Writers Who Inspire Us: The Sharpness of Elena Ferrante
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After years of mess in college, quarantine in 2020 hit, I was left at home without much to do. I had spent the last four years reading very little for pleasure, maybe 2 or 3 books a year, and decided that the time to come back had come.
The problem was: I did not know my taste in books anymore. I had the memory to love YA and fantasy books, but much of those things did not seem to fit my life at that moment, so I started to search. That was when I found Elena Ferrante.
I had already heard about her and saw her books at bookstores, never giving much attention. When the fact that she uses a pseudonym and no one knows her came to my attention, it got me intrigued right away. I dived deep into the world that this mysterious woman created.
The plot of her stories is simple. Usually, about women living their lives, facing problems that every one of us faces, for the simple fact of being a woman in the world, she creates strong characters to confront the standard, that will never sit still, that will build the universe they want to live.
Her writing is so smooth that I followed it easily, while she navigates through Napoles with her characters. In her most famous books, The Neapolitan series, she gives the raw reality of poor women in Napoles, at the same time, she enchants the reader with the friendship between Elena and Lila, a friendship that sometimes was not easy.
That is the thing about Ferrante writing. Her characters are not adorable, they can be cruel, infuriating at times, but I could not stop reading. She deals with the chaos that it is to be human and invite us in.
"I worry when I come across statements such as: in those days we did this and not that, today we don't behave like that anymore, postmodern relativism, reality in inverted commas, the great narrative, etc... It's risky for literature, and for any creative activity to base itself on the idea that any more ready-made boxes from which you can extract what is consistent with a more ... less triumphant canon. I tend to believe that the world was and is more disorderly than we diligently catalogue it." Elena Ferrante
Elena's work frequently plays with the idea of a volatile world that can end tonight and be made again in the morning, where we don't know which paths our life will take and how we will react to them.
She sees the harm our society does, put her characters to see this as well, but Elena doesn't confine them into only those situations, as she shows to the reader that everyone is more than the pain they suffered.
In an interview for Vanity Fair, Elena talks about this subject and explains why she so tended to write about the horrors that humans face.
"Every day we find ourselves faced with the intolerable, and no promise of utopia—whether it be political, religious, or scientific—is capable of calming us. Each generation is obliged to verify this horror anew for itself, and to discover that it is impotent. So either you take a step forward or you take one back. I’m not talking about suicide. I’m talking about refusing to engage, about removing oneself from the picture. The sentence, “No, I will not,” when it comes from the depths of the intolerable, seems to me to be weighty, full of meaning, with everything to recount, always."
Her books are not pessimistic, even if it looks like they are. Ferrante includes her view of the world in her stories, but her characters have a voice of their own, and the stories are not about the problems, they are just about life.
For me; it is remarkable to see how she embodies her opinions in the story, in a way that the readers can recognize this even without knowing her. I have never seen her face, but I know a little about what happens in her mind.
At the same interview for Vanity Fair, she talks about her choice of staying out of the public view.
"My choice was something different. I simply decided once and for all, over 20 years ago, to liberate myself from the anxiety of notoriety and the urge to be a part of that circle of successful people, those who believe they have won who-knows-what. This was an important step for me."
In a moment where I plunge more and more into her books, Elena became not only an inspiration as a writer but also as a person, and the way she does this without even showing her face is terrific and amazing.
Recommend Reading
Neapolitan series (2012-2015): the story follows the life and friendship of Elena and Lila, from their childhood in 1950 to adult age, going along with the problems the two faces growing up in a poor neighborhood in Naples. These are the most famous books of the author.
The Lying Life of Adults (2020): the book is about Giovanna, a teen that is becoming an adult, her changes, discoveries, and the perception that maybe the world was not what she thought.
Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey (2016): this is a non-fiction book with personal correspondences from Elena Ferrante that make it possible to know a little about her process of writing and her as a person; getting to the light aspects the readers do not see very much.
ABOUT INÊS ALVES
Inês Alves is a Brazilian communication student and writer, trying to navigate the world. Has a passion for books and reality shows, so it's always talking about one of those subjects. Believes that writing can help to build a revolution in society and wants to be part of it. Find her on Instagram at @inesilvalvess.
