In the Margins

On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing

By: Elena Ferrante

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

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; and 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.

©2021 Edizioni e/o; First English Publication (P)2022 Europa Editions

Very disappointing

Reader’s voice and quality of delivery were not pleasant. The authors thoughts are intriguing but would be better if you read them rather than listening to them. I regret buying this audible offering.

Answer to Complaint about Hillary Huber

I listened to the entire Neapolitan Quartet with Hillary Huber twice in addition to just reading it and I came away with her voice in my head as that of Elena Ferrante (aka Lenu) and it was a real joy to hear her again; this time on the podium taking us through the history of that developed and influenced that voice.