Dixit mater

the significance of the maternal voice in Ferrante's neapolitan novels

Emma Van Ness

pp. 293-312

in: Grace Russo Bullaro, Stéphanie V. Love (eds), The works of Elena Ferrante, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

Drawing primarily on the theories of Julia Kristeva, this chapter examines the modes of representation of motherhood and the maternal in Ferrante's Neapolitan Trilogy. The act of speaking the maternal experience enables Ferrante to create a literary practice of what Kristeva calls "herethics," the reconsideration of traditional ethical systems in order to create empathy in the reader. . For both Kristeva and Ferrante, writing motherhood and speaking motherhood are essential and inextricable parts of this project. The mania of Ferrante's semiotic process of representing motherhood can be identified in the mirroring of traits between the women. Ferrante's maniacal deconstruction of the mamma, the iterations, repetitions, reflections, and anxieties of the maternal, give voice to what Kristeva describes as the "unspeakable" of the maternal as a female experience.

Cited authors

Kristeva Julia