Alberto Moravia

Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist whose fiction examined sexuality, bourgeois life, alienation, and political conformity.

The Time of Indifference: Alberto Moravia’s 1929 novel portrays a wealthy Roman family’s moral and emotional collapse. His debut novel established the unsparing psychological realism that shaped his reputation.
Psychological realism: A mode of fiction that emphasizes characters’ inner motives, conflicts, and perceptions. Moravia uses close attention to motive to expose self-deception and emotional evasion.
Rome: The capital of Italy, a major center of its political and cultural life. Roman settings anchor many of Moravia’s portrayals of class, family, and urban life.
Elsa Morante: An Italian novelist and poet known for works including History and Arturo’s Island. Morante was Moravia’s wife from 1941 to 1962 and a major novelist in her own right.
The Conformist (film): Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 film adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel The Conformist. The adaptation gave Moravia’s political novel a lasting visual interpretation.
The Conformist: Alberto Moravia’s 1951 novel follows a man who seeks social normality by serving Italian Fascism. Its protagonist turns Moravia’s recurring concern with conformity into a political drama.
Alienation: A condition of estrangement from oneself, other people, or the surrounding social world. His characters often experience intimacy and social participation as forms of distance.
Benito Mussolini: Italian politician who led the Fascist regime from 1922 until 1943. Mussolini’s regime forms the historical backdrop to Moravia’s writing about political conformity.
Dacia Maraini: An Italian novelist, playwright, and poet whose work often addresses women’s lives. Maraini was Moravia’s partner in his later years and a fellow prominent Italian writer.
Two Women (film): Vittorio De Sica’s 1960 film adaptation of Moravia’s novel Two Women. Sophia Loren’s performance in the adaptation brought the novel’s wartime story to international audiences.

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Dino BuzzatiRelated: Moravia’s realism provides a useful contemporary contrast to Buzzati’s fantastic narratives.