Sales of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet have surged after the identity of the famously anonymous author was revealed by an Italian-American investigative journalist Sunday.
All four books, which have sold a million worldwide, hit the top of Amazon's Movers and Shakers rankings.
Writing in the New York Review of Books and other publications, Caludio Gatti 'outed' Ferrante, to widespread dismay, as a Rome-based translator of German feminist fiction, Anita Raja, wife of Neapolitan novelist Domenico Starnone.
Fans of My Brilliant Friend and the other books have slammed Gatti for "rooting in dustbins" and invading the writer's privacy after he followed a paper trail to Raja.
The revelation of the real identity of mysterious, world-famous Ferrante has sparked criticism in the UK.
Major newspapers such as the Financial Times have shown support for allowing authors to not reveal their true identities and an op-ed by Nilanyana Roy noted that the Ferrante case had sparked the same attention as that usually reserved for members of the mafia and oligarchs. The only exception was The Times, which noted the near impossibility of remaining anonymous in the age of the Internet and social media.
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