Hidden in Plain Sight: Reading Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels with Thais Vitorelli

This reading group has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Sebastian Mazza at [email protected].

The ‘With Books’ option includes all titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

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Meeting Details:
1/16, 2/13, 3/12, 4/9
Online via Zoom

Join us for an exploration of Elena Ferrante’s beloved Neapolitan Novels. In each of the 90-minute sessions, we will actively discuss the key aspects of Ferrante’s emotive narrative and how her two protagonists, Lila and Elena, navigate the tumultuous political and social landscape of post-war Naples.

We will dedicate one session for each volume of the saga, focusing primarily on Ferrante’s use of evocative imagery to illustrate themes such as female identity, motherhood, friendship, legacy, and citizenship. We will undertake close readings of Ferrante’s novels to enhance our enjoyment of the texts and speculate about the author’s intent and how our understanding of the story and its hidden-in-plain-sight messages evolve as the reading advances. Finally, we will discuss the intersections between the series and Ferrante’s other works.

Participants should My Brilliant Friend ahead of the first session.

• Session I: My Brilliant Friend
• Session II: The Story of a New Name
• Session III: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
• Session IV: The Story of the Lost Child

What to expect from this reading group: The aim of this reading group is to combine participant-driven discussion with additional supplemental material and guidance by the instructor.

Participants will receive a complimentary copy of the My Brilliant Friend graphic novel  with their registration, courtesy of our friends at Europa Editions.