Synopsis
Named one of The Guardian's "Best Books of 2016"
From the author of My Brilliant Friend
This book invites readers into Elena Ferrante’s workshop. It offers a glimpse into the drawers of her writing desk, those drawers from which emerged her three early standalone novels and the four installments of My Brilliant Friend, known in English as the Neapolitan Quartet. Consisting of over 20 years of letters, essays, reflections, and interviews, it is a unique depiction of an author who embodies a consummate passion for writing.
In these pages Ferrante answers many of her readers’ questions. She addresses her choice to stand aside and let her books live autonomous lives. She discusses her thoughts and concerns as her novels are being adapted into films. She talks about the challenge of finding concise answers to interview questions. She explains the joys and the struggles of writing, the anguish of composing a story only to discover that that story isn’t good enough. She contemplates her relationship with psychoanalysis, with the cities she has lived in, with motherhood, with feminism, and with her childhood as a storehouse for memories, impressions, and fantasies. The result is a vibrant and intimate self-portrait of a writer at work.
About Elena Ferrante
See more books from this AuthorNot a good entrance point for readers unfamiliar with the author’s work, but devotees will surely pore over the bits and pieces in an effort to arrive one step closer at understanding the phenomenon that is Ferrante fever.
Read Full Review of Fragments: On Writing, Readin... | See more reviews from Kirkus...the publication of “Frantumaglia” turns out to be a hugely misguided endeavor on the part of both Ms. Ferrante and her publishers. It’s a padded, often self-indulgent volume that undermines her stated belief...
Read Full Review of Fragments: On Writing, Readin... | See more reviews from NY TimesWe will continue to have Ferrante’s novels, but we will lose the fascinating ambiguity of that other character, no less the writer’s creation than Elena Greco or Lila Cerullo: the character of Elena Ferrante, author.
Read Full Review of Fragments: On Writing, Readin... | See more reviews from NY TimesI had no desire at all at the end to know who the real Ferrante is. I feel I already know. Frantumaglia has added to that knowledge and also offered up some unexpected gems.
Read Full Review of Fragments: On Writing, Readin... | See more reviews from GuardianIt’s the diamond-cut precision and clarity with which she chooses her words that achieves their elevated impression
Read Full Review of Fragments: On Writing, Readin... | See more reviews from National Post artsAn aggregated and normalized score based on 8 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes