I dont know how many people know there is immense similarity between the stories of Lila and Lenu set in post war Naples with kids growing up in India , specially Bengal during 80s. When I first saw the series I was struck by the similarity with tiniest details of my own childhood experience (down to the scene where the kid was pricking a pin under his skin to show bravado) and as if I have lived their lives. I could even see people very close to me in those characters. It is strange that a Bengali Jhumpa Lahiri also reading this book and that too in Italian. It comes a full circle for me. Its the first TV series that pushed me to read the actual books.
Interesting. I found this similarity and synchronicity in the lives of poor Black girls in the American cities in the 1950s including the pin episode! Except these used a sharp knife or razor to cut their thumbs. Many girls have shared also that when the menarche begins their cycles occur together. Losing their edges... Is this possibly a universal experience of girls in the cities, girls with few privileges seeking to become something they want to become instead of being swallowed by family, neighborhood, boys/men, sex and motherhood. Girls do blend into each other until of course they go to men who have distinct identities from boyhood. Lita, the brilliant friend! remains trapped but also not trapped by the sheer strength, strangeness and determination of her personality. Lenu leaps right out of the dialect and controls of the neighborhood into the academy where she excels as a student and a writer. Language high literacy is the magic carpet of girls in many cultures. Motherhood most certainly is not and not even relationships with higher caste men are as freeing. The price of liberty - hah. Wonderful commentary! Obviously I am an avid reader of Ferrante. I adore her emphasis on the physicality of women. She gives us real bodies that are craved by others, violated by or disparaged by others but these bodies are ours . tho not all that we are . It is exceedingly difficult to keep them intact. Words do at least stay on the page. They do not decay, that is their power.
@@jeanettesdaughter I think the habit of using something sharp on skin is not girl specific. For me i have seen boys doing that as kid. It was more of a show off , to show off how tough you were. It was a part of growing up and struggling to form an identity for kids I think. You have to do something extreme to show you are not a baby anymore. Something like that.
It's so funny that you say that because I'm Bengali too and I've been enamored with the brilliant friend TV series. There's something about this that really hits home for me although I didn't grow up in india or Italy. Those female friendships and the complexities are something many of us can relate to..
Interestingly, Jhumpa didn’t talk much about it. But, I think it’s a universal story of poor neighborhoods. When it comes to richness of writing about India, I absolutely admire Rohinton Mistry.
I am disturbed to see Jhumpa Lahiri does not allow Ann Goldstein to speak and has a slightly dismissive attitude anytime she says anything through intervening (because there is no other way).
21:40 Oh so "dissolving margins" comes from "smarginatura." I'm half way through "My Brilliant Friend" and I was a bit puzzled by this term too. Anyway I just wanted to know more about Elena Ferrante and who's better to be your guide than Jhumpa Lahiri (who knows Italian and herself a literary giant in her own right?)
Elena Ferrante is the subject and expression of the Neapolitan nation. Only the outline is Italian. success is due only to that land and if it becomes universal, it is only thanks to the Neapolitan genius. A country like Italy from the Italian unity has always proved hostile towards the Neapolitan people. A unit of the country never wanted by the Neapolitans that was imposed with weapons and bayonets. We claim the role today of being a great capital, today relegated to the provincial capital abandoned to its destiny despised by an Italian rogue state.
Lahiri seems to need to dominate the conversation , as if she's the only person on the stage-- look at her body language. This is uncomfortable to watch.
I didn’t watch, but I listened and I thought that Lahiri was the only invited guest 😬; and the other person was a moderator. I was a bit disappointed at her lack of insights into Ferrante’s masterpiece. Very boring analysis of a tour de force novels that many of us not only find fascinating, but could also find pieces of ourselves in it.
I dont know how many people know there is immense similarity between the stories of Lila and Lenu set in post war Naples with kids growing up in India , specially Bengal during 80s. When I first saw the series I was struck by the similarity with tiniest details of my own childhood experience (down to the scene where the kid was pricking a pin under his skin to show bravado) and as if I have lived their lives. I could even see people very close to me in those characters. It is strange that a Bengali Jhumpa Lahiri also reading this book and that too in Italian. It comes a full circle for me. Its the first TV series that pushed me to read the actual books.
And you cant belive how similar it is to iran! Actully it has no diffrence with my own childhood too!
Interesting. I found this similarity and synchronicity in the lives of poor Black girls in the American cities in the 1950s including the pin episode! Except these used a sharp knife or razor to cut their thumbs. Many girls have shared also that when the menarche begins their cycles occur together. Losing their edges... Is this possibly a universal experience of girls in the cities, girls with few privileges seeking to become something they want to become instead of being swallowed by family, neighborhood, boys/men, sex and motherhood. Girls do blend into each other until of course they go to men who have distinct identities from boyhood. Lita, the brilliant friend! remains trapped but also not trapped by the sheer strength, strangeness and determination of her personality. Lenu leaps right out of the dialect and controls of the neighborhood into the academy where she excels as a student and a writer. Language high literacy is the magic carpet of girls in many cultures. Motherhood most certainly is not and not even relationships with higher caste men are as freeing. The price of liberty - hah. Wonderful commentary! Obviously I am an avid reader of Ferrante. I adore her emphasis on the physicality of women. She gives us real bodies that are craved by others, violated by or disparaged by others but these bodies are ours . tho not all that we are . It is exceedingly difficult to keep them intact. Words do at least stay on the page. They do not decay, that is their power.
@@jeanettesdaughter I think the habit of using something sharp on skin is not girl specific. For me i have seen boys doing that as kid. It was more of a show off , to show off how tough you were. It was a part of growing up and struggling to form an identity for kids I think. You have to do something extreme to show you are not a baby anymore. Something like that.
It's so funny that you say that because I'm Bengali too and I've been enamored with the brilliant friend TV series. There's something about this that really hits home for me although I didn't grow up in india or Italy. Those female friendships and the complexities are something many of us can relate to..
Interestingly, Jhumpa didn’t talk much about it.
But, I think it’s a universal story of poor neighborhoods. When it comes to richness of writing about India, I absolutely admire Rohinton Mistry.
My problem with that interview is how Jhumpa prepped it like her own lecture and barely let Ann speak come on
Am i the only one who sees some ice between them?
è così incredible che signora goldstein abbia iniziato a imparare la lingua solo quando aveva 37 anni
Ann Goldstein is such a beautiful reader.
I am disturbed to see Jhumpa Lahiri does not allow Ann Goldstein to speak and has a slightly dismissive attitude anytime she says anything through intervening (because there is no other way).
mmm like is she just nervous and can't improvise or
I am at the end of the third volume of Ferrante's "Neapolitan novels". A story about two women disturbed by one another.
Neither of them deserves a mike, and neither does Ferrante.
@@braggingchicken1 This is such a funny take, can you explain further?
I think Ann Goldstein pointed to her lack of insight into Lila’s character and that annoyed her.
21:40 Oh so "dissolving margins" comes from "smarginatura." I'm half way through "My Brilliant Friend" and I was a bit puzzled by this term too. Anyway I just wanted to know more about Elena Ferrante and who's better to be your guide than Jhumpa Lahiri (who knows Italian and herself a literary giant in her own right?)
"Blurring" ???
Put some duct tape over that.
Adoro Jumpha , non solo una grande scrittrice, ma anche una persona spettacolare!
Elena Ferrante is the subject and expression of the Neapolitan nation. Only the outline is Italian.
success is due only to that land and if it becomes universal, it is only thanks to the Neapolitan genius. A country like Italy from the Italian unity has always proved hostile towards the Neapolitan people. A unit of the country never wanted by the Neapolitans that was imposed with weapons and bayonets. We claim the role today of being a great capital, today relegated to the provincial capital abandoned to its destiny despised by an Italian rogue state.
Yee haw... Texas uber alles🤣
Pelo amor de Deus, deixe a Ann Goldstein falar!
She never lets Ann Goldstein talk! Annoying.
Lahiri seems to need to dominate the conversation , as if she's the only person on the stage-- look at her body language. This is uncomfortable to watch.
She is a notorious narcissist.
I didn’t watch, but I listened and I thought that Lahiri was the only invited guest 😬; and the other person was a moderator.
I was a bit disappointed at her lack of insights into Ferrante’s masterpiece. Very boring analysis of a tour de force novels that many of us not only find fascinating, but could also find pieces of ourselves in it.
oh.
Per favore metteteni ance lingua italiano gracje
Jhumpa is not a generous person in this video.