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dissendiumnox's review against another edition
5.0
Sans grande surprise... j’ai adoré.
Au début, j’ai eu un peu de mal à m’y faire, car c’est une collection de lettres et d’interviews, et puis parce que je n’ai pas lu son premier roman, L’amour harcelant. Et puis au fur et à mesure, son écriture a produit sa magie et je me suis laissée prendre !
Au début, j’ai eu un peu de mal à m’y faire, car c’est une collection de lettres et d’interviews, et puis parce que je n’ai pas lu son premier roman, L’amour harcelant. Et puis au fur et à mesure, son écriture a produit sa magie et je me suis laissée prendre !
pronnnnch's review against another edition
4.0
While I never actively wanted to reveal more about Elena Ferrante, this book made me more excited to read her other works! Ferrante’s ideas and thoughts are so smart, well thought of, that when I was reading this Ferrante felt like a character herself. By the end though the questions in the interviews got repetitive that I found myself annoyed at interviewers repeatedly asking about her choice to remain anonymous. I also skipped questions Ferrante answered in multiple interviews already. If you read The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love and the Neopolitan Series I would recommend reading this. It doesn’t explicitly tell you how to interpret the texts (which for me, loses the personal journey of reading a book) but there’s a joy in seeing the author point out the intentionality of their writing.
lizzie_e's review against another edition
4.0
Perdi a conta à quantidade de frases que anotei deste livro.
É simplesmente maravilhoso para quem gosta da autora. Temos acesso a uma parte mais íntima dela (há spoilers de todos os romances que ela escreveu, cuidado!) e compreendemos os autores que a inspiram, o que a faz escrever, a sua relação com o feminismo (e como consegue silenciar os idiotas que a criticam) e o seu processo criativo. Muito bom.
É simplesmente maravilhoso para quem gosta da autora. Temos acesso a uma parte mais íntima dela (há spoilers de todos os romances que ela escreveu, cuidado!) e compreendemos os autores que a inspiram, o que a faz escrever, a sua relação com o feminismo (e como consegue silenciar os idiotas que a criticam) e o seu processo criativo. Muito bom.
extemporalli's review against another edition
5.0
I read this ages ago, but 3 things that I found completely delightful about this collection of essays, letters, interviews, marginalia etc and still remember:
1) EF's incessant repetition that 'anonymity did not bring my writing acclaim, the success of my writing brought my anonymity acclaim' ad nauseam to interviewers who you'd think would have learnt to stop asking her the same question
2) Her desire for “a space of absolute creative freedom” via pseudonymity because her books stick “a finger in certain wounds I have that are still infected”.
3) The revelation that the dog in The Days in Abandonment was inspired by a German Shepherd she had and loved very much many years ago
For me, Elena Ferrante is one of those precious & rare writers where I feel the need to read every single thing she's written, so others might find this collection less essential than I did. For my part, I found these short pieces as enjoyable and relaxing as they were invigorating and instructive - I read one piece every night before bed, and every night I felt that I came away having learnt new things about the value of privacy, the craft of writing, and how to read.
1) EF's incessant repetition that 'anonymity did not bring my writing acclaim, the success of my writing brought my anonymity acclaim' ad nauseam to interviewers who you'd think would have learnt to stop asking her the same question
2) Her desire for “a space of absolute creative freedom” via pseudonymity because her books stick “a finger in certain wounds I have that are still infected”.
3) The revelation that the dog in The Days in Abandonment was inspired by a German Shepherd she had and loved very much many years ago
For me, Elena Ferrante is one of those precious & rare writers where I feel the need to read every single thing she's written, so others might find this collection less essential than I did. For my part, I found these short pieces as enjoyable and relaxing as they were invigorating and instructive - I read one piece every night before bed, and every night I felt that I came away having learnt new things about the value of privacy, the craft of writing, and how to read.
gabriela_rus's review against another edition
4.0
Frantumaglia este cuvântul folosit de mama Elenei pentru a-și defini starea de farămițare, împrăștiere, dezintegrare e eului și cuvîntul pe care îl alege pentru a-i defini scrisul. Chiar dacă eul narator pornește mereu de la o tonalitate rece, lucidă, inevitabil se lovește de incertitudini, de durerea existențială și ajunge să fie definit de frantumaglia.
Colecție de scrisori si interviuri, prin desișul de informații care ajung să se repete și uneori să obosească (în special obsedantele întrebări despre indentitatea reală a autoarei, care refuză să se dezvăluie publicului și jurnaliștilor din motive clar si repetat precizate), dacă urmărim firul Ariadnei pe care ea ni-l lasă la vedere, o găsim pe Elena pe fiecare pagină, în tot ceea ce scrie. Și ce bucurie să o găsești!
Redau aici unul dintre pasajele favorite ca teaser:
„Nu știu ce rezultate am obținut ca scriitoare, dar știu spre ce tind când scriu. Pentru mine nu e esențial ca povestea să nu mai fi fost spusă niciodată: poveștile care-i sunt oferite cititorului ca fiind foarte noi pot fi oricând reduse, cu ușurință, la un miez antic. Nu mă interesează nici să revigorez vreo întâmplare banală injectându-i un stil frumos, ca și cum a scrie ar însemna să îmbogățești încontinuu povestea. În plus, nu am tendința să deconstruiesc timpul, spațiul, când sunt mai mult o dovadă de pricepere decât o necesitate narativă. Eu povestesc experiențe comune, răni comune și cea mai mare obsesie a mea – nu singura – e să găsesc o tonalitate a scriiturii capabilă să scoată strat după strat bandajul care înfășoară rana și să ajungă la povestea adevărată a plăgii. Cu cât mi se pare că plaga se ascunde după o sumedenie de stereotipuri, de ficțiuni pe care personajele însele le-au pus cap la cap ca să se apere –, cu cât, în fine, mi se pare mai refractară la poveste –, cu atât mai mult insist. Nu mă interesează să scriu frumos, mă interesează să scriu. Și o fac recurgând la tot ceea ce tradiția îmi oferă, supunând-o scopurilor mele. Nu e importantă noutatea, ci adevărul pe care noi înșine din prudență, din conformism, îl ascundem în forme armonioase, sau de ce nu, în exerciții experimentale.“
Colecție de scrisori si interviuri, prin desișul de informații care ajung să se repete și uneori să obosească (în special obsedantele întrebări despre indentitatea reală a autoarei, care refuză să se dezvăluie publicului și jurnaliștilor din motive clar si repetat precizate), dacă urmărim firul Ariadnei pe care ea ni-l lasă la vedere, o găsim pe Elena pe fiecare pagină, în tot ceea ce scrie. Și ce bucurie să o găsești!
Redau aici unul dintre pasajele favorite ca teaser:
„Nu știu ce rezultate am obținut ca scriitoare, dar știu spre ce tind când scriu. Pentru mine nu e esențial ca povestea să nu mai fi fost spusă niciodată: poveștile care-i sunt oferite cititorului ca fiind foarte noi pot fi oricând reduse, cu ușurință, la un miez antic. Nu mă interesează nici să revigorez vreo întâmplare banală injectându-i un stil frumos, ca și cum a scrie ar însemna să îmbogățești încontinuu povestea. În plus, nu am tendința să deconstruiesc timpul, spațiul, când sunt mai mult o dovadă de pricepere decât o necesitate narativă. Eu povestesc experiențe comune, răni comune și cea mai mare obsesie a mea – nu singura – e să găsesc o tonalitate a scriiturii capabilă să scoată strat după strat bandajul care înfășoară rana și să ajungă la povestea adevărată a plăgii. Cu cât mi se pare că plaga se ascunde după o sumedenie de stereotipuri, de ficțiuni pe care personajele însele le-au pus cap la cap ca să se apere –, cu cât, în fine, mi se pare mai refractară la poveste –, cu atât mai mult insist. Nu mă interesează să scriu frumos, mă interesează să scriu. Și o fac recurgând la tot ceea ce tradiția îmi oferă, supunând-o scopurilor mele. Nu e importantă noutatea, ci adevărul pe care noi înșine din prudență, din conformism, îl ascundem în forme armonioase, sau de ce nu, în exerciții experimentale.“
tee_tuhm's review against another edition
5.0
Elena is particular and thoughtful, her philosophy of writing and literature pervades her work. And it was inspiring to read her letters and interviews. It makes one sad about the state of media when it comes to literature. At times, the themes repeat, only because she herself is put into situations where it seems she must repeat herself.
clairewords's review against another edition
4.0
A fabulous collections of correspondence and essay like responses to interview questions over a period of twenty five years since the publication of her first novel [b:Troubling Love|290186|Troubling Love|Elena Ferrante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399307647s/290186.jpg|55042223].
The title 'Frantumaglia', a fabulous word left to her by her mother, in her Neapolitan dialect, a word she used to describe how she felt when racked by contradictory sensations that were tearing her apart.
And so for her characters, this is what suffering is, looking onto the frantumaglia, the jumble of fragments inside.
The first half chiefly concerning communication around Troubling Love and [b:The Days of Abandonment|77810|The Days of Abandonment|Elena Ferrante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412532798s/77810.jpg|75142], the latter written ten years after the first, although other stories were written in between, but never published, the author not happy with them as she so succinctly reveals:
The second half indicates a delay in the publication of this collection as it includes interviews and question - responses around the Neapolitan Quartet, beginning with the renowned [b:My Brilliant Friend|13586707|My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels #1)|Elena Ferrante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1343064947s/13586707.jpg|19174054].
Readers ask poignant questions, while the media tend to obsess about her decision to remain absent (as opposed to anonymous) from promotional activity, to which she has many responses, but one i particularly liked in a letter to Goffredo Fofi:
She shares some of her literary influences (works of literature about abandoned women) from the classic Greek myths, from Ariadne to Medea, from Dido to Simone de Beauvoir's [b:The Woman Destroyed|141421|The Woman Destroyed|Simone de Beauvoir|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891107s/141421.jpg|2496851] and refers to recurring themes of abandonment, separation, and struggle. She mentions literary favourites, such as Elsa Morante's [b:House of Liars|6322404|House of Liars|Elsa Morante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439928909s/6322404.jpg|6507863].
One interviewer asks why in her early novels, her characters depict women who suffer, to which she responds:
And on comparing Olga to Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, who she sees as descendants of Dido and Medea, though they have lost the obscure force that pushed those heroines of the ancient world to such brutal forms of resistance and revenge, they instead experience their abandonment as a punishment for their sins.
In an interview, Stefania Scateni from the publication l'Unità, refers to Olga, the protagonist of The Days of Abandonment as destroyed by one love, seeking another with her neighbour, asks what Ferrante thinks of love?
She agains refers to the Greek classics, to Book 4 of the Aeneid, where the construction of Carthage stops when Dido falls in love.
The correspondence with the Director of Troubling Love, Mario Martone is illuminating, to read of Ferrante's humble hesitancy in contributing to a form she confessed to know nothing about, followed by her exemplary input to the process and finally the unsent letter, many months later when she finally saw the film and was so affected by what he had created. It makes me want to read her debut novel and watch the original cult film now.
Frantumagli is an excellent accompaniment to the novels of Elena Ferrante and insight into this writer's journey and process, in particular the inspiration behind her characters, settings and recurring themes.
The title 'Frantumaglia', a fabulous word left to her by her mother, in her Neapolitan dialect, a word she used to describe how she felt when racked by contradictory sensations that were tearing her apart.
She said that inside her she had a frantumaglia, a jumble of fragments. The frantumaglia depressed her. Sometimes it made her dizzy, sometimes it made her mouth taste like iron. It was the word for a disquiet not otherwise definable, it referred to a miscellaneous crowd of things in her head, debris in a muddy water of the brain. The frantumaglia was mysterious, it provoked mysterious actions, it was the source of all suffering not traceable to a single obvious cause...Often it made her weep, and since childhood the word has stayed in my mind to describe, in particular, a sudden fit of weeping for no evident reason: frantumaglia tears.
And so for her characters, this is what suffering is, looking onto the frantumaglia, the jumble of fragments inside.
The first half chiefly concerning communication around Troubling Love and [b:The Days of Abandonment|77810|The Days of Abandonment|Elena Ferrante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412532798s/77810.jpg|75142], the latter written ten years after the first, although other stories were written in between, but never published, the author not happy with them as she so succinctly reveals:
I haven't written two books in ten years, I've written and rewritten many. But Troubling Love and The Days of Abandonment seemed to me the ones that most decisively stuck a finger in certain wounds I have that are still infected, and did so without keeping a safe distance. At other times, I've written about clean or happily healed wounds with the obligatory detachment and the right words. But then I discovered that is not my path.
The second half indicates a delay in the publication of this collection as it includes interviews and question - responses around the Neapolitan Quartet, beginning with the renowned [b:My Brilliant Friend|13586707|My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels #1)|Elena Ferrante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1343064947s/13586707.jpg|19174054].
Readers ask poignant questions, while the media tend to obsess about her decision to remain absent (as opposed to anonymous) from promotional activity, to which she has many responses, but one i particularly liked in a letter to Goffredo Fofi:
In my experience, the difficulty-pleasure of writing touches every point of the body. When you've finished the book, it's as if your innermost self had been ransacked, and all you want is to regain distance, return to being whole. I've discovered, by publishing, that there is a certain relief in the fact that the moment the text becomes a printed book it goes elsewhere. Before, it was the text that was pestering me; now I'd have to run after it. I decided not to.
...I wrote my book to free myself from it, not to be its prisoner.
She shares some of her literary influences (works of literature about abandoned women) from the classic Greek myths, from Ariadne to Medea, from Dido to Simone de Beauvoir's [b:The Woman Destroyed|141421|The Woman Destroyed|Simone de Beauvoir|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891107s/141421.jpg|2496851] and refers to recurring themes of abandonment, separation, and struggle. She mentions literary favourites, such as Elsa Morante's [b:House of Liars|6322404|House of Liars|Elsa Morante|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439928909s/6322404.jpg|6507863].
One interviewer asks why in her early novels, her characters depict women who suffer, to which she responds:
The suffering of Delia, Olga, Leda is the result of disappointment. What they expected from life - they are women who sought to break with the tradition of their mothers and grandmothers - does not arrive. Old ghosts arrive instead, the same ones with whom the women of the past had to reckon. The difference is that these women don't submit to them passively. Instead, they fight, and they cope. They don't win, but they simply come to an agreement with their own expectations and find new equilibriums. I feel them not as women who are suffering but as women who are struggling.
And on comparing Olga to Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, who she sees as descendants of Dido and Medea, though they have lost the obscure force that pushed those heroines of the ancient world to such brutal forms of resistance and revenge, they instead experience their abandonment as a punishment for their sins.
Olga, on the other hand, is an educated woman of today, influenced by the battle against the patriarchy. She knows what can happen to her and tries not to be destroyed by abandonment. Hers is the story of how she resists, of how she touches bottom and returns, of how abandonment changes her without annihilating her.
In an interview, Stefania Scateni from the publication l'Unità, refers to Olga, the protagonist of The Days of Abandonment as destroyed by one love, seeking another with her neighbour, asks what Ferrante thinks of love?
Ferrante: The need for love is the central experience of our existence.However foolish it may seem, we feel truly alive only when we have an arrow in our side and that we drag around night and day, everywhere we go. The need for love sweeps away every other need and, on the other hand, motivates all our actions.
She agains refers to the Greek classics, to Book 4 of the Aeneid, where the construction of Carthage stops when Dido falls in love.
Individuals and cities without love are a danger to themselves and others.
The correspondence with the Director of Troubling Love, Mario Martone is illuminating, to read of Ferrante's humble hesitancy in contributing to a form she confessed to know nothing about, followed by her exemplary input to the process and finally the unsent letter, many months later when she finally saw the film and was so affected by what he had created. It makes me want to read her debut novel and watch the original cult film now.
Frantumagli is an excellent accompaniment to the novels of Elena Ferrante and insight into this writer's journey and process, in particular the inspiration behind her characters, settings and recurring themes.
nadiadeb's review against another edition
5.0
Would recommend reading after Ferrante’s other books to really appreciate added details and insights.