1970s.[5][6]

Awards

Characters

The Greco family

The Cerullo family

Sarratore family

Solara family

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Ahmed, Fatema (April 28, 2015). "Taking off the mask: Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels". The New Humanist. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ Jenny Turner, "The Secret Sharer. Elena Ferrante's existential fiction", Harper's Magazine, October 2014.
  3. ↑ Wood, James (January 21, 2013). "Women on the Verge" The fiction of Elena Ferrante.". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  4. ↑ Moylan, Brian (February 9, 2016). "Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels set for TV adaptation". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ O'Rourke, Meghan (October 31, 2014). "Elena Ferrante: the global literary sensation nobody knows". The Guardian. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ Fischer, Molly (September 4, 2014). "Elena Ferrante and the Force of Female Friendships". The New Yorker.
  7. ↑ "My Brilliant Friend". International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
  8. ↑ Luzzi, Joseph (September 27, 2013). "It Started in Naples: Elena Ferrante’s ‘Story of a New Name’". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2015.

External links

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