Just finished the third of Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. Greco, the narrator, is constantly yearning for a quiet space, away from competition. The sense is that you can only make art in such a quiet space. But it seems there’s no interaction between people without one striving to fuck, thwart, or destroy the other. So maybe no quiet space exists, though Greco again and again almost seems to find it. Ferrante puts the football down in front of her, Ferrante pulls it away. And you’re surprised every time.