Loss and Renewal Elena Ferrante’s Representation of Mourning in Days of Abandonment

Abstract

Days of Abandonment, Ferrante’s most frequently read novel in English world before My Brilliant Friend, witnesses the establishment of Ferrante’s unique voice. It relates the psychological and physical turmoil of its female protagonist Olga who has been abandoned by her husband. By drawing on Freud’s theory of mourning and loss, as well as Judith Butler’s theorization of ungrievable loss, this paper seeks to lay bare the process of the reconstruction of female subjectivity in Days of Abandonment. It is argued that, by conducting a proper mourning process for the loss of her boundedness with the patriarchal order as represented by her husband Mario, Olga has managed to step out of the patriarchal order and reestablish her connection not only with other human subjects, but also with nonhuman actors as well. And in this posthuman intra-action with materiality of the world, she has rebuilt her identity that initiates her into a more rewarding life.