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maria_1605's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know why Ferrante is so freaking brilliant, but I simply adore her. Reading this made me realize that being a female writer is a real struggle. But God, we really need this kind of literature.
alisonburnis's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I find Elena Ferrante fascinating, not because they remain hidden under a pen name, but because their reasons for doing so are complex but also highly relatable, particularly in our current era of branding and visibility of all. This collection of letters and essays is a great window into Ferrante’s thoughts about writing and their anonymity. A nice companion for those who enjoy Ferrante’s work, though it can be a bit repetitive.
shallihavemydwarf's review against another edition
5.0
Look, just drop everything and read this book. If you have any interest at all in literary theory, writing, reading, the creative process, or just Ferrante herself, then read this wonderful, illuminating book.
Elena Ferrante makes me yearn to write, though she taunts me. I will treasure Frantumaglia and reread it.
Elena Ferrante makes me yearn to write, though she taunts me. I will treasure Frantumaglia and reread it.
annrose_007's review against another edition
4.0
This non fictional work of Ferrante carries her correspondences with her publishers, interviews and responses to her readers and even contemporaries. These writings dating from the time of her first literary publication (1991) to 2016 shows her continuing growth as a writer and her clear stance on the punctilious use of language and her anonymity. Inspite of having only read her Neapolitan Quartet, I went for this because I was curious to get behind her writing. On second thoughts, I should have been more patient and waited till I've read other works as well. Being a writer who keeps her private life away from a public gaze, in this book she allows her readers to have a glance at her writing process, her formative years of becoming a writer and even provides a description of her working space. She discusses in detail the recurring motifs and themes in her works like abandonment, loss, borders, complexities in a mother- daughter relationship and even her difficult relationship with Naples. She says she keeps away from politics but interested in economic and social contexts of her country . Yet she does not deny the ideological underpinnings in her novels. Though I might disagree with her perspective on 'politics' as a wholesome category as reflected in her critique of Naples, Berlusconi and media manipulation, her discussions surrounding feminism, women writing and location of women writers within a male literary tradition clearly marks her ideological standing. Throughout her correspondences, she maintains an interesting obsession with 'literary truth'. Something which in her opinion, shouldn't be confused with realism or verisimilitude. Her honesty as a writer can be observed from the care with which she attends to the words she had written as it gets translated from one medium to another, like adaptations.
Though some parts may seem repetitive, it can be owed mostly to the repetitiveness of the queries posed to her about her anonymity and the hype and constructed mystery surrounding it. If I had read Neapolitan Quartet with an insatiable greed, I read this one like a meditation. Taking notes, marking words and looking between and beneath words.
Though some parts may seem repetitive, it can be owed mostly to the repetitiveness of the queries posed to her about her anonymity and the hype and constructed mystery surrounding it. If I had read Neapolitan Quartet with an insatiable greed, I read this one like a meditation. Taking notes, marking words and looking between and beneath words.
djinnmartini's review against another edition
4.0
peep all the American reviewers throwing temper tantrums about author anonymity. death of the author indeed!