An Alternative Geometry: L'amica geniale and the Bildungsroman

Abstract

This article studies a version of female development contained in Elena Ferrantes My Brilliant Friend, one that opposes the typically male development of the Bildungsroman. The Neapolitan novels invoke ideologies of development often associated with the Bildungsroman but also carve out subversive paths to female Bildung. Viewing the relationship between the two protagonists, Lila and Elena, as modulated by generic tensionsone trajectory following the classical Bildung, the other resisting itthe article uses Rachel Blau DuPlessiss notion of transgressive narrative strategies, contending that the novels suggest a narrative of entanglement offering an alternative geometry of female development.