Why the unmasking of Elena Ferrante spells the end of 'anon'

This week, an Italian journalist published the true identity of the "anonymous" best-selling author 

When he published his scoop about Elena Ferrante’s identity on Sunday, Italian journalist Claudio Gatti underestimated the loyalty of readers. After months of investigation Gatti revealed in the New York Review of Books that the secretive author of the Neapolitan novels was Anita Raja, a German translator who lives in Rome. But instead of being lauded for his journalistic skills Gatti has been roundly criticised by fans who have developed a fierce protectiveness of Ferrante, and ignited debate about how much we need to know about authors.

Jonny Geller, literary agent and joint CEO of Curtis Brown, says: “The publishing community feels it’s a shame — very different to the Robert Galbraith/J K Rowling reveal.”

The broad consensus in London is that expressed by the Times Literary Supplement. Its editor, Stig Abell, wrote about why his publication would have respected Ferrante’s wishes to, as she put it, “not feel tied down to what could become one’s public image. To concentrate exclusively and with complete freedom on writing and its strategies”.

Ferrante elaborates on why she chose a pseudonym in Frantumaglia, a collection of writings by and about her that’s out next month, at the same time as her children’s book, The Beach at Night, hits the shelves.

Karolina Sutton, another literary agent at Curtis Brown, sees the readers as complicit in Ferrante’s desire for anonymity and says most of them are “accepting and respectful of this request, however fragile it is”. “This disappointing intrusion felt like an act of deliberate destruction rather than an act of journalistic duty — a badly-intentioned spoiler which delighted no one.” Sutton sees the method and approach behind the reveal as “the antithesis of the qualities you’ll find in Ferrante’s novels, which are deeply private, nuanced and revealing in a very different way.”

But anonymity arouses natural human curiosity. John Mullan, professor of English at UCL and the author of Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature, says: “If an anonymous (or pseudonymous) book is successful, the search for its author is always intense. Before the 20th century, when anonymity in published fiction was common, authors knew this. If they were going to be popular they would be outed.”

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In the 18th and 19th centuries publishing anonymously was considered “good manners” by some, according to Mullan, “to try to keep the gap between your life as an author and the rest of your life. It wasn’t just women: Sir Walter Scott was the best-selling novelist in Europe but went to great lengths to keep his identity concealed.”

Mullan sees “an echo of Charlotte Brontë in Ferrante”: “Brontë wanted to avoid anyone thinking her novels were autobiographical — or even particularly ‘feminine’. Even when her identity was known, she wouldn’t play the author.”

“Curiosity about the authorship of a book is always good for its sales,” adds Mullan. There has been a spike in Ferrante’s sales, along with the spotlight going on the Rose Theatre Kingston, which is showing the first adaptation of the Neapolitan novels next year.

But that is beside the point. For Sutton, “the success of these books was not built on a publicity stunt which needed exposing. The mystery was not manufactured for greatest effect. Most of us found Ferrante through, first, word of mouth and then word on the page. The books and their effect on us are what matters.”

Foyles’s head of marketing Simon Heafield has been talking to upset readers and says: “They fell in love with the books without knowing about their author. The mystery of her identity added a further layer of intrigue, as well as some fun in guessing who it might be. Readers are often defensive of authors that they love, so many will see it as a shame that these wishes could not be respected.” He suggests that the idea of writing anonymously “offers some comfort, in a world in which everything can be known”.

Daniela Petracco, who works at Ferrante’s publisher, Europa Editions, says: “Ferrante’s works operate on many different levels and connect deeply with readers from different backgrounds and nationalities.” Mullan suggests a positive angle to what we now know: “The great thing is that fiction that many assumed was based on the life of its author turns out not to have been. Hooray!” Other readers chose not to pay attention to names. What matters to them is the story of two girls growing up in Naples, told by a woman who wanted to be known as Elena Ferrante.

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter

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