Sometimes the way we get turned on to politics is to get turned on. From Plato’s Symposium through Wilhelm Reich and his sexualrevolutionary heirs, a compelling line of thought holds that if you want people to develop a political consciousness, it’s not a bad idea to begin with the erotic—sex, wine, a party. I suppose I’m saying that I hope one answer to the question, “Why is Nino there?” is that he is a dialectically necessary stage Lent must pass through on her way from being Lila’s minder to her own emancipation, intellectual, political, and otherwise. Have I given the novel exactly the kind of telos I said earlier I enjoyed it not having? Well, I contradict myself. I’ll admit it: I desperately want true political consciousness for Lenu. I really, really want her to discover feminism. I want it for her like you want Sherlock to solve the mystery. I’m not holding my breath for Ferrante to give me what I want. But she has certainly nurtured the fantasy. Lenu needs feminism and feminism needs her. [...]