I'm going to write about Elena Ferrante in response to this excellent article.
The Neapolitan Quartet is fantastic, amongst my favourite 21st-century fiction. I'd recommend it to anyone, and I'd especially recommend reading the whole thing and not bailing after My Brilliant Friend.
It does have marriage and parenthood in it, but a lot more…
I'm going to write about Elena Ferrante in response to this excellent article.
The Neapolitan Quartet is fantastic, amongst my favourite 21st-century fiction. I'd recommend it to anyone, and I'd especially recommend reading the whole thing and not bailing after My Brilliant Friend.
It does have marriage and parenthood in it, but a lot more besides. It has the Neapolitan mafia. It has extremist political cells. It is very good on the development of computers in society (a lead character starts an independent coding career in "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay"). And it has lots and lots of sex, which I believe is a topic of interest even to the followers of Andrew Tate...
Point being, the content is not limited to what could be described "women's interest". But look how the industry presents it. The covers of the editions I have look like White Woman's Instagram. The "what a great book" quotes are from Hilary Clinton and (gasps) Gwyneth Paltrow.
There is no way my son is going to read these books on the Metro.
I'm not saying something has to look like a Clive Barker novel for young men to read it. But if the publisher is madly signalling "this is not for you!" then its not surprising young men think "that is not for me".
And finally, one thing that's funny about Ferrante "ending the dominance of male writers" is that some people think the pseudonymous Ferrante is, in fact, a dude....
My best guess is that the guy (I forget his name, but I’ve read some of his stuff) collaborated with his common law wife. I don’t think he wrote it alone, and it is stylistically way too close to his writing for me to think that he didn’t play a major part in shaping the works. But I also don’t think that he wrote it alone, and I have no idea if he was the main writer. But I do think that the women played a major role in writing it or even the main role, given that the themes match up so closely to works she has translated.
Yep, I'm inclined to go with that assessment as well. At the end of the day, no bestseller is a one-person book. Both the fella and his partner work in the industry, so it's most likely they worked on it together.
My favorite book of hers is still Days of Abandonment—that got under my skin and never left, the intensity kept ratcheting, it was all so fresh, real and disturbing. It's one of those books you read with your whole body.
And after that The Lost Daughter and Troubling Love.
I'm going to write about Elena Ferrante in response to this excellent article.
The Neapolitan Quartet is fantastic, amongst my favourite 21st-century fiction. I'd recommend it to anyone, and I'd especially recommend reading the whole thing and not bailing after My Brilliant Friend.
It does have marriage and parenthood in it, but a lot more besides. It has the Neapolitan mafia. It has extremist political cells. It is very good on the development of computers in society (a lead character starts an independent coding career in "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay"). And it has lots and lots of sex, which I believe is a topic of interest even to the followers of Andrew Tate...
Point being, the content is not limited to what could be described "women's interest". But look how the industry presents it. The covers of the editions I have look like White Woman's Instagram. The "what a great book" quotes are from Hilary Clinton and (gasps) Gwyneth Paltrow.
There is no way my son is going to read these books on the Metro.
I'm not saying something has to look like a Clive Barker novel for young men to read it. But if the publisher is madly signalling "this is not for you!" then its not surprising young men think "that is not for me".
And finally, one thing that's funny about Ferrante "ending the dominance of male writers" is that some people think the pseudonymous Ferrante is, in fact, a dude....
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/books/who-is-elena-ferrante.html
"And it has lots and lots of sex..."
Well, I'll have to read it now.
This is on point. Bravo. Regarding the speculation about Ferrante being a dude, the evidence, from what I've seen, is more than just speculation.
My best guess is that the guy (I forget his name, but I’ve read some of his stuff) collaborated with his common law wife. I don’t think he wrote it alone, and it is stylistically way too close to his writing for me to think that he didn’t play a major part in shaping the works. But I also don’t think that he wrote it alone, and I have no idea if he was the main writer. But I do think that the women played a major role in writing it or even the main role, given that the themes match up so closely to works she has translated.
Yep, I'm inclined to go with that assessment as well. At the end of the day, no bestseller is a one-person book. Both the fella and his partner work in the industry, so it's most likely they worked on it together.
My favorite book of hers is still Days of Abandonment—that got under my skin and never left, the intensity kept ratcheting, it was all so fresh, real and disturbing. It's one of those books you read with your whole body.
And after that The Lost Daughter and Troubling Love.
Those other shorter works pack a real punch.
There's Steve Sailer's argument Ferrante is actually a married couple.
Which would be heartwarming to conservatives and horrifying to the current literary establishment.
I look forward to your writing!