FINDING ONE’S PLACE IN THE FEMALE HISTORY CHAIN: MATRILINEALITY IN THE OPUS OF ELENA FERRANTE
Text topic: Matrilineality
Text author: Нађа Бобичић
In the text, matrilineality reads as the core theme in the opus of Italian novelist writing under the pseudonym of Elena Ferrante. In her first novel, L’amore molesto (1992), she has introduced a mother-daughter pair of characters: the daughter character has later developed into an ever growing network of female relationships all the way to the latest book of the so-called Neapolitan tetralogy. Interpretation is based on finding key characteristics that determine relations inside the matrilineal chain – like the daughter’s experiences in search of an ideal mother figure; her recognition of the existence of female history and the need for its reinterpretation so she can be liberated from the imposed patriarchal frame; becoming a mother and a wife and redefining these roles most often by deserting her family and/or her husband to live a life which is not constricted only to the private sphere etc. Thus a parallel is drawn between female characters not only within the text of the novel but also in terms of the entire opus of Elena Ferrante.