Elena Ferrante’s insistence on anonymity is an absolute necessity

Why it helps that we don’t know who Elena Ferrante is when we get lost in her fictional world

W ho is Elena Ferrante? Nobody really knows. Well, except for her publisher, her literary agent, and possibly, her best friend. For the rest of the world, Elena Ferrante is just a name. Or, to put it more accurately, just a pseudonym. The real woman behind it remains a mystery.

Intensely personal: It is only when you read her novels that you realise that Ferrante’s insistence on anonymity is not some writer’s caprice or a brilliant publicity stunt set up by a publishing house but an absolute necessity.