Elena Ferrante book sales go through Amazon's roof after identity revealed; literary world debates ethics

NEW YORK: The literary world went into depression the past weekend after the identity of famous Italian writer, Elena Ferrante, was unveiled. And the man who turned sleuth for this enterprise was Claudio Gatti, an Italian investigative journalist. Gatti, claims to have established through his research and some evidence at his disposal that Ferrante is a pen name for Anita Raja, a Rome-based translator who is married to a well-known novelist, Domenico Starnone.

Gatti's scoop was based on records of payments made by Ferrante's publishers, for whom Raja also worked, which appear to correspond to the royalties the best-selling novelist would have been due.

And if the reporter is correct, it appears that the author of "My Brilliant Friend" has been complicit in misleading the literary world and her millions of fans into the belief that she was the daughter of a Neapolitan seamstress familiar with the backdrop of post-war poverty against which her most famous novels are set.



The publisher, Edizioni E/O, declined to comment further on Monday after its co-owner, Sandro Ferri, appeared to implicitly confirm the story by blasting Gatti's alleged intrusion into the privacy of a writer who, he said, simply wanted to concentrate on her work.

"I find disgusting the kind of journalism that breaches privacy and treats writers like mafia gangsters," Ferri told ' La Repubblica'.

Gatti hit back, insisting his story was legitimate because Ferrante was a public figure and because she had "lied" about her life story.

"When millions of books are bought by readers -- in a way I think readers acquire the right to know something about the person who created the book," the journalist told BBC Radio 4.

Gatti argued this was particularly true in light of Ferrante's publication in 2003 of "Frantumaglia", an ostensibly autobiographical collection of non-fiction writings which the reporter described as "full of untruths".

"As a journalist I don't like lies and I chose to expose them," Gatti said.

Furore in literary world
But all hell broke loose in the literary corridors - from Italy and other parts of Europe to the United States - over journalistic ethics and writers' right to protect their identities and the personal back stories that they may choose to withhold.

Ferrante's best-selling novels, particularly her Neapolitan-based quartet, have been acclaimed for their intricate, compelling storytelling and insights into the nature of female friendship. Her success has been fuelled by media interest in the mystery over the author's identity with the until-now anonymous Ferrante having granted only a handful of interviews conducted via e-mails passed on by her publisher.

British academic Katherine Angel claimed the reporter had gone after Ferrante as if she were "a corrupt politician hiding tax evasion" when in fact she had done nothing to deserve such intrusion.

"A writer does not owe their reader anything beyond their work," Angel told the BBC. Novelist JoJo Moyes weighed in on Twitter. "Maybe Elena Ferrante has very good reasons to write under a pseudonym. It's not our 'right' to know her," she wrote.

Re those last RTs. Maybe Elena Ferrante has very good reasons to write under a pseudonym. It's not our 'right' to know her.

— Jojo Moyes (@jojomoyes) October 2, 2016

Novelist Matt Haig added: "Think the pursuit to discover the 'real' Elena Ferrante is a disgrace and also pointless," he tweeted. "A writer's truest self is the books they write."

Think the pursuit to discover the 'real' Elena Ferrante is a disgrace and also pointless. A writer's truest self is the books they write.

— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) October 3, 2016

Sales hit a high
Meanwhile, the alleged revelation of the identity led to a surge in sales for her acclaimed quartet of "Neapolitan'' novels. As of midday Monday, two of the books placed high on Amazon.com's "Movers and Shakers,"' works that have jumped furthest on the overall best-seller list over the past 24 hours. Book One, "My Brilliant Friend,'' ranked highest at No. 46 on best-seller list. The four novels, originally published in Italian, have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and set off intense speculation over Ferrante's identity.

The sales bounce comes after a report that appeared in 'The New York Review of Books' and other publications citing extensive documentation to show that Ferrante is likely a German-born translator living in Rome. Ferrante's publisher has declined to confirm or deny the findings and asked that Ferrante's privacy be respected.