In the Margins
On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER
A BEST BOOK OF 2022 (Air Mail)
Four new and revelatory essays by the author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter.
In 2020, Claire Luchette in O, The Oprah Magazine described the beloved Italian novelist Elena Ferrante as “an oracle among authors.” Here, in these four crisp essays, Ferrante offers a rare look at the origins of her literary powers. She writes about her influences, her struggles, and her formation as both a reader and a writer; she describes the perils of “bad language” and suggests ways in which it has long excluded women’s truth; she proposes a choral fusion of feminine talent as she brilliantly discourses on the work of Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Ingeborg Bachmann, and many others.
Here is a subtle yet candid book by “one of the great novelists of our time” about adventures in literature, both in and out of the margins.
“Everyone should read everything with Elena Ferrante’s name on it.”—The Boston Globe
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Four essays illuminate the mind of Ferrante (The Lying Life of Adults) in this dazzling collection. In "Pain and Pen" she recalls writing "neat" and "orderly" stories in elementary school notebooks, and explains that the "discordant clamor" in her head led to her novels of "love and betrayal, dangerous investigations, horrific discoveries, corrupted youth, miserable lives that have a stroke of luck." "Aquamarine" explores the "passion for realism" that she's "stubbornly pursued since adolescence," and recounts the "small discoveries" she found after drafting a cover letter for an "unsatisfying" novel she wrote. "Histories, I" sheds light on the particularly "arduous journey" shared by women writers, and acknowledges how the craft of writing builds on the work of those who came before—Ferrante counts among her influences Ingeborg Bachmann, Emily Dickinson, María Guerra, and Gertrude Stein. In "Dante's Rib," Ferrante responds to Dante's work: "I loved and love Dante's words but am exhausted by their force." The collection's strength comes from Ferrante's beautiful prose, as well as the fascinating look at where she finds inspiration. The author's legions of fans are in for a treat.
