A discussion of "My Brilliant Friend," the NYT's book of the century

Diane Rehm: On My Mind

WAMU 88.5

Artists And Thinkers Right Here As Diane Transitions This Podcast To Weekly Episodes That We’ll Be Calling “On My Mind.”, News, Writers, Fans Of The Diane Rehm Show Can Continue To Listen To Its Trademark Conversations With Newsmakers

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’re a reader of the New York Times – or a lover of books – you might know about the paper’s project this summer counting down the top hundred books of the century so far.

Number one on the list? “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante. It is the first of four novels that tell the story of the friendship between Lila and Elena, two working class girls growing up in post-World War II Naples. In 2018 HBO adapted the series for television.

Diane hosted a discussion of “My Brilliant Friend” as part of her Readers Review series back in 2015 on The Diane Rehm Show. She and her guests dug into the characters, the setting, and the mystery surrounding the author’s identity.

Diane's guests included Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and The Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University; Louis Bayard Author, "Roosevelt's Beast." His other books include "The Pale Blue Eye," "The School of Night" and "Mr. Timothy," a New York Times Notable Book. He teaches fiction writing at The George Washington University; and Professor of contemporary Italian culture, Georgetown University; author of "The Tigress in the Snow: Motherhood and Literature in Twentieth-Century Italy" and of the novel "Un Paese Di Carta."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Allison.
0:05.0	This is Allison, producer of On My Mind.
0:08.0	Diane's on vacation this week, so we thought we'd bring you something from the archives.
0:12.0	If you're a reader of the New York Times or a love... we thought we'd bring you something from the archives.
0:12.6	If you're a reader of the New York Times or a lover of books,
0:16.0	you might know about the Papers Project this summer, counting down the top hundred books
0:19.9	of the century so far.
0:21.8	Number one on the list, my Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. It's the first of four
0:26.8	novels that tell the story of the friendship between Lila and Elena, two working class girls
0:31.7	growing up in post-World War II Naples. In 2018 the series was adapted for television by HBO.
0:38.0	Diane hosted a discussion of my brilliant friend as part of her Reader's Review Series back in 2015 on the Diane Reims show.
0:45.4	And I found it at one level kind of inspirational.
0:48.8	Ferranti is writing the American novel.
0:51.1	She's writing about the American dream just transposing it to Naples.
0:55.0	She and her guests dug into the characters, the setting, and the mystery surrounding the author's identity.
1:00.0	We hope you enjoy the conversation. Oh, Thanks for joining us. I'm Diane Raim in life. Italian author Elainerante, holds readers at a distance, publishing under a pseudonym
1:38.5	while keeping her true identity a mystery. In her books Rante draws readers close with strikingly intimate
1:48.1	portraits of her characters and their lives. For our November readers review, a discussion of my brilliant friend, the first Ferranti series
2:01.2	about two working class girls growing up in Naples.
2:05.8	Here with me Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, Lewis Byard, novelist Dan Writing Teacher at George Washington University, and Laura
2:18.4	Benedetti, Professor of Contemporary Italian Culture at Georgetown University and welcome to all of you.
2:28.0	Thank you, Diane.
	...

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