Behind every world-renowned author is a largely unknown translator. Yet in the case of Elena Ferrante, Italy’s reclusive literary phenomenon, the translator has emerged from behind the curtain of quiet stewardship to become a quasi-celebrity in her own right. Ann Goldstein, a celebrated translator of Italian and the longtime chief of the copy department at The New Yorker, began translating Ferrante in 2004, when she won a contest to take on the translation of The Days of Abandonment. In the years to follow, Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet became a global sensation, selling over ten million copies in forty countries. All the while, the pseudonymous Ferrante has fiercely guarded her anonymity, saying, “I can say with a certain pride that in my country, the titles of my novels are better known than my name. I think this is a good outcome.”

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