O labirinto de ariadne: Elena Ferrante, Autoria e crítica

Abstract

Elena Ferrante has become one of the best-known contemporary writers of the early 21st century. Although her first work, L’Amore Molesto, dates to 1992, it was with the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first volume of the tetralogy of the same name, that the author rose to bestseller status. In academia, her works are also highly respected, judging by the prolific critical production about them. This dissertation analyzes the first book of the tetralogy and the critical reception of the Italian writer's work (Zarzar, 2019; Ricciardi, 2021; Secches, 2020), under the assumption that there is a continuous movement between the author's fictional production and her criticism, a process that undergoes great analytical intervention by the author herself. Given this premise, the publication of In the Margins (2023), which consists of lectures given by Ferrante in which the author comments on her writing process, and Frantumaglia (2003), a collection of letters, interviews, and comments by the author about her work, is of fundamental importance to this study. Although Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym and the author refuses to reveal her true identity, it is striking how her stance as a commentator on her own work serves as a mainstay for critical reception that favors terms such as Smarginatura and Frantumaglia, which the author herself considers fundamental to the creative process. Thus, this dissertation seeks to discuss what is metaphorically referred to here as ouroboros, investigating the cyclical movement of the relationship between fictional creation and Ferrante's critical intervention in her critical fortune.