Joel Deane (online comment)

FEMINIST AWAKENINGS

I beg to differ with Luke Horton's review of Elena Ferrante's novel The Story of the Lost Child (November 2015). There is not a whiff of 'feminist awakening' in the quartet. The alternative to 'life beyond marriage and motherhood' turns out to be the mere extension of women vying for male attention, and the analysis of associated anxieties and mistrust. In English this would be called as a 'fair-weather' friendship, and probably remain unworthy of note. Stories about women (including the ubiquitous inclusion of a token transgender character) can hardly be touted as necessarily feminist. There is something about the whole washing-flapping-above-dark-southern-Vicoli that charms Anglo readers fixated on the ethnic Other. Last, the specifically local nature of delinquent thugs is a worthy take-home portrait, mercifully without tedious overstatement.

Lynda Heims (online comment)

Luke Horton replies:

One of the great things about Elena Ferrante is how passionately readers debate her work. The feminist awakening I refer to in my review is Lenù's growing awareness of the aims of second-wave feminism, such as the ability of women to have careers and to live independently from men. Lenù's friendship with Lila is undoubtedly fraught, but it is 'worthy of note' because it remains the central relationship in her life. By comparison, the men in her life are but brief distractions. There is actually very little vying for male attention, but Ferrante does not shy away from the painful aspects of friendship either.

As to the allure of the 'ethnic other', these novels would be remarkable wherever they were set.