%0 Journal Article
%T Farewell to Naples: Ferrante¡¯s Story of a New Name
%A Pina Palma
%J Forum Italicum
%@ 2168-989X
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0014585818757206
%X In Ferrante¡¯s Story of a New Name, the protagonist¡¯s journey to self-knowledge and self-realization is mapped through a farewell trip to Naples before she begins her studies in Pisa. As the centerpiece and background around and against which Elena¡¯s accomplishments, failures, and societal pressures revolve, Naples emerges as a mosaic of energy and lethargy, unbreakable traditions and negligible innovations. While these elements mirror the protagonist¡¯s powerlessness in changing the ¡°norms¡± to which she is expected to adhere, they also function as her spur to a steady shift toward self-understanding. In this article, I analyze the ways in which Ferrante¡¯s use of the beauty and lure, corrosiveness and lethality of Naples parallel her discourse on the protagonist¡¯s search for self-understanding, a process that will ultimately enable Elena, the protagonist, to find self-realization
%K authorship
%K labyrinth
%K memory
%K reading
%K self-fulfillment
%K self-knowledge
%K urban space
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0014585818757206