Frances Wilson

A story without redemption: The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante, reviewed

Everyone lies, suffers and behaves appallingly in Ferrante’s latest coming-of-age story set in Naples

In the Via dei Tribunali, Naples [Alamy} 
issue 29 August 2020

‘I don’t at all hate lies,’ Elena Ferrante explained in Frantumaglia, her manifesto for authorial anonymity. ‘I find them useful and I resort to them when necessary to shield my person, feelings, pressures.’ Shortly after writing these words, Ferrante, who refuses all interviews and keeps her identity under wraps, was accused by an investigative journalist called Claudio Gatti of lying to her readers.

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