tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post1228858144764902866..comments2023-12-24T17:41:42.989-08:00Comments on seraillon: Neapolitan Quintet: Matilde Serao's Unmarried Womenseraillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-67376776066536043742015-06-23T15:21:22.820-07:002015-06-23T15:21:22.820-07:00Caroline - I'd like to withdraw my "more ...Caroline - I'd like to withdraw my "more sociological than literary" comment. All I mean is that Serao pays close ethnographical attention to portraying her people and her city, and that's an important element in her literature. This may not be as complex a work as <i>Dubliners</i>, but then again <i>Dubliners</i> doesn't give as much of a flavor of the conditions under which his characters lived. If you do read this, I'll be very much interested to see what you think of Ferrante when you get to her later. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-51268141563233308062015-06-23T15:15:13.449-07:002015-06-23T15:15:13.449-07:00Thanks so much! Surely Ferrante knows of Serao, a ...Thanks so much! Surely Ferrante knows of Serao, a prominent Neapolitan writer and a genuine heroine to Neapolitans (the introduction to this volume relates that her death made the front pages for four straight days and that she was mourned by the whole city). There are many other influences at work in Ferrante's book, but I can't help thinking that in part her Naples novels serve to update Serao and address some of her blind spots. Both writers are/were certainly great champions of the young women of Naples. Thanks again for stopping by the blog. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-41739137672699963202015-06-23T08:27:02.588-07:002015-06-23T08:27:02.588-07:00Wonderful review and comments, I too am intrigued ...Wonderful review and comments, I too am intrigued by the reference to Ferrante, that this author may have been an inspiration or at least that there exist common threads, albeit from a different era.<br /><br />Wonderful to discover your blog via the Spanish Lit group, such richesse in your reading list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-26505210689777277622015-06-16T07:17:22.824-07:002015-06-16T07:17:22.824-07:00Caroline - I agree wholeheartedly about Naples - a...Caroline - I agree wholeheartedly about Naples - a unique city if ever there was one. I recommend Serao highly. She is perhaps a bit more sociological than literary, but very much worth reading. As I noted above, I was especially impressed by how she manages to build a story out of a crowd.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-78838982974250000482015-06-16T07:14:04.601-07:002015-06-16T07:14:04.601-07:00I've just read one work by Maraini - a short m...I've just read one work by Maraini - a short memoir - but it was so good that I'm determined to read more, particularly <i>The Silent Duchess</i>, which has been compared to di Lampedusa's <i>The Leopard</i>. Knowing what little I now know of Maraini's background, that comparison might turn out to be apt. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-84698487349179290222015-06-16T01:31:38.912-07:002015-06-16T01:31:38.912-07:00Thanks, Scott. It's fascinating to read about ...Thanks, Scott. It's fascinating to read about these comparisons and connections. Funny you should mention Dacia Maraini. I have one of her books somewhere - Train to Budapest, I think - a battered copy I picked up in a charity shop a few years ago. One to dig out at some point, especially now you've mentioned the link to Moravia!JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-16070175822626088062015-06-15T23:23:37.724-07:002015-06-15T23:23:37.724-07:00This sound fantastic. Naples is a very impressive ...This sound fantastic. Naples is a very impressive city, unlike any other I've visited. The criminality - the volcano - the beauty as well. I too love books like this - Dubliners is a favourite of mine. <br />I've read Morante but not Ferrante. I will eventually. But this one tempts me even more. Carolinehttp://beautyisasleepingcat.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-3570810004274820202015-06-15T11:59:59.293-07:002015-06-15T11:59:59.293-07:00Jacqui - I found Serao's work doubly interesti...Jacqui - I found Serao's work doubly interesting, first in its doing something (130 years ago!) quite similar to what Ferrante is doing, and second in the ways Ferrante "updates" Serao's stories. Ferrante's women are more resistant to what they're dealt, and she also insists on revealing the violence of their lives, something that - for all the grimness in <i>Unmarried Women</i>, is conspicuously absent. I expect that Ferrante is also aiming at Serao's conservative streak; despite her obvious compassion, she objected to women's suffrage, legalization of divorce and other measures that could have increased options for women. <br /><br />Appropriate that you bring up Morante's <i>History</i> here, as that book is clearly another major influence on Ferrante's Neapolitan works. I found Morante a bit more ponderous (I mean, you need look no further than the title for that), and suspect that Ferrante wanted her own work to be more direct and accessible, but <i>History</i> is a remarkable work well worth reading, regardless of its impact on Ferrante.<br /><br />Connections indeed! It's amazing how connected Moravia and Morante were with the other great Italian writers of their time - Malaparte, Gadda, Bontempelli, Pasolini, Brancati - many others. Moravia later took up with Dacia Maraini, a talented Sicilian writer I'm just beginning to explore.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-55880167235374414412015-06-15T11:51:19.566-07:002015-06-15T11:51:19.566-07:00Brian - This may not be Dubliners, but I've al...Brian - This may not be <i>Dubliners</i>, but I've always liked collections like this in which the stories work together to create something bigger than the sum of their individual parts. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-33360609420518248542015-06-14T07:15:15.360-07:002015-06-14T07:15:15.360-07:00I appreciate the comparison to Dubliners. I think ...I appreciate the comparison to Dubliners. I think that exploring places and people this way in fiction can be a very effective literary device. <br /><br />Your description of, and the quote from the The Novice makes me really want to read the story. Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-77425823195195195592015-06-14T01:03:34.751-07:002015-06-14T01:03:34.751-07:00This author is completely new to me, but your open...This author is completely new to me, but your opening comments and reference to Ferrante have caught my attention. Serao's observations on the sociological aspects of Neapolitan life sound really interesting. I shall have to investigate...<br /><br />On the subject of Italian women writers, I'd also like to make time for Elsa Morante's History, which I believe you've read? Even though the setting is different (Rome rather than Naples), it came up in the conversations on Ferrante's Neapolitan novels...and I've only just discovered that Morante was married to Alberto Moravia! Connections, connections....JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.com