Home › Books › In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and W…
In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing
by
38/99
Critics' Rating Index
16/99
Readers' Rating Index
87/99
Scholars' Citation Index
98/99
Volume of Reviews
68/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
Four new and revelatory essays by the author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter In 2020, Claire Luchette in O, The Oprah Magazine described the beloved Italian novelist Elena Ferrante as "an oracle among authors." Here, in these four crisp essays, Ferrante offers a rare look at the origins of her literary powers. She writes about her influences, her struggles, and her formation as both a reader and a writer; she describes the perils of "bad language" and suggests ways in which it has long excluded women's truth; she proposes a choral fusion of feminine talent as she brilliantly discourses on the work of Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Ingeborg Bachmann, and many others. Here is a subtle yet candid book by "one of the great novelists of our time" about adventures in literature, both in and out of the margins.
Reviews
"Together, these four essays are the closest Ferrante has come to an articulation of her literary methodology ..."
"But for those of us whose Ferrante fever runs high, it is nothing short of a thrill to have light shed on her magic."
"Crucially, Ferrante argues reciprocity in storytelling is important not just at the personal level, but also at the larger cultural and political levels."
"While each essay in the collection engages its own topic, all four cohere along this thematic through-line, offering critical insight into the question of how one can 'learn to use with freedom the cage we're shut up in.'"
"Four essays illuminate the mind of Ferrante (The Lying Life of Adults) in this dazzling collection ..."
"Despite its insights, I'm not sure this tour of Ferrante's own mind offers the same rewards."
"Ferrante is a generous guide, taking us through her evolution as a writer and the processes she draws on in each story."
"The other three lectures In the Margins should only hold the attention of those fans who will read anything and everything by that manufactured construct known as 'Elena Ferrante, author.' But 'Pain and Pen' has the extended poignancy that the great sportswriter, Red Smith, compressed into one deathless remark: 'Writing is easy."
"Her anonymity...gives her a freedom in her fiction that is missing from her nonfiction work, which feels a bit circular and self-reinforcing."
"A fourth essay considers Dante's Beatrice."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!