This seminar will investigate a constellation of important literary and critical presences in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series of novels, including Goethe, Benjamin and Christa Wolf. What are the implications of this potential “German genealogy” of Ferrante’s epic narrative? How does our understanding of this genealogy change when considered in light of the debate about Ferrante’s surmised identity as the translator and scholar of German literature, Anita Raja?
Alessia Ricciardi is a professor of Italian and Comparative Literature and is director of graduate studies in the Program of Comparative Literary Studies at Northwestern University.
Sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies. Click here for the full schedule of the 2018-19 Italian Research Seminar.
Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.