“The Elena Ferrante Phenomenon: The Power of Translation and the Desire for Anonymity.” Talk by Jennifer Gargiulo, Ph.D., Lecturer at Yale-NUS College, Singapore.
The Italian writer known by her pseudonym Elena Ferrante has been one of the most recent literary sensations on the international book scene, enjoying huge popularity and critical acclaim in Italy, but especially abroad.
The author who has chosen to remain anonymous, was named one of the 100 most influential people on the planet by Time magazine in 2016. Her latest four books now known as the “Neapolitan Quartet” have sold millions of copies worldwide. The fourth and final instalment, The Story of the Lost Child, was a finalist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize Award.
The talk will explore Ferrante’s original narrative, the power of Anne Goldstein’s translations that have helped make Ferrante an international phenomenon, and the author's desire for anonymity that distinguished the author from the very beginning.
Jennifer Gargiulo holds a BA with honours in Philosophy and Italian from Vassar College, spent her Junior Year at Oxford University, and received her PhD from Sydney University. She is a member of the Italian National Order of Journalists. She most recently published the humorous, non-fiction Kinokuniya bestseller Diary of An Expat in Singapore based on the popular eponymous blog. Dr. Gargiulo works as a lecturer in literature at Yale-Nus and works at the renowned Writers' Centre there. Dr. Gargiulo lives in Singapore with her husband Michele and two children, Alexander and Eliot, who get to hear about Elena Ferrante on a daily basis.
The Talk is held in English
FREE ADMISSION, Registration at: iicsingapore@esteri.it
