Local Flavour vs Global Readerships: The Elena Ferrante Project and Translatability

Abstract

ABSTRACTThrough an analysis of the novels written under the pen name Elena Ferrante and of the paratextual elements that surround them, this article examines the portrayal of Naples and its outskirts in these narratives, and how the specific geographical and cultural context is rendered and variously translated for different audiences. It argues that the concealment of the author's identity has enhanced the perceived authenticity of the texts, and that the emphasis on marginal backgrounds and subaltern characters entails a contradiction not dissimilar to the phenomenon that Huggan (2001) describes as ‘staged marginality’ in the context of postcolonial narratives. Ferrante's cultural specificity can therefore be read as a highly ambivalent discourse that entails both resistance and adherence to the mechanisms of a global market. Lastly, the article examines how the emphasis on dialect influences the process of translation for diverse readerships, showing the relevance of the ‘Ferrante project’ within world literature debates.