Ann Goldstein is a distinguished translator from Italian, whose work is characterized by a profound understanding of literary nuances. Her translations often introduce Italian literature to a wider audience, meticulously preserving the original style and authorial intent. Goldstein focuses on making key Italian works accessible, particularly engaging with authors such as Primo Levi and Roberto Calasso. Her contributions are celebrated for their accuracy and literary sensitivity, establishing her as a significant figure in international literary translation.
Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a world undergoing epochal change, this story of a lifelong friendship is told with unmatched honesty. Lila and Elena clash, drift apart, reconcile, and clash again, in the process revealing new facets of their friendship.
Since the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first of the Neapolitan novels, Elena Ferrante's fame as one of our most compelling, insightful, and stylish contemporary authors has grown enormously. She has gained admirers among authors -- Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Messud, to name a few --- and critics -- James Wood, John Freeman, Eugenia Williamson, for example. But her most resounding success has undoubtedly been with readers, who have discovered in Ferrante a writer who speaks with great power and beauty of the mysteries of belonging, human relationships, love, family, and friendship§In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have attempted are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond
Focusing on the rich Italian-language literature in the United States from the Great Migration era to just after World War II, this anthology explores a vibrant cultural landscape. It highlights the voices from a nationwide Little Italy, showcasing how Italian immigrants engaged with their heritage through writing, conversation, and entertainment, often blending their native language with dialects and English. This collection aims to revive the overlooked literary contributions of the first-generation Italian-American community.
Reflections on reading and writing from the author of My Brilliant Friend.