The story of the parting ways

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The story of the separated ways (original title: Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta ) is the third volume of the Neapolitan saga by Elena Ferrante , published in 2013 in the Italian original and in 2017 in the German translation by Karin Krieger .

The third part of the tetralogy , labeled “Adult Years”, traces the life path of both protagonists, Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo, for almost 10 years until they are in their early 30s. Whereas in the second volume it was Lila's marriage that took up a lot of space, here it is Elena's marriage, which is being put to the test for many reasons. Not only marginally, the novel also deals with topics of its time - the late sixties and early seventies of the 20th century - such as student unrest , feminism or the early stages of computer technology.

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Florence : Elena has lived there, as a housewife and mother, since she married in 1969.
System / 3 , one with punch cards working IBM Computers: Him let Enzo, as head of the data processing , and purple, as an assistant, in a new plant near Nola set.

After the first public reading of her novel, Elena's attempt to finally “catch” her crush, Nino, fails. She then hits the first criticism in the feature pages like a shock ; not only because it is negative, but also because a photo of her is also published. However, it remains an isolated case; the tenor of the following reviews is positive. To be ready for her second novel, Elena prepares herself in her own way by “studying” the present. Unlike Lila, who, as so often before, takes action, even if not entirely voluntarily. She ends up in a gathering of left-wing students, gives a speech and later writes a pamphlet in which she reveals the grievances in the Bruno Soccavos sausage factory. As a result, there is fighting between fascists and communists at the gates of the factory ; Lila gets caught between the fronts and collapses. The diagnosis is: heart defects and general physical weakness, due to the years of overexploitation that she has pursued with her health. In this critical situation, she calls Elena for help.

Specifically, she asks her friend to take her son Gennaro with her and take care of him in case she can no longer do this herself at some point. Enzo, with whom she still shares the apartment and, most recently, the bed, has her full trust, but not the skills. Elena agrees. Supported by her well-connected mother-in-law, Adele Airota, she also makes herself immediately useful. She puts Enzo in contact with a computer specialist, makes sure that Lila gets the pill prescribed, and makes it easier for both of them to return to the Rione . Then their own concerns come on top again.

On 17 May 1969 she married her longtime friend Pietro Airota - "only" in a civil ceremony , which she confidently with their origin breaks one more time. Three quarters of a year later, their daughter Adele (Dede) was born. The baby, who refuses to drink and cries to soften the stone, gives Elena, who previously appeared often enough as the born mother, a difficult first year. Adele, who has already given the couple a bright and spacious apartment, hires a nanny. Pietro turns deaf and clings to his desk at home. He has a well paid position as professor at the University of Florence and wants to publish a second book after his thesis. Elena ignores her efforts to achieve the same thing, as well as her unfulfilled desire for sexual satisfaction in the marriage bed. Elena sees herself reduced to the role of housewife and mother, all the more after the birth of her second daughter, Elsa. Her life seems to stand still while Lila's is in motion.

IBM is offering her and Enzo, now recognized computer experts, two well-paid executive positions in one of their new plants. Michele Solara, as a steadily expanding Camorrista , also wants to gain a foothold in this young industry, sets up a punch card center and tries to win Lila over as boss by luring her with a salary that is as high for her alone as that offered by IBM both together. Lila agrees, Elena is stunned. Then there is the news that her younger sister, Elisa, wants to marry Michele's brother Marcello. Your attempt to avert this personally in Naples fails. Instead, she finds herself in a society that is celebrating the 60th birthday of the dreaded usurer Manuela Solara and that her son Michele uses to praise Lila for her decision and to show everyone her qualities once again - with the result, that Elena feels like the eternal second once more. But soon there will also be movement in your life.

Pietro, who only has his job and no friends, stands in front of the door completely unexpectedly one evening with a guest Elena knows only too well - Nino Sarratore. She has followed his life from afar over the years and knows that while he may not be the father of Lila's son, she is that of another boy (without caring for him) that he now lives in Naples with his wife and child , teaches at the university there and continues to interfere with the intellectual life of Italy with brilliant articles. For his part, Nino now gives the impetus for Elena to start writing again. In the weeks leading up to his second visit, she puts on paper a feminist text about the biblical creation story of man and woman, which is applauded, supplemented by the clarification that he was wrong about purple at the time; what he mistakenly believed to have been her strengths - the intelligence and especially the ability to write - had actually always been hers, Elenas.

On his third visit to Florence, Nino stays with the Airotas for a long time. His relationship with Pietro is noticeably deteriorating; he provokes and insults him. Elena's attempt to clarify comes too late and at the wrong moment: When she shows up in Nino's bedroom in the middle of the night, he interprets this as it was apparently also subconsciously wanted by her. Their first night of love is followed by weeks full of uncertainty, secret phone calls, hasty reunions and half-hearted attempts to pour pure wine for their spouse. Only when Nino tells her that he has told his wife the truth does Elena find the strength to do the same. Following his invitation to a congress in Montpellier , she gives her daughters into the care of a neighbor and travels to Rome to fly from there - for the first time in her life, and with Nino at that.

literature

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Secondary literature

  • Grace Russo Bullaro, Stephanie V. Love (Eds.): The Works of Elena Ferrante: Reconfiguring the Margins. Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-59062-6 .