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An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

theatlantic.com

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Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#31

Post by marchenko »

onlydeadheroes wrote: post #11
edanm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty well-read, although not really in the "general literary" genre. And I also only heard about her a few months ago. That said, the person who introduced her to me made it quite clear that Elena Ferrante is extremely well known, and was shocked that I hadn't heard of her. And I've seen then somewhat confirmed this - she is indeed pretty famous (e.g. this article). So I understand the boat you're in... let's j…

Sounds like marketing to me, nothing more. from the article: "global superstar" I guess the bar has been lowered past the floor now.

She's a legitimate global superstar in fiction writing. Her books are popular enough to move the percentage of total book sales represented by translated fiction in English-speaking markets (she` writes in Italian). Strangely enough, her approach is often considered a kind of anti-marketing: no book tours, few interviews, strangely downscale cover art - people, mostly women, just really love her writing.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#32

Post by lostjohnny »

krapp wrote: post #27
lostjohnny wrote: post #19

Elena Ferrante does not exist.

neither does "lostjohnny."

Her books are not even hers.

Elena Ferrante is a product, we should not speak about the influence of the author(s) of the books, but about the influence the marketing department has.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#33

Post by paganel »

edanm wrote: post #9
satori99 wrote: post #5

"After all, as one of the most famous writers in the world today, you are a legitimate subject for inquiry, whether you welcome it or not." Either I am completely out of touch, or this statement is not true. It's probably the former. One of the mentioned novels titles sounds vaguely familiar, but I have never ever heard of Elena Ferrante. I only read this letter because I wondered why an open letter to someone I'd ne…

I'm pretty well-read, although not really in the "general literary" genre. And I also only heard about her a few months ago. That said, the person who introduced her to me made it quite clear that Elena Ferrante is extremely well known, and was shocked that I hadn't heard of her. And I've seen then somewhat confirmed this - she is indeed pretty famous (e.g. this article). So I understand the boat you're in... let's j…

>I'm pretty well-read, although not really in the "general literary" genre. And I also only heard about her a few months ago.

Same thing here. I think she(/he?) is what Paulo Coelho was back in the 1990s, but adapted to the #metoo and gender politics momentum. Hence why half of the article is really, really curious about the author's gender.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#34

Post by samastur »

icebraining wrote: post #29
avvt4avaw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the other people on the list this year. Donald Trump. Cardi B. Hugh Jackman. Satya Nadella. Sean Hannity. Jacinda Ardern. Elon Musk. Oprah Winfrey. You can argue about the exact selection of people. You can say that Time is 'politicised'. But this is clearly a list of people who are very well known. It's not embarrassing to admit that you had a blind spot about a particular author, musician or politician. But…

I live in the EU, which is quite Americanized by any standard, and I'd bet nobody around me would recognize the name of Sean Hannity (or Nikki Haley, another name on the 2016 list). That list just seems hopelessly parochial to me.

It's a list of influential people, not most famous. Knowing who they are I'd say you could reasonably put both on such list.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#35

Post by krapp »

lostjohnny wrote: post #32
krapp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

neither does "lostjohnny."

Her books are not even hers. Elena Ferrante is a product, we should not speak about the influence of the author(s) of the books, but about the influence the marketing department has.

Every famous author is a "product", it doesn't make them any less real.

JK Rowling has a much bigger marketing machine around her, for instance, but it would be wrong to claim that she, or her books, aren't worth mentioning in a discussion about Harry Potter, only Bloomsbury and Warner Bros.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#36

Post by vahji »

icebraining wrote: post #29
avvt4avaw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the other people on the list this year. Donald Trump. Cardi B. Hugh Jackman. Satya Nadella. Sean Hannity. Jacinda Ardern. Elon Musk. Oprah Winfrey. You can argue about the exact selection of people. You can say that Time is 'politicised'. But this is clearly a list of people who are very well known. It's not embarrassing to admit that you had a blind spot about a particular author, musician or politician. But…

I live in the EU, which is quite Americanized by any standard, and I'd bet nobody around me would recognize the name of Sean Hannity (or Nikki Haley, another name on the 2016 list). That list just seems hopelessly parochial to me.

I live in the EU too and the only name that anybody would recognise there is Donald Trump because they spend all day on the telly telling us how evil he is. Also Hugh Jackman if you like his movies.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#37

Post by icebraining »

samastur wrote: post #34
icebraining wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the EU, which is quite Americanized by any standard, and I'd bet nobody around me would recognize the name of Sean Hannity (or Nikki Haley, another name on the 2016 list). That list just seems hopelessly parochial to me.

It's a list of influential people, not most famous. Knowing who they are I'd say you could reasonably put both on such list.

What's Nikki Haley's influence on the world?

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#38

Post by soneca »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #26
soneca wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She is definitely one of the most famous writers today. You knowing about her isn't necessary to making the statement true.

I just saw her claim to fame and none of her literature I would consider mainstream nor famous. The lot of you are wrong to tell the rest of us what is and isn’t famous. Condescending and thinking yoursef somehow better than one who doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make you a better hacker.

I am not sure how did you read my statement. I find absurd the idea of thinking myself better for knowing about the existence of Elena Ferrante.

"Most famous" is a vague statement for sure, but I believe that considering someone famous is quantifiable somehow, so not much a matter of opinion.

What gives so much subjectivity to this statement is the interpretation of "most", I think. I interpreted "most" as among the top, let's say, 100 writers. If you interpret "most famous" as the top 5, than she is probably not there in most of the world.

I think you judged me too harsh for my statement.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#39

Post by lostjohnny »

krapp wrote: post #35
lostjohnny wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Her books are not even hers. Elena Ferrante is a product, we should not speak about the influence of the author(s) of the books, but about the influence the marketing department has.

Every famous author is a "product", it doesn't make them any less real. JK Rowling has a much bigger marketing machine around her, for instance, but it would be wrong to claim that she, or her books, aren't worth mentioning in a discussion about Harry Potter, only Bloomsbury and Warner Bros.

That's where the confusion kicks in.

I'm sure in good faith you believe Elena Ferrante is a woman, but we don't even know if the books have been written by a single person or if each book has a single author...

It's an interesting marketing phenomenon nonetheless, but we are not looking, IMHO, at someone writing under a pseudonym for personal reasons.

We are looking at the absence as a marketing tool, that amplifies the curiosity around the product.

It would be like talking about Hawthorne Abendsen as a real author.

Re: An Open Letter to Elena Ferrante, Whoever You Are

#40

Post by ordu »

victor9000 wrote: post #25

Why are people being so antagonistic in this thread? Personally, I'm ignorant about this author. If you know their work, could you let me know what I'm missing?

I'm wandering the same. I have read this open letter and I cannot understand what the letter about. What author tries to tell? Why he have wrote this letter? Unclear message with unclear motives... My guess based on this, that the letter is exploded emotional instability caused by books of Elena Ferrante.

But, I'm not sure: if I cannot understand something, it doesn't mean that it is nonsense. Seems the only way to crack this and to understand what happens is to stop being ignorant about Elena Ferrante and read some of her books. Doesn't seem to be a fun.

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