Abstract
AbstractThis essay begins to develop a philosophical interpretation of Elena Ferrante'sL'amica geniale, a work of fiction that is known in English asThe Neapolitan Novels. My ultimate aim is to explore the work's ambitious moral psychology, and particularly its subtle conceptualization of women's path to freedom. I begin by reconstructing some of the main ideas of Italian difference feminism as they are expressed in the texts of the Milan Women's Bookstore Collective—texts that are controversial milestones of Italian social theory, yet are relatively unknown outside of Italy. I then show how these ideas provide a useful frame of reference for interpreters of Ferrante's novel. This discussion sets up a more extended analysis (in part 2 of this essay) of the special status of Lila Cerullo, her strange condition ofsmarginatura(“dissolving boundaries”), and the import of her puzzling earthquake speech.
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