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Elena Ferrante is Italy’s most acclaimed contemporary novelist, although her true identity remains unconfirmed. Having been translated into and published in 45 languages, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide, her ‘Neapolitan Quartet’ triggered what has been called ‘Ferrante Fever.’ Through reading and discussion of Ferrante’s works (novels, letters, and a fairytale) and their screen adaptations— the HBO TV series My Brilliant Friend and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter (2022) —we shall discover the reasons behind this global, literary phenomenon while exploring themes such as gender, memory, trauma, women’s participation in, or exclusion from, history, and the internal violence of a rapidly changing society. In addition to Ferrante’s works, we shall also read Anna Maria Ortese, Elsa Morante, and Fabrizia Ramondino to understand the influence of women writers from previous generations on Ferrante’s work. This class is taught in English. Additional discussion sessions in Italian will be offered.