Alberto Moravia (1907-1990)
Italian Novelist and Short Story Writer
Alberto Moravia was a pen name take from his maternal grandfather. He was born Albert Pincherle in Rome to a Jewish father and Catholic Mother. His father was a painter and his family were fairly well off and middle class. Moravia had a sickly childhood contracting tuberculosis of the bone when he was nine years old. He was confined to bed for five years and therefore did not complete his education. However, Moravia had a natural aptitude and was a fierce lover of books of all genres. He also learnt to speak and write in French and German. Part of his confinement was spent in a sanatorium in North Italy. He married twice, first to the novelist Elsa Morante until they separated after 21 years. His second marriage was to a young woman forty-five years his junior.
Moravias Literary Career
Moravia’s first novel was completed when he left the sanatorium following his confinement. He funded the publication of Gli Differenti (Time of Indifference) himself and the work was accepted and acknowledged as an example of contemporary Italian fiction. He then embarked on a journalistic career, founded two literary review magazines and wrote for the newspaper La Gazzetta del Popolo. During this time, he would publish a number of short stories.
The years before the beginning of the Second World War were difficult for Moravia as his beliefs clashed with the Mussolini Government. Some of his works were seized, prohibited or banned. These included La Mascherata (Masquerade), the litererary review Le Ambizioni Sbagliate and Agostino (Two Adolescents); during this time, he travelled extensively and would live for some time in the USA.
On his return to Rome, Moravia’s popularity increased with the publication of several works and his writing for national papers including Il Mondo and Il Corriere della Sera. Many of his novels would be translated for sale abroad and some of his works were adapted for theatre and film. Moravia developed a keen interest in the theatre and founded a company Il Porcospino which staged his own works as well as those of others. In the 1980’s he was elected to the European Parliament as a member of the Italian Communist Party and won the title of ‘European Personality’ of the year.
Moravia’s Literary Style
Moravia would use his writing without being too explicit, to examine decadent bourgeois society He exposed their obsession with sex, money and apathy. He explored the lack of communication and the corruption of the lower and middle classes.
His predominant theme was the inability of people to find contentment in conventional ways through love and marriage. His experience before the war would also lead him to explore political subjects of fascism and conspiracy.
His style is considered to be stark, to the point and without elaboration. He develops a complex mood by his use of prepositions and observation and a good deal of inner monologue is evident in later works.
Moravia’s Literary Works
Moravia produced a great number of important works including:
- La Romana (“The Woman of Rome”) (1947) – dealt with the socio economic problems of the working class
- Il Confirmista (“The Conformist2) (1951) – anti fascist novel the basis of the film of the same name in 1970
- Raconti Ramoni (“Roman Tales”) 1954 – details the corruption of the middle class
- La Noia (“The Empty Canvas”) (1960) – portrayed extreme sexual realism that would later lead to more experimental work
- L’uomo che Guarda (“The Man who Looks”) (1985) – inspired by a trip to Hiroshima about the atomic bomb
References
Other online reference material
Alberto Moravia
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