Elena Ferrante outing leads to outrage among literary community

The literary world erupted in a firestorm upon the potential revelation of Elena Ferrante’s previously anonymous identity. The author of the renowned Neapolitan novels about the relationship between two friends, Lila and Elena, has developed into an international cult sensation, with fans including Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The books community long debated Ferrante’s actual identity, as the reclusive author often communicates with the press through email. Ferrante told EW via email in 2014, “I gave my name to the narrator to make my job easier. Elena is, in fact, the name that I feel is most mine. Without reserve, I can say that my entire identity is in the books I write.”

That changed on Saturday, when The New York Review of Books published two articles writen by Italian investigative reporter Claudio Gatti for Il Sole 24, exposing Ferrante to be an Italian translator. Gatti went through enormous lengths to prove Ferrante’s true identity using financial and real estate records.

Fellow writers and fans of the Neapolitan novels, however, defended Ferrante’s anonymity, including Black & White author Dani Shapiro.

So, what Elena Ferrante gets for having given the world her beautiful novels is an ugly hunt and outing of her identity. Shame. #Ferrante

— Dani Shapiro (@danijshapiro) October 2, 2016

Digging into the financial life of a reclusive and private writer in order to reveal her identity is stooping low. #shame #Ferrante

— Dani Shapiro (@danijshapiro) October 2, 2016

And another thing: to suggest that perhaps she collaborated with her novelist husband? The agenda is ugly, sexist and extreme. #Ferrante

— Dani Shapiro (@danijshapiro) October 2, 2016

Me Before You writer Jojo Moyes also expressed her feelings on Twitter writing, “It is not our ‘right’ to know her,” and adding in another tweet, “Only criminals deserve to be unmasked, if they have consciously sought privacy. Badly done.”

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

Surprised at how angry I feel about @NYBooks’ unmasking of Elena Ferrante. Esp its ‘justification’ that her success made it ‘inevitable’.

— Jojo Moyes (@jojomoyes) October 2, 2016

I trust @nybooks will now also be publishing Thomas Pynchon’s financials and address to help explain HIS literary process. #ferrante

— Jojo Moyes (@jojomoyes) October 2, 2016

Only criminals deserve to be unmasked, if they have consciously sought privacy. Badly done, @nybooks.

— Jojo Moyes (@jojomoyes) October 2, 2016

Bad Feminist essayist Roxane Gay added, “The thing is, you are entitled to curiosity but you are not entitled to having your curiosity satisfied.” She followed that with, “People are allowed to have secrets. Even well known people are allowed to have secrets. The only exception is probably politicians.”

The thing is, you are entitled to curiosity but you aren’t entitled to having your curiosity satisfied.

— roxane gay (@rgay) October 2, 2016

People are allowed to have secrets. Even well known people are allowed to have secrets. The only exception is probably politicians.

— roxane gay (@rgay) October 2, 2016

And indeed, identifying Ferrante isn’t end times. And it sure isn’t Watergate. Dude isn’t getting a Pulitzer.

— roxane gay (@rgay) October 2, 2016

Check out more Twitter reactions below.

Every author, and non-author, and every Italian, and non-Italian, should be standing up and declaring, ‘I’m #ElenaFerrante’.

— Ruth Perry (@noreadingingaol) October 2, 2016

Libby Gelman-Waxner wrote Elena Ferrante’s books, in hopes of building a Wizarding World of Elena Ferrante theme park#ElenaFerrante

— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) October 3, 2016

Can’t see why outing #ElenaFerrante is justified… hardly investigative journalism.

— Katie Razzall (@katierazz) October 3, 2016

The #ElenaFerrante doxing shows that men cannot take no for an answer.

— Attica Abbastark (@AtiyaAbbas) October 3, 2016

I still don’t know who #ElenaFerrante is. And I’m going to keep it that way. Respect her wishes!

— Niamh NicGhabhann (@Niamh_NicGhabh) October 3, 2016

The only way to show #ElenaFerrante our appreciation for her books now is 1) Buy her books 2) Leave her in peace!

— (((MG Harris))) (@RealMGHarris) October 3, 2016