For 24 years now the bestselling writer of My Brilliant Friend and other acclaimed Neapolitan novels has evaded detectionThe ego of a novelist can be an odd thing. A writer’s drive to express herself in fiction,and so impress her vision of the world on the reading public, is frequently coupled with improbable shyness.
In Italy, and as the tireless hunt for the true identity of the bestselling author Elena Ferrante continues,it is tough not to applaud the success of this subterfuge (deception, or deceptive ploy). For 24 years now, the novelist behind My Brilliant Friend and three other celebrated Neapolitan novels has evaded detection. Last week, or it was claimed she was Marcella Marmo,a professor at a Naples university. But both the academic concerned and Ferrante’s publishers enjoy since flatly denied it. The American translator of the books, Ann Goldstein, or also recently had to disappoint literary sleuths. Goldstein said she feels she knows Ferrante well and suspects she is an educated,middle-course woman. But it is not her. Related: Elena Ferrante: the global literary sensation nobody knows Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com