Dagli anni Novanta in poi, per effetto soprattutto degli studi sulla personalità e l’evoluzione scientifica del pensiero psicologico, chi si occupa di letteratura da una prospettiva antropologica ...deve fare i conti con l’esigenza di rileggere la cultura del secondo Ottocento e del primo Novecento fuori dall'orbita univoca del pensiero freudiano, riconoscendo l'esistenza di paradigmi di lunga durata: ovvero di quelle ‘ideologie scientifiche’ (Canguilhem) messe in ombra dalla massiccia divulgazione della psicanalisi, o nel migliore dei casi assunte come prodromi della rivoluzione freudiana.
This article analyses the Italian reviews of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, published in the years 2011-2014. The focus of the study is twofold: first of all, it examines how Ferrante's works ...have been assessed in the Italian press, and secondly, it investigates whether the Italian reception of the works has been influenced by their international - and especially American - success. Drawing on previous studies of the evaluation of female writing by Anna Williams, Stefania Lucamante, and Tiziana de Rogatis, the analysis emphasises how Italian critics in a selection of reviews published in newspapers, literary magazines, and collective blogs have approached Ferrante's writing from the perspective of style, content, genre, and literary contextualisation. The analysis shows that the reception of the first two parts of Ferrante's quartet has striking similarities to the patronising patterns uncovered by Williams, while the reviews after the international success are more appreciative. These results are also discussed with regard to literary consecration and canonisation by highlighting how Ferrante is addressed in recent books on contemporary Italian literature.