Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

social alienation Social alienation is a person's feeling of disconnection from a group whether friends, family, or wider society with which the individual has an affiliation. Such alienation has been described as "a condition in social relationships reflected b ...

and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

'' Gli indifferenti'' (''The Time of Indifference'' 1929) and for the anti-fascist novel ''Il conformista'' ('' The Conformist'' 1947), the basis for the film '' The Conformist'' (1970) directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Other novels of his adapted for the cinema are ''Agostino'', filmed with the same title by Mauro Bolognini in 1962; '' Il disprezzo'' (''A Ghost at Noon'' or ''Contempt''), filmed by

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

as ''Le Mépris'' (''

Contempt In colloquial usage, contempt usually refers to either the act of despising, or having a general lack of respect for something. This set of emotions generally produces maladaptive behaviour. Other authors define contempt as a negative emotio ...

'' 1963); ''La noia'' (''Boredom''), filmed with that title by Damiano Damiani in 1963 and released in the US as '' The Empty Canvas'' in 1964 and '' La ciociara'', filmed by Vittorio De Sica as '' Two Women'' (1960). Cédric Kahn's '' L'Ennui'' (1998) is another version of ''La noia''. Moravia once remarked that the most important facts of his life had been his illness, a tubercular infection of the bones that confined him to a bed for five years and

Fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

because they both caused him to suffer and do things he otherwise would not have done. "It is what we are forced to do that forms our character, not what we do of our own free will." Moravia was an atheist. His writing was marked by its factual, cold, precise style, often depicting the malaise of the ''

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

''. It was rooted in the tradition of nineteenth-century narrative, underpinned by high social and cultural awareness. Moravia believed that writers must, if they were to represent reality, ‘a more absolute and complete reality than reality itself’, "assume a moral position, a clearly conceived political, social, and philosophical attitude" but also that, ultimately, "A writer survives in spite of his beliefs". Between 1959 and 1962 Moravia was president of PEN International, the worldwide association of writers.

Biography

Early years

Alberto Pincherle was born in Via Sgambati in Rome, Italy, to a wealthy middle-class family. His chosen pen name "Moravia" equals to

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, which is one of historic

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

, and was linked to his paternal grandmother. His

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish Venetian father, Carlo, was an architect and a painter. His

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Anconitan mother, Teresa Iginia de Marsanich, was of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

n origin. His family had interesting twists and developed a complex cultural and political character. The brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, founders of the

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

resistance movement

Giustizia e Libertà Giustizia e Libertà (; ) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The movement was cofounded by ...

, murdered in France by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's order in 1937, were paternal cousins and his maternal uncle, Augusto De Marsanich, was an undersecretary in the National Fascist Party cabinet. Moravia did not finish conventional schooling because, at the age of nine, he contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

of the bone, which confined him to bed for five years. He spent three years at home and two in a sanatorium near

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; , ; historical ) sometimes abbreviated to simply Cortina, is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomites, Dolomitic) Alps in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the ...

, in north-eastern Italy. Moravia was an intelligent boy, and devoted himself to reading books and some of his favourite authors were Giosuè Carducci, Giovanni Boccaccio,

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

, Ludovico Ariosto, Carlo Goldoni,

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

, Nikolai Gogol and

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...

. He learned French and German and wrote poems in French and Italian. In 1925 at the age of 18, he left the sanatorium and moved to Bressanone. During the next three years, partly in Bressanone and partly in Rome, he began to write his first novel, ''Gli indifferenti'' (''Time of Indifference''), published in 1929. The novel is a realistic analysis of the moral decadence of a middle-class mother and two of her children. In 1927, Moravia met Corrado Alvaro and Massimo Bontempelli and started his career as a journalist with the magazine ''900''. The journal published his first short stories, including ''Cortigiana stanca'' (''The Tired Courtesan'' in French as ''Lassitude de courtisane'', 1927), ''Delitto al circolo del tennis'' (''Crime at the Tennis Club'', 1928), ''Il ladro curioso'' (''The Curious Thief'') and ''Apparizione'' (''Apparition'', both 1929).

''Gli indifferenti'' and Fascist ostracism

''Gli indifferenti'' was published at his own expense, costing 5,000

Italian lira The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...

. Literary critics described the novel as a noteworthy example of contemporary Italian narrative fiction. The next year, Moravia started collaborating with the newspaper '' La Stampa'', then edited by author Curzio Malaparte. In 1933, together with Mario Pannunzio, he founded the literary review magazines ''Caratteri'' (''Characters'') and '' Oggi'' (''Today'') and started writing for the newspaper '' Gazzetta del Popolo''. The years leading to World War II were difficult for Moravia as an author; the Fascist regime prohibited reviews of ''Le ambizioni sbagliate'' (1935), seized his novel ''La mascherata'' (''Masquerade'', 1941) and banned ''Agostino'' (''Two Adolescents'', 1941). In 1935 he travelled to the United States to give a lecture series on Italian literature. ''L'imbroglio'' (''The Cheat'') was published by Bompiani in 1937. To avoid Fascist censorship, Moravia wrote mainly in the surrealist and allegoric styles; among the works is ''Il sogno del pigro'' (''The Dream of the Lazy''). The Fascist seizure of the second edition of ''La mascherata'' in 1941, forced him to write under a pseudonym. That same year, he married the novelist Elsa Morante, whom he had met in 1936. They lived in

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

, where he wrote ''Agostino''. After the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

of 8 September 1943, Moravia and Morante took refuge in Fondi, on the border of province of Frosinone, a region to which fascism had arbitrarily imposed the name "ciociaria"; the experience inspired '' La ciociara'' (''The ciociara Woman'', 1957).

Return to Rome and national popularity

In May 1944, after the liberation of Rome, Alberto Moravia returned. He began collaborating with Corrado Alvaro, writing for important newspapers such as ''Il Mondo'' and '' Il Corriere della Sera'', the latter publishing his writing until his death. After the war, his popularity steadily increased, with works such as ''La Romana'' (''The Woman of Rome'', 1947), ''La Disubbidienza'' (''Disobedience'', 1948), ''L'amore coniugale e altri racconti'' (''Conjugal Love and other stories'', 1949) and ''Il conformista'' (''The Conformist'', 1951). In 1952 he won the Premio Strega for ''I Racconti'' and his novels began to be translated abroad and ''La Provinciale'' was adapted to film by Mario Soldati; in 1954

Luigi Zampa Luigi Zampa (2 January 1905 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film director. Biography Son of a worker, Zampa studied filmmaking from 1932 to 1937 at the Italian film school in Rome. He directed several Italian neorealism films in the 1940 ...

directed ''La Romana'' and in 1955 Gianni Franciolini directed ''I Racconti Romani'' (''The Roman Stories'', 1954) a short collection that won the Marzotto Award. In 1953, Moravia founded the literary magazine ''Nuovi Argomenti'' (''New Arguments''), which featured Pier Paolo Pasolini among its editors. In the 1950s, he wrote prefaces to works such as Belli's ''100 Sonnets'', Brancati's ''Paolo il Caldo'' and Stendhal's ''Roman Walks''. From 1957, he also reviewed and criticised cinema for the weekly magazines '' L'Europeo'' and '' L'Espresso''. His criticism is collected in the volume ''Al Cinema'' (''At the Cinema'', 1975).

''La noia'' and later life

In 1960, Moravia published ''La noia'' (''Boredom'' or ''The Empty Canvas''), the story of the troubled sexual relationship between a young, rich painter striving to find sense in his life and an easygoing girl in Rome. It became one of his most famous novels, and won the Viareggio Prize. An adaptation was filmed by Damiano Damiani in 1962. Another adaptation of the book is the basis of Cédric Kahn's film '' L'Ennui'' (1998). Several films were based on his other novels: in 1960, Vittorio De Sica adapted ''La ciociara'' ('' Two Women''), starring Sophia Loren; in 1963,

filmed ''Il disprezzo'' (''

''); and in 1964, Francesco Maselli filmed ''Gli indifferenti'' ('' Time of Indifference''). In 1962, Moravia and Elsa Morante parted, despite never divorcing. He went to live with the young writer Dacia Maraini and concentrated on theatre. In 1966, he, Maraini and Enzo Siciliano founded ''Il porcospino'', which staged works by Moravia, Maraini, Carlo Emilio Gadda and others. In 1967 Moravia visited China, Japan and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. In 1971 he published the novel ''Io e lui'' (''I and He'' or ''The Two of Us'') about a screenwriter, his independent penis and the situations to which he thrusts them and the essay ''Poesia e romanzo'' (''Poetry and Novel''). In 1972 he went to Africa, which inspired his work ''A quale tribù appartieni?'' (''Which Tribe Do You Belong To?''), published in the same year. His 1982 trip to Japan, including a visit to

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

, inspired a series of articles for ''L'Espresso'' magazine about the atomic bomb. The same theme is in the novel ''L'uomo che guarda'' (''The Man Who Looks'', 1985) and the essay ''L'inverno nucleare'' (''The Nuclear Winter''), including interviews with some contemporary principal scientists and politicians. The short story collection, ''La Cosa e altri racconti'' (''The Thing and Other Stories''), was dedicated to Carmen Llera, his new companion (forty-five years his junior), whom he married in 1986, after Morante's death in November 1985. In 1984, Moravia was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

as a member of the Italian Communist Party. His experiences at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, which ended in 1988, are recounted in ''Il diario europeo'' (''The European Diary''). In 1985 he won the title of European Personality. Moravia was a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, having been nominated 13 times between 1949 and 1965. In September 1990, Alberto Moravia was found dead in the bathroom of his Lungotevere apartment, in Rome. In that year, Bompiani published his autobiography, ''Vita di Moravia'' (''Life of Moravia'').

Themes and literary style

Moral aridity, the hypocrisy of contemporary life and the inability of people to find happiness in traditional ways such as love and marriage are the regnant themes in the works of Alberto Moravia. Usually, these conditions are pathologically typical of middle-class life; marriage is the target of works such as ''Disobedience'' and ''L'amore coniugale'' (''Conjugal Love'', 1947). Alienation is the theme in works such as ''Il disprezzo'' (''Contempt'' or ''A Ghost at Noon'', 1954) and ''La noia'' (''The Empty Canvas'') from the 1950s, despite observation from a rational-realistic perspective. Political themes are often present; an example is ''La Romana'' (''The Woman of Rome'', 1947), the story of a prostitute entangled with the Fascist regime and with a network of conspirators. The extreme sexual realism in ''La noia'' (''The Empty Canvas'', 1960) introduced the psychologically experimental works of the 1970s. Moravia's writing style was highly regarded for being extremely stark and unadorned, characterised by elementary, common words in an elaborate syntax. A complex mood is established by mixing a proposition constituting the description of a single psychological observation mixed with another such proposition. In the later novels, the inner monologue is prominent.

Works

* ''La cortigiana stanca'' (1927) (''Tired Courtesan'', trans. Bernard Wall (1954)) * '' Gli indifferenti'' (1929) (''The Time of Indifference'', trans. Angus Davidson (1953), Tami Calliope (2000)) * ''Inverno di malato'' (1930) (''A Sick Boy's Winter'', trans. Baptista Gilliat Smith (1954)) * ''Le ambizioni sbagliate'' (1935) * ''La bella vita'' (1935) * ''L'imbroglio'' (1937) (''The Imbroglio'', trans. Bernard Wall (1954)) * ''I sogni del pigro'' (1940) * ''La caduta'' (1940) * ''La mascherata'' (1941) (''The Fancy Dress Party'', trans. Angus Davidson (1947)) * ''La cetonia'' (1943) * ''L'amante infelice'' (1943) (''The Unfortunate Lover'', trans. Bernard Wall (1954)) * ''Agostino'' (1945) (''Agostino'', trans. Beryl de Zoete (1947), Michael F. Moore (2014)) * ''L'epidemia'' (1944), short stories * ''Ritorno al mare'' (1945) (''Back to the Sea'', trans. Bernard Wall (1954)) * ''L'ufficiale inglese'' (1946) (''The English Officer'', trans. Bernard Wall (1954)) * ''La romana'' (1947) ('' The Woman of Rome'', trans. Lydia Holland (1949), Tami Calliope (1999)) * ''L'amore coniugale'' (1947) ('' Conjugal Love: a novel'', trans. Angus Davidson (1951), Marina Harss (2007)) * ''Il conformista'' (1947) ('' The Conformist'', trans. Angus Davidson (1951), Tami Calliope (1999)) * ''La disubbidienza'' (1950) (''Disobedience'', trans. Beryl de Zoete (1952)) * ''Luna di miele, sole di fiele'' (1952) (''Bitter Honeymoon'', trans. Frances Frenaye (1954)) * '' Racconti romani'' (1954) (''Roman Tales'', trans. Angus Davidson (1954)) * '' Il disprezzo'' (1954) (''Contempt'' or ''A Ghost at Noon'', trans. Angus Davidson (1954)) * ''La ciociara'' (1957) ('' Two Women'', trans. Angus Davidson (1958)) * '' Beatrice Cenci'' (1958) (''Beatrice Cenci'', trans. Angus Davidson (1965)), a play * ''Nuovi racconti romani'' (1959) (''More Roman Tales'', trans. Angus Davidson (1963)) * ''La noia'' (1960) (''The Empty Canvas'' or ''Boredom'', trans. Angus Davidson (1961)) * ''L'automa'' (1962) (''The Fetish'', trans. Angus Davidson (1964)), short stories * ''L'uomo come fine e altri saggi'' (1964) (''Man as an End: A Defense of Humanism: Literary, Social and Political Essays'', trans. Bernard Wall (1965)) * ''L'attenzione'' (1965) (''The Lie'', trans. Angus Davidson (1966)) * ''Una cosa è una cosa'' (1967) (''Command, and I Will Obey You'', trans. Angus Davidson (1969)), short stories * ''La rivoluzione culturale in Cina. Ovvero il Convitato di pietra'' (1967) (''The Red Book and the Great Wall: An Impression of Mao's China'', trans. Ronald Strom (1968)) * ''Il dio Kurt'' (1969), drama * ''La vita è gioco'' (1969) * ''Il paradiso'' (1970) * ''Io e lui'' (1971) (''The Two of Us'', trans. Angus Davidson (1972)) * ''A quale tribù appartieni'' (1972) (''Which Tribe Do You Belong To?'', trans. Angus Davidson (1974)), "collection of articles from 10 years' junketing in Africa" * ''Un'altra vita'' (1973) (''Lady Godiva and other stories'', trans. Angus Davidson (1975)) * ''Al cinema'' (1975), essays * ''Boh'' 1976 (''The Voice of the Sea and other stories'', trans. Angus Davidson (1978)) * ''La vita interiore'' (1978) (''Time of Desecration'', trans. Angus Davidson (1980)) * ''Impegno controvoglia'' (1980) * ''1934'' (1982), (''1934'', trans. William Weaver (1983)), a novel * ''La cosa e altri racconti'' (1983) (''Erotic Tales'', trans. Tim Parks (1985)) * ''L'uomo che guarda'' (1985) (''The Voyeur'', trans. Tim Parks (1986)) * ''L'inverno nucleare'' (1986), essays and interviews * ''Il viaggio a Roma'' (1988) (''Journey to Rome'', trans. Tim Parks (1989)) * ''La villa del venerdì e altri racconti'' (1990)

Reviews

* Kelman, James (1980), review of ''Desecration'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 4, Winter 1980–81, p. 49,