it's incredibly transparent that mainstream reviewers of the neapolitan novels (my brilliant friend series by elena ferrante) explain the divide between lila and elena in terms of elena having discipline, yet lila was somehow just too unfocused, pessimistic, or chaotic to be able to achieve her goals. some of them cast lila as a villain that needs to be contained by elena in writing; both a cruel misreading of lila's character but also one that tries to make elena complicit in seeing her friend as the antagonist of their story, something I don't for a second believe.
liberal press seriously can't handle, is unable, to admit, that lila cerullo didn't go on to become a famous writer or else lift herself up by her bootstraps because her family didn't care and couldn't afford her education, so she was forced to stop after elementary school? her father throws her out of a window when she complains. the point wasn't that she wasn't crafty enough, it's that you can be crafty and brilliant and if the opportunities aren't available to you it doesn't matter. lila potentially could have become the big boss of her neighbourhood if she'd seriously wanted to, but she wasn't interested in gaining power by such illegitimate means, she wanted to be better.
elena was dedicated and worked incredibly hard, much harder than those who were more fortunate had to, certainly. but she was also lucky. various things converged for her in such a way that she was able to leave the poverty of her childhood and create a different life for herself, and this wasn't because she was somehow better or more capable than lila, or because lila had deficiencies of character. to seriously read it as though that was the case, as though this was what ferrante was trying to tell us, is a reading so obviously false and cynical that it's bizarre these people wouldn't feel shameful publishing it. fuck the working class, they're mostly just lazy and incapable, right? oh but elena's alright, she has nice manners.
