“I do not regret my anonymity,” the mysterious Italian writer had declared to the press. Elena Ferrante-. Discovering the personality of the writer through the stories he proposes, his characters, the objects and landscapes he describes, the tone of his writing, is neither more nor less than a good way to read.”. One of the most successful writers of the 21st century, who was said to be dedicated to philology and who was compared to Elsa Morante, was hiding behind a pseudonym.
In 2016, Italian journalists Claudio Gatti and Tommaso Debenedetti – better known as the “Twitter killer” for announcing on social networks “fake deaths” of literary and political celebrities (from the Nobel Prize in Literature Mario Vargas Llosa to Claudia Piñeiro, and the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel) – announced that in truth the author of The wonderful friendamong other works, She was the Italian translator Anita Raja, married to the Italian editor and writer Domenico Starnone, to whom the authorship of Ferrante’s writings was also attributed.
That same year, the Italian press revealed that Raja and Starnone’s fortune had multiplied considerably, in step with the success of Ferrante’s work. Several novels by the mysterious author were adapted to film and others were converted into miniseries; On the MUBI platform, when Ferrante is mentioned as an author or screenwriter, Raja’s photo appears.
Debenedetti created an X account in February that is not fake (@TommDebenedetti) to anticipate the “end” of Ferrante’s work. On April 1 he wrote: “This is not a trick death (yet) but a question. Where is Elena Ferrante? There have been no new books, articles or interviews for a long time. What happened? Has Elena secretly said goodbye to writing? If not, when will your new novel be published?”, and praised the editors Giulio Passerini, from Edizioni E/O, and Michael Reynolds, from Europa Editions, on its publication.
Days later, he noted: “It is strange that Elena Ferrante no longer writes narrative works since 2019 when she published The lying life of adults. For 4 years, only the Epilogue about Alba de Céspedes and very little else. Because? At the moment there are no responses from the editors.” In response to a query from LA NACION, Lumen – the publisher that publishes Ferrante’s work in Spanish – indicated that a new book by the Italian will not be released this year. The most recent is On the marginsfrom 2022, with essays on writing and reading.
The “epilogue” to De Cespédes’s novel, An exemplary wife (Six Barral), It is actually taken from The Frantumaglia. A journey through writing, from 2017, which brings together Ferrante’s other essays on literature. There she reveals that, when she was very young, Ferrante “aspired to write exhibiting a virile pulse,” until she discovered women’s literature. “But for some time now I have shaken off theoretical worries and readings and started writing without wondering what I should be: masculine, feminine, gender-neutral.“, it states. He also characterizes the novel by the Cuban-Italian writer as “of great narrative intelligence.”
“In a week, there is no response from the editors. So the deduction is easy. There will be no new Elena Ferrante novel. Anita Raja (i.e. Elena Ferrante) has stopped writing. For now or forever?”, Debenedetti asked himself in X.
“Raja, the real Elena Ferrante, has not written anything for a long time, not even as a translator – Debenedetti tells LA NACION -. Over the phone, an Italian writer close to Ferrante told me that a new book by Elena was a long way off for now. I think that The revelation of his identity, although it was never confirmed by the editor, constituted a kind of attack on the very essence of Ferrante’s literary work, which had in its anonymity the guarantee of his freedom of writing.. Clearly Ferrante is Raja, and his silence is a new mystery.”