Essay: Ferrante Fervour- Beyond the Mystery by Vaishali Batra

In this essay, Vaishali Batra shares her journey of discovering Elena Ferrante and understanding women’s literature through her works.

It has been exactly two years since I first discovered Elena Ferrante – the globally acclaimed Italian author known as much for her renunciation of publicity as she is for her works. The speculations surrounding her identity have taken over the literary world, especially since her works have been translated into English. While some attempts to unmask her have been mercenary, the curiosity driving readers, scholars, and critics alike to decipher the enigma of Ferrante is undeniable.

There have been countless ingenious and derivative critical works written about Ferrante’s life and oeuvre, and so it is no intention of mine to belabour those arguments. I only wish to enunciate the impact of this phenomenal author’s writing on me, if I manage to find the right words; if not, I request the reader not to reduce this essay to a mere recommendation or endorsement and suggest with all earnestness that they do not read it as one. Some part of me wants to claim that this piece is much more than that and to my own surprise, today, I want to follow its lead and subscribe to the convolutions of writing (more on that later). This, above anything else, is personal.