Troubling Love

First edition in English. 8vo. Pp. 139, [3]. Illustrated French wraps. Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein. Originally published in 1992 as L'amore molesto by Edizioni e/o, Rome, the same year it was put forward for the Strega Prize.

Listed in the top 100 books of the collection Primo tesoro della lingua letteraria italiana del Novecento [First Companion to Italian Literature in the 20th Century], compiled by Tullio De Mauro in 2007 for the Turin-based publishing house, UTET. Following her mother's untimely and mysterious death, Delia embarks on a voyage of self-discovery through the streets of her native Naples.

A feature film adaptation by the same title [Nasty Love in its English release], co-written by the author and director Mario Martone, was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Back in Italy it won David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.

Written under a pseudonym, the true authorship of the 'Elena Ferrante' novels, chiefly amongst them the four-book series of Neapolitan Novels, has long been a matter of contention for academics and readers alike. Thematic, linguistic, and intertextual analyses over the years have singled out Domenico Starnone, as the author whose own novels seem to evince a 'strong affinity' to the writings of Ferrante.

His wife, Anita Raja, a Rome-based translator, working for the same publishing house issuing the Ferrante novels, has been identified by investigative reporter Claudio Gatti in an article jointly published in Il Sole 24 Ore and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as the recipient of the author's royalties for the works signed 'Elena Ferrante'. "The raging, torrential voice of [this] author is something rare." –Janet Maslin, The New York Times

[Gatti, C. Elena Ferrante, le «tracce» dell'autrice identificata. Il Sole 24 Ore – Domenica. Milano, 2 October 2016, pp. 1–2]