GENERATIONAL MEMORY BETWEEN INTERIORITY AND ANTERIORITY: A READING OF THE WORK THE LOST DAUGHTER, BY ELENA FERRANTE.

Abstract

Memory is of the present, says Aristotle, because past experiences are reinterpreted from now on, or rather, from the moment in which the subject finds themselves in a given time and place. In this sense, this paper aims to analyze the work The Lost Daughter (2006), by Elena Ferrante, from the perspective of generational memory. The novel is narrated in the first person by the character Leda, a middle-aged university professor. The plot begins with an outburst from the character who feels relieved after her daughters go to live with their father in Canada. With her daughters' departure, the mother decides to take a vacation on the southern coast of Italy, where the experience leads her to reframe and problematize her condition as a mother and as a woman. This is a qualitative study, of a bibliographic nature, supported by the views of Zilá Bernd (2018), Candou (2013), Sacramento (2024) and Silva (2022). The study reflects on the importance of problematizing the transmission of generational values ​​and experiences, whose heir can feel free to accept or not the legacy of his inheritance.