Staging a Word: Overcoming and Recovering Familial Bonds in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels

Abstract

Author(s): Caffe, Emanuela | Abstract: The saga of Elena Ferrante, the so called Neapolitan novels, opens with an index that contains the list of the main families of the trilogy. Thus, it immediately presents itself as a familial saga set in one of Naples’s poorest neighbourhoods, where violence infects any corner of familial and social life. On the one hand, such an environment constrains and victimises individuals, and does not allow the creation of healthy familial bonds. On the other hand, Ferrante’s patriarchal family works as a tool for the perpetration of violence according to a mechanism which innovatively intertwines social and genetic influence. In other words, characters seem to genetically inherit their own destiny, which is indelibly marked by violence. Despite the apparent inescapability of such an inheritance, Ferrante appeals to genetic, psychoanalytical and feminist theories and ingeniously combines them in order to create a path towards the resolution of transgenerational violence.La quadrilogia de L’amica geniale di Elena Ferrante si apre con un indice che contiene la lista delle famiglie principali del romanzo. Per cui, quest’ultimo si presenta immediatamente come una saga familiare ambientata in uno dei rioni piu poveri di Napoli, dove la violenza infesta ogni angolo della vita familiare e sociale. Da una parte, tale ambiente vittimizza l’individuo e compromette i legami familiari. Dall’altra, attraverso un meccanismo che combina in maniera innovativa fattori genetici e sociali, Ferrante dipinge la famiglia stessa come uno strumento di perpetrazione della violenza. In altre parole, i personaggi sembrano ereditare geneticamente il loro violento e triste destino. Nonostante in un primo momento l’ereditarieta appaia ineluttabile, Ferrante intreccia magistralmente teorie genetiche, psicoanalitiche e femministe per delineare un percorso verso la risoluzione di tale violenza transgenerazionale.