Elena Ferrante as World Literature (Literatures as World Literature)

Elena Ferrante as World Literature is the first English-language monograph on contemporary Italian writer Elena Ferrante, whose four Neapolitan Novels (2011-2014) became a global phenomenon. The book proposes that Ferrante constructs a theory of feminine experience which serves as the scaffolding for her own literary practice. Drawing on the writer’s entire textual corpus to date, Stiliana Milkova examines the linguistic, psychical, and corporeal-spatial realities that constitute the female subjects Ferrante has theorized. At stake in Ferrante’s theory/practice is the articulation of a feminine subjectivity that emerges from the structures of patriarchal oppression and that resists, bypasses, or subverts these very structures. Milkova’s inquiry proceeds from Ferrante’s theory of frantumaglia and smarginatura to explore mechanisms for controlling and containing the female body and mind, forms of female authorship and creativity, and corporeal negotiations of urban topography and patriarchal space. Elena Ferrante as World Literature sets forth an interdisciplinary framework for understanding Ferrante's texts and offers an account of her literary and cultural significance today. Acknowledgments Chronology of Elena Ferrante's Works and Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction: Elena Ferrante, World Literature, and the Work of Literary Translation World Literature and the Creation of Elena Ferrante Ferrante's Feminine Imaginary Ferrante's Female Genealogies The Translator as Seamstress: Figures of Translation from the Periphery to the Center Elena Ferrante as World Literature : An Overview -- 2. Frantumaglia and Smarginatura : The Borders of a Universal Feminine Imaginary Incisions and Inscriptions of the Body The Parameters of Frantumaglia Smarginatura in the Neapolitan Novels The ?Mothers? of Smarginatura Women Who Write -- 3. Binding and Unbinding the Maternal Body and Voice Desire and Disgust for the Mother Conflations and Inversions: Mothers, Daughters, Dolls Enclosing the Maternal Body: Cellars, Locked Apartments, Clothes Laughing Bodies and Grotesque Gestures Dead Mothers and Corporeal Flows -- 4. Outside the Frame: The Aesthetics of Female Creativity and Authorship Inside the Frame: The (Nude) Female Body-as-Parts Inside the Frame: Mirrors, Collages, Still Lifes Outside the Frame: Creating a Female Artistic Legacy The Neapolitan Novels and Female Friendship, Writing, Authorship -- 5. Mapping Urban Feminine Topographies Walking the Streets of Topographic Memory in Troubling Love Symbolic and Literal Labyrinth in the Neapolitan Novels From Naples to Turin: Urban Itineraries of Abandonment Epilogue: Reverse Maps, Familial Objects, and Open Frames in The Lying Life of Adults Notes Works Cited Index "A model of academic praxis." - Public Books Elena Ferrante as World Literature is the first English-language monograph on Italian writer Elena Ferrante, whose four Neapolitan Novels (2011-2014) became a global phenomenon. The book proposes that Ferrante constructs a theory of feminine experience which serves as the scaffolding for her own literary practice. Drawing on the writer's entire textual corpus to date, Stiliana Milkova examines the linguistic, psychical, and corporeal-spatial realities that constitute the female subjects Ferrante has theorized. At stake in Ferrante's theory/practice is the articulation of a feminine subjectivity that emerges from the structures of patriarchal oppression and that resists, bypasses, or subverts these very structures. Milkova's inquiry proceeds from Ferrante's theory of frantumaglia and smarginatura to explore mechanisms for controlling and containing the female body and mind, forms of female authorship and creativity, and corporeal negotiations of urban topography and patriarchal space. Elena Ferrante as World Literature sets forth an interdisciplinary framework for understanding Ferrante's texts and offers an account of her literary and cultural significance today. Elena Ferrante as World Literature is the first English-language monograph on Italian writer Elena Ferrante, whose four Neapolitan Novels (2011-2014) became a global phenomenon. The book proposes that Ferrante constructs a theory of feminine experience which serves as the scaffolding for her own literary practice. Drawing on the writer s entire textual corpus to date, Stiliana Milkova examines the linguistic, psychical, and corporeal-spatial realities that constitute the female subjects Ferrante has theorized. At stake in Ferrante s theory/practice is the articulation of a feminine subjectivity that emerges from the structures of patriarchal oppression and that resists, bypasses, or subverts these very structures. Milkova s inquiry proceeds from Ferrante s theory of frantumaglia and smarginatura to explore mechanisms for controlling and containing the female body and mind, forms of female authorship and creativity, and corporeal negotiations of urban topography and patriarchal space. Elena Ferrante as World Literature sets forth an interdisciplinary framework for understanding Ferrante's texts and offers an account of her literary and cultural significance today. Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Chronology of Elena Ferrante’s Works and Abbreviations Used 11 1 Introduction: Elena Ferrante, World Literature, and the Work of Literary Translation 12 2 Frantumaglia and Smarginatura: The Borders of a Universal Feminine Imaginary 38 3 Binding and Unbinding the Maternal Body and Voice 72 4 Outside the Frame: The Aesthetics of Female Creativity and Authorship 116 5 Mapping Urban Feminine Topographies 142 Epilogue: Reverse Maps, Familial Objects, and Open Frames in The Lying Life of Adults 176 Notes 184 Works Cited 198 Index 212 "Examines the global impact and relevance of Elena Ferrante's narratives of feminine identity"-- Provided by publisher