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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

#61

Post by domador »

keiferski wrote: post #14

I don't blame any writer for wanting to be anonymous. In today's world, your race, gender, sexual orientation, age, hair color, clothing style, political affiliation, birthplace, and any other discernible group identity will be used to analyze, market, and categorize your work into the appropriate tribalist-identity. To quote from Ferrante's Wikipedia page: Ferrante holds that "books, once they are written, have no n…

I don't think there's a problem with fictional works' authors being unknown or anonymous. The problem lies in nonfiction works that seek to directly convey any kind of knowledge or wisdom that is difficult to judge and evaluate independently on its own merits (with would cover just about everything outside the hard sciences). There is value in knowing the identity and character of an author, as well as the fact that they associated their personal reputation with the book they wrote.

For example, If I look for a book on developing physical fitness, I want to know who the author is and how fit or disciplined they are. If I read a book about history, I want to know how much the author has studied their topic, whether through formal scholarship or not. If I read a biography, I'd like to know if it's written by someone who personally knew their subject, how close or far removed the author was in time and space, and the kind of scholarship that the author is known for.

Identity and reputation matter when evaluating sources of knowledge in topics that you don't have the time to learn and master yourself.

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

#62

Post by __s »

domador wrote: post #61
keiferski wrote: post #14

I don't blame any writer for wanting to be anonymous. In today's world, your race, gender, sexual orientation, age, hair color, clothing style, political affiliation, birthplace, and any other discernible group identity will be used to analyze, market, and categorize your work into the appropriate tribalist-identity. To quote from Ferrante's Wikipedia page: Ferrante holds that "books, once they are written, have no n…

I don't think there's a problem with fictional works' authors being unknown or anonymous. The problem lies in nonfiction works that seek to directly convey any kind of knowledge or wisdom that is difficult to judge and evaluate independently on its own merits (with would cover just about everything outside the hard sciences). There is value in knowing the identity and character of an author, as well as the fact that…

Plea to authority & ad hominem, agree & disagree, respectively

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

#63

Post by dna_polymerase »

> 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.

No she isn't. She doesn't owe jack shit to you or anyone else. The sense of entitlement in this piece is really off putting. Read her books or don't. That's it. For once accept the work as it is and don't try to interpret it against the background of the authors views, opinions or worse: her race, gender and whatever else millenials come up next.

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

#64

Post by maldusiecle »

onlydeadheroes wrote: post #46
marchenko wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I guessed I stepped on the wrong narrative because just questioning this author's superstardom has gotten me to -4 on a mostly male site where most people can't even downvote. I have no opinion on this author, but can we please stop pushing everything like it is the second coming of christ just because women like it? As I said, marketing.

It's not a gender politics thing. You didn't just "question" her, you directly insulted her--"marketing to me, nothing more ... the bar has been lowered past the floor now." You'd have gotten the same downvotes if you'd launched a stream of invective at a similarly prominent male author.

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

#65

Post by c0nfused »

fishtank wrote: post #58
squarefoot wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... will be used to analyze, market, and categorize your work into the appropriate tribalist-identity." And destroy you should you write something that others don't like. Privacy is becoming an invaluable good whose loss can't be undone.

Who has been destroyed in this fashion?

To pick an example, as a kid I read Ender's Game Because it was SF and had a cool cover. Now, because of the odious nature of the author's personal politics, I don't read his books.

This is entirely his own fault, but if he was just another name on a book I would still be buying his novels.

To pick another example, there stuff like this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_55f1...

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

#66

Post by kreetx »

ordu wrote: post #40
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 c…

And same here. Such intriguing title, but can't really understand what the article is trying to do -- other than resonate on what the author has written about in his/her books.

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

#67

Post by twic »

sn41 wrote: post #20

Why is there such a complaint? Anonymity is a privilege of the author, isn't it? There are authors who remain anonymous even to this day, one I know is B. Traven, the author of the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The precise authorship of individual articles in the Federalist papers is unknown. Also, I believe, if you really want to go that far back, the author of Ecclesiastes is not identified. And then there are know…

Thomas Pynchon is the poster child for this. Well, not exactly the poster child, but you know what i mean.

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

#68

Post by bunderbunder »

chrissam wrote: post #57
keiferski wrote: post #14

I don't blame any writer for wanting to be anonymous. In today's world, your race, gender, sexual orientation, age, hair color, clothing style, political affiliation, birthplace, and any other discernible group identity will be used to analyze, market, and categorize your work into the appropriate tribalist-identity. To quote from Ferrante's Wikipedia page: Ferrante holds that "books, once they are written, have no n…

> Some people just want to write a book...and have it be read as a book, not a sociopolitical statement. Call it the "craftsman ethos", if you like. I've read My Brilliant Friend. I liked it a lot (I'll probably read the other three someday), and I'm not curious about the identity of the writer. At the same time, Elena Ferrante gives interviews. It's one thing to write novels pseudonymously and have them published. I…

I wouldn't be surprised if giving the occasional interview is something the author is doing to keep their publisher (or their publisher's marketing department) happy.

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

#69

Post by stevenwoo »

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 only watching the TV series on HBO. It's about two girls growing up in post WW2 Italy, and it feels like it's filling in the part missing in the Godfather movie series where the women's lives should be. At least from the TV show there are sympathetic portrayals of complicated characters, from recaps I've read the book series is enormously popular among women, and most of Italy is watching the live broadcast, and it's caused crowding in places in Italy mentioned in the books due to people going on My Brilliant Friend location themed tours ala Game of Thrones in Croatia or Lord of the Rings in New Zealand.

The article writer implies the books are a joint project between a man and his wife. I think part of the controversy is the trolling opportunity - some people might think it would be trollish to suggest the author is a man or men's rights activists would relish it being a man. This brings the controversy to the level of the internal Google Damore memo.

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

#70

Post by fishtank »

c0nfused wrote: post #65
fishtank wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has been destroyed in this fashion?

To pick an example, as a kid I read Ender's Game Because it was SF and had a cool cover. Now, because of the odious nature of the author's personal politics, I don't read his books. This is entirely his own fault, but if he was just another name on a book I would still be buying his novels. To pick another example, there stuff like this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_55f1...

In neither case is the person's tribal identity used against them for writing things that others don't like. Orson Scott Card holds a professorship. He just published a book this year. A large corporation made a mass market film out of his book, well after he had been writing things that others didn't like.

The controversy with the poet seems like a different issue, but even so -- Michael Derrick Hudson seems to be in exactly the same place before Sherman Alexie assumed he was a Chinese woman 3 years ago.

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