In Italy, Authors Ascendant

ROME — In Italy, literary fiction has long been considered a man’s game. Publishers, critics and prize committees have dismissed books by women as ones suited to a beach vacation. They scoffed at Elena Ferrante, the author of “My Brilliant Friend,” as the writer of mere page-turners.

Then Ms. Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels became an international sensation, selling over 11 million copies, inspiring an acclaimed HBO series and cementing her reputation as the most successful Italian novelist in years. Her ascent, and the rediscovery of some of the last century’s great Italian female writers, has encouraged a new wave of women and shaken the country’s literary establishment. Women here are winning prestigious prizes, getting translated and selling copies.

“Once we were more reluctant to write about certain topics, fearing they could be labeled as ‘women’s stuff,’” said Veronica Raimo, author of the novel “The Girl at the Door,” an exploration of marriage, pregnancy and sexual assault allegations that was translated into English this year. “There was this idea that stories told by women couldn’t be universal. But that’s changing.”

One author to see the progress is Helena Janeczek, who has been publishing for decades but who last year became the first woman in 15 years to win the Premio Strega, the country’s top literary award. “That was quite a time gap, wasn’t it?” she said. “The times are changing.”

The book that won her the award, published in October in English as “The Girl With the Leica,” is a historical novel about the war photographer Gerda Taro.

In the past two years, novels by women have accounted for roughly half of Italy’s top 20 best sellers in fiction — nearly double the percentage from 2017, according to data released by Informazioni Editoriali, which surveys sales.

Italian authors, editors, critics and publishers said that women have gained extraordinary attention. Some call it “the Ferrante effect.”

Ms. Raimo said that younger readers in Italy have become more open to female writers, partly as a result of having read their work in translation.

“They know there are countries in which having someone like Jennifer Egan or Zadie Smith is normal,” she said.

But many of the writers attribute their momentum to the pseudonymous Ms. Ferrante.

“There’s a global buzz about contemporary Italian writers, including many women and even minorities, and we owe a lot to her for that,” said Igiaba Scego, a Somali-Italian writer. Her novel “Beyond Babylon,” which explores the traumas of the immigrant experience, was translated into English this year after being published in Italy a decade ago.

Yet Italian female writers still face obstacles. “The problem is not getting published or selling copies,” Ms. Janeczek said. “It’s getting recognition.”

She said that women have been kept far from the Italian canon and that Ms. Ferrante’s success overseas is not likely to get her much closer. “When she had all that recognition abroad, our critics said ‘Look, those Americans think she’s a great writer,’ ” Ms. Janeczek said.

Some writers and literature professors argue that dusty elitism hinders women from being recognized.

“There is a widespread idea here that literary fiction should be virtuoso and self-referential,” said Elisa Gambaro, a scholar at the University of Milan. Fiction that is commercially successful is often disparaged.

But some women say it should be the other way around. “To put it bluntly, women writers tend to be less self-referential, because they’re less used to thinking of themselves as the center of the world,” said Daniela Brogi, a scholar at the University for Foreigners of Siena.

But this new crop of writers is pushing toward the center.

‘My Brilliant Friend’ overcomes a country’s sexism and elitism.