Elena Stancanelli
La femmina nuda (The Nude Female)
A novel, La nave di Teseo, March 2016, 160 pages

Shortlisted for Premio Strega 2016
Premio Ninfa Galatea 2016
Premio Caccuri 2016

La femmina nuda will become a film produced by Taodue (read the press review)

“The Nude Female is the best book by Elena Stancanelli… it captivates you from the very first page and you go running to the end, as if you have to find the killer.”
Corriere della Sera

“A novelist with a sharp point of view and a redeeming irony.”
Le point

“As for all the rest, falling in love and love itself, I’d rather not have to deal with it. I’d like to avoid that awkward trust we do our best to nurture with new people, telling about all our deeds and misdeeds, how we were happy as children, what’s left of our dreams. I don’t like the intimacy we pass around like a match, faster and faster before it burns our fingers. All the daily gestures, always the same and sillier with every new relationship, they sadden me. I’ve tried, it’s not for me.”

Anna is a beautiful, intelligent woman with an interesting job. But all of a sudden none of this is of any use. After five years her love affair with David has sunk into a web of betrayal, lies and blackmail. Her life is falling apart, and her obsession takes the place of every other thought.
Anna begins to compulsively check David’s cellphone, read his chats and explore his social network presence. She becomes hysterical, insomniac and doesn’t eat; she smokes and gets drunk every night to be able to get some sleep. She doesn’t know what she’s looking for, nor does she know why she’s looking. For a whole year she’ll be a prisoner of what she herself calls the kingdom of idiocy. Anna hasn’t been able to confide in anyone up to this point.
This story is her confession, in the form of a letter, to Valentina, her dearest friend, who has watched her destroy herself for the entire year, night after night. Anna tells all, with no hang-ups. The humiliating and ridiculous details, her lookouts while spying on the other woman, her whole morbid obsession. Anna resembles all of us who fight this paradoxical war called love. At times we win, more often we lose. The only thing we can always count on, the only thing that can show us our limits, our needs, is our body. And Anna will grab hold of her body to beat the pain.

“Now I like everyone. Maybe because I’m getting old and time is growing short. I pity bodies. I have a great pity and respect for bodies. Whatever their shape, because of how far they’ve travelled. If they’re all worn out, if they’re quick and merry, all bodies, even mine, inspire great tenderness in me.”

On Wednesday June 15th La femmina nuda has been shortlisted for Premio Strega 2016

photo: © Musacchio & Ianniello

photo: © Musacchio & Ianniello

 

Elena Stancanelli

Elena Stancanelli - © Chiara Pasqualini

Elena Stancanelli was born in Florence and lives in Rome. She is the author of  Benzina (1998), which became a film directed by Monica Stambrini in 2001, Le attrici (2001), Un uomo giusto (2011), La femmina nuda (2016, finalist for Premio Strega, Premio Ninfa Galatea, Premio Caccuri), Venne alla spiaggia un assassino (2019) and Il tuffatore (2022). Among the other works, the short stories Il giorno del mio compleanno, included in the anthology Ragazze che dovresti conoscere (2004), Cappelli, included in the anthology Figuracce (2014), and 6-0 6-0, included in Smash (2016).

 

 

 

“The Nude Female is the best book by Elena Stancanelli… it captivates you from the very first page and you go running to the end, as if you have to find the killer.”
Corriere della Sera

“Elena Stancanelli has found the words to go deep in self-annihilation.”
Il Foglio

“Simply, all that happens: someone heals, someone gets hurt. And someone can write it.”
la Repubblica

“With a writing such as Stancanelli’s one, reading is like living.”
D – la Repubblica delle Donne

“A journey to the end of ourselves, without any victimism.”
Io Donna

“You cannot stop reading this book.”
Marie Claire

“A novelist with a sharp point of view and a redeeming irony.”
Le point

Foreign rights sold in
France: Stock
Germany: Berlin Verlag
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek
Spain: Anagrama

Film rights optioned by Taodue

Italian and international editions

Foreign publishers of Elena Stancanelli’s works:
France: Stock
Germany: Berlin Verlag
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek
Spain: Anagrama

 

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