Sep 10, 2015 05:39 AM EDT
'The Story of the Lost Child' Author Elena Ferrante Speaks Out on Identity Speculations

Elena Ferrante, the acclaimed creator of the "Neapolitan" tetralogy, can be a bit elusive especially when it comes to her true identity, which only select people know. In turn, there emerged speculations that the author is, in fact, a man or a group of them despite her claims that suggest otherwise.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, she made time to address these assumptions and she did this with contempt. Ferrante brings about the same situation but with a male author being speculated as a woman or a group of women. She is horrified by how commonplace the thinking that a man with his "exorbitant might" can imitate a woman without blowing his cover but not a woman to a man because of her "weakness."

Ferrante called out the belief that female writers "could not possibly fake male potency," adding that the publishing industry and the media has gone so far as to "[shutting] women who write away in a literary gynaeceum" with these women expected to act or write what is expected of them by male tradition.

"What if, instead, we're dealing with a new tradition of women writers who are becoming more competent, more effective, are growing tired of the literary gynaeceum and are on furlough from gender stereotypes?" Ferrante suggested. "We know how to think, we know how to tell stories, we know how to write them as well as, if not better, than men," she went on to say.

Ferrante just released "The Story of the Lost Child," the fourth and last volume in "Neapolitan," the tales of Elena and Lila. The first three books are "My Brilliant Friend," "The Story of a New Name" and "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay." Collectively, 100,000 copies were sold in the UK. The series was a bigger hit in the US with 500,000 copies sold.

But when these titles were released back in 2011, they weren't as sensational as they are today. In fact, Daniela Petracco from English publisher Europa Editions said via The Guardian that they were "a complete disappointment." But when New Yorker zeroed in on the book, Petracco admitted that "sales are growing every day. It's wonderful."

As for revealing her true identity, Ferrante told Vanity Fair that "I have my private life and as far as my public life goes I am fully represented by my books." According to Petracco, the novelist's Italian publishers and Europa founders Sandro and Sandra Ferri know Ferrante's real name and from the looks of it, Ferrante wouldn't want this circle expanding.

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