You read all Elena Ferrante’s books comprising My Brilliant Friend quartet, you’ve been watching the HBO series adaptation, and perhaps you’re curious about the charming and intense city of Naples, the setting of Lila and Lenù’s story across decades of Italian social history. As a Neapolitan writer who left Naples, I’ve always thought that Elena Ferrante – since her first novel L’amore molesto (Eng. Troubling Love) — “took the words out of my mouth” in describing aspects of life in the city, or more accurately, she gifted them to me and many women born and raised there.
Join me on Dec 10th, 6:30 pm, at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, for a multimedia exploration of Naples and its culture guided by locations in Ferrante’s narrative. More info here