Alberto Moravia

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Alberto Moravia and Elsa Morante on Capri in the 1940s

Alberto Moravia (born November 28, 1907 in Rome , † September 26, 1990 there ; actually Alberto Pincherle ) was an Italian writer and politician.

Life

Alberto Pincherle was born the second of four children to a Jewish-Catholic family in via Giovanni Sgambati in Rome. The Jewish father Carlo, an architect and painter, came from Venice . His Catholic mother, Teresa Iginia (Gina) De Marsanich, came from Ancona . Moravia - the Latin word for Moravia - is a pseudonym that the writer later adopted - based on the family name of his paternal grandmother. At the age of nine, Alberto Moravia developed bone tuberculosis ; between 1916 and 1925 he spent most of his time in sanatoriums, including a. two years in the Sanatorio Codivilla in Cortina d'Ampezzo . During these years he read a lot, u. a. the works of Giacomo Leopardi , Carlo Goldoni , JN Arthur Rimbaud , Molière , Giovanni Boccaccio , Alessandro Manzoni , William Shakespeare , Charles Dickens , Nikolai Gogol and Dostoevsky .

After his release from the sanatorium, he began to record his novel The Indifferent in 1925 . The work, which became the debut , portrays the uneventful life of the widowed Mariagrazia, her lover Leo and their two children who have just grown up. The two major themes that determine all subsequent works - the power of sex and money - are already laid out here. The indifference and lethargy of the main characters determine the tone and mood of the book. This novel, published in 1929 and printed by Moravia at his own expense, was one of the first existentialist novels.

As early as 1927 Moravia had started to publish his first short stories in the magazine '900. In the 1930s he worked as a foreign correspondent for Italian daily newspapers. Because of this work he traveled to Poland , the Republic of China , Mexico and the USA . In 1936 he met the writer Elsa Morante (1912–1985), whom he married in 1941. However, his journalistic work brought him into conflict with the fascist regime under Benito Mussolini and the Vatican as early as the 1930s . This resulted in his being banned from writing and losing his job. He then retired to Capri , where he lived between 1941 and 1943. There he began his literary work again and took revenge on the regime with a satire on fascism: La mascherata .

During the occupation of Rome by the Germans in 1943, many, including Moravia, were in mortal danger and fled to the mountains of the Ciociaria . Hiding among common people, he wrote his next novels until the war was over.

The novel Agostino appeared soon after the Americans liberated Italy . In it, Moravia draws the psychogram of a thirteen-year-old boy who spends his vacation by the sea with his beloved mother.

After the war, he resumed work as a journalist , worked for the Corriere della Sera and mainly wrote film reviews .

The Roman woman appeared in 1947 . For the first time, the focus was on the life of a simple woman from the Roman lower class. As a young girl, Adriana is sold by her mother as a model to second-rate painters. However, she does not rebel against her fate. The themes of this novel - sex, suicide , depreciation - caused offense in the Catholic Church. She put the work on the index in 1952 for obscenity . In the same year Moravia had received the Premio Strega , an important Italian literary prize for his stories.

In 1953 he founded the magazine Nuovi Argomenti with Alberto Carocci , for which Moravia - together with his friend Pier Paolo Pasolini - worked as an editor.

In 1954 and 1959 Moravia presented the two volumes of his Roman Tales . Clever crooks and notorious unlucky fellows, bag thieves and day thieves, waiters, taxi drivers, suburban musicians and film extras, housemaids, flower sellers and casual prostitutes report on their diverse adventures. The result is a mosaic of Roman life and Moravia presents the never painless art of survival not as a drama but as a comedy.

With Die Langeweile ( La noia) , Moravia achieved another global success in 1960. In it he once again varied the theme of indifference from his first novel. But sexuality no longer exists here as communication between two people; it is rather reduced to an unrelated instinctuality.

After separating from his wife Elsa in 1962, he lived with the writer Dacia Maraini (* 1936) for a long time . In 1986 his marriage to the Spanish woman Carmen Llera, who was 47 years his junior, caused a sensation. He could now travel the world again, but his home and his strongest inspiration was Rome. In addition to strong female figures, the Italian capital was to shape the atmosphere of his novels. But even in democratic Italy, Moravia was always offensive. The Vatican in particular, which continued to put its books on the index, rejected it because of its extensive sexual descriptions. Moravia's political interest, which accompanied him to the end and motivated him on his many trips, is also documented in his election as a member of the PCI ( Communist Party of Italy ) in the European Parliament from 1984 to 1989.

Alberto Moravia photographed by Paolo Monti in 1982

Moravia died of heart failure on September 26, 1990 in his Roman apartment on the banks of the Tiber .

Moravia's novels and short stories were filmed early on by Italian directors, including Luigi Zampa ( The Joyless Street ), Vittorio De Sica ( And Yet They Live ) and Bernardo Bertolucci ( The Great Error ). Doris Dörrie took care of a German remake of Ich und he (1988). The fictional film The Contempt with Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot and directed by Jean-Luc Godard (1963) was made in France . One of the main locations for this film is the prominent Villa Malaparte on Capri, which the Italian architect Adalberto Libera built for the writer Curzio Malaparte in 1940.

In return, Moravia's novels - like post-war Italian films - were shaped by neorealism .

Quotes

"My life is a mess, the only line of connection is my literary works."

- Der Spiegel , issue 40, Hamburg, October 1, 1990

Memberships

In 1964, Moravia was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1967 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Works

Novels and short stories (selection)

  • 1929: The indifferent ( Gli indifferenti ) (German EA 1956, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1935: Dangerous Play ( Le ambizioni sbagliate )
  • 1940: Cosma and the Brigantes ( Cosma ei briganti )
  • 1941: The masquerade ( La mascherata )
  • 1945: Agostino ( Agostino ) (German EA 1948, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1947: Adriana - A Roman Girl ( La Romana ) (German EA 1950, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1948: The disobedience ( La disubbidienza ) (German EA 1964, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1949: Leda Baldoni and the Stranger ( L'amore coniugale ) (German EA 1952, Welt im Buch Verlag Kurt Desch, Vienna Munich Basel)
  • 1951: The conformist ( Il conformista )
  • 1954: The Contempt ( Il disprezzo ) (German EA 1963, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1957: Cesira / And yet they live ( La ciociara)
  • 1960: La noia ( La noia ) (German EA 1961, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1965: Incest ( L'attenzione ) (German EA 1966, Verlag Kurt Desch, Munich)
  • 1971: Me and him ( Io e lui )
  • 1978: Desideria ( La vita interiore)
  • 1982: 1934 or The Melancholy ( 1934 )
  • 1985: The Spectator ( L'uomo che guarda)
  • 1988: The trip to Rome ( Il viaggio a Roma)

Volumes of stories

  • 1935: The beautiful life ( La bella vita)
  • 1940: I sogni del pigro
  • 1952: I racconti
  • 1954: The Girls from the Tiber ( Racconti romani ) ( German EA 1957, Verlag Kurt Desch, Vienna Munich Basel)
  • 1959: New Roman Stories ( Nuovi racconti romani)
  • 1965: The Lights of Rome ( Le luci di Roma)
  • 1967: A thing is a thing ( Una cosa è una cosa)
  • 1970: The Paradise ( Il paradiso)
  • 1974: Another Life ( Un'altra Vita)
  • 1976: Judith in Madrid ( Boh)
  • 1986: The woman in the black cape ( La Cosa)
  • 2001: The curious thief ( Racconti dispersi 1928–1951)

Travel reports

  • 1959: A trip to Russia ( Un mese nell'URSS )
  • 1962: Trip to India ( Un'idea dell'India )
  • 1968: The Cultural Revolution in China ( La rivoluzione culturale in Cina )
  • 1972: Which tribe do you belong to? / The stripes of the zebra ( A quale tribù appartieni? )
  • 1982: Letters from the Sahara ( Lettere dal Sahara )
  • 1987: Passeggiate africane

Biographical

  • 1986: The boy Alberto. Conversations with Alberto Moravia ( Il bambino Alberto ) from Dacia Maraini
  • 1990: Vita di Moravia ( Vita di Moravia ) by Moravia and Alain Elkann

The years refer to the original editions.

interview

  • Claudia Cardinale. A somewhat unusual conversation. Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8296-0517-5 . (Original title: Intervista a Claudia Cardinale . A very private interview of the 53-year-old poet, on behalf of the men's magazine Esquire , with the young actress Claudia Cardinale from 1961, translated by Sophia Marzolff.)

Film adaptations

  • 1953 - The she-wolf of Calabria (La lupa) - directed by Alberto Lattuada - based on the novella La lupa
  • 1953 - Tempi nostri - Director of the 2nd episode: Suso Cecchi d'Amico - based on the story The Infant
  • 1953 Dangerous Beauty (La Provinciale) - Director: Mario Soldati
  • 1954 - The joyless street (La romana) - Director: Luigi Zampa - based on the novel Die Römerin
  • 1955 - It's a shame you're a rascal ( Peccato che sia una canaglia ) - Director: Alessandro Blasetti
  • 1955 - Four Hearts in Rome (Racconti romani) - Director: Gianni Franciolini - based on the volume of stories Roman stories
  • 1959 - You can give it a try (Le bel âge) - Director: Pierre Kast
  • 1960 - When life beckons (La giornata balorda) - Director: Mauro Bolognini - based on the Roman stories
  • 1960 - Passionate Thief (Risate di gioia) - Director: Mario Monicelli
  • 1960 - And yet they live (La Ciociara) - Director: Vittorio de Sica - based on the novel Cesira
  • 1962 Erotica (L'amore difficile) - First episode directed by Luciano Lucignani
  • 1963 - The Contempt (Le mépris) - Director: Jean-Luc Godard - based on the novel of the same name
  • 1963 - Yesterday, today and tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) - Director: Vittorio de Sica - second episode after the story Troppo rica
  • 1963 - The Indifferent (Gli indifferenti) - Director: Francesco Maselli - based on the novel of the same name
  • 1963 - The Naked (La noia) - directed by Damiano Damiani - based on the novel La noia
  • 1965 - The Naked Hours (Le ore nude) - Director: Marco Vicario
  • 1967 - Under Roman Skies (La Roma di Moravia) - Director: Daniele D'Anza , Belisario Randone - based on various stories (TV)
  • 1970 - The Great Mistake (Il conformista) - Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
  • 1973 - Io e lui - Director: Luciano Salce
  • 1980 - Desideria (La vita interiore) - directed by Gianni Barcelloni - based on the novel of the same name
  • 1981 - The disobedience (La disubbidienza) - directed by Aldo Lado - based on a novella
  • 1983 - Snake's Nest ( Ambizioni sbagliate ) - Director: Fabio Carpi
  • 1987 - Me and He - Director: Doris Dörrie
  • 1987 - Counterfeiters of love (Gli indifferenti) - Director: Mauro Bolognini - based on the novel The Indifferent
  • 1988 Tormented (La cintura) - Director: Giuliana Gamba
  • 1989 - Cesira - A Woman Conquers War (La Ciociara) - Director: Dino Risi
  • 1991 - Men and Lovers (La villa del venerdì) - directed by Mauro Bolognini
  • 1994 - Tinto Brass Voyeur (L'uomo che guarda) - Director: Tinto Brass - based on motifs from the novel The Spectator
  • 1998 - Meine Heldin (L'ennui) - directed by Cédric Kahn - based on the novel La noia

literature

  • Ferdinando Alfonsi: Alberto Moravia in Italia. Un quarantennio di critica (1929-1969). Carello, Catanzaro 1986.
  • Stefani Arnold: Forgotten literature of the "ventennio nero". Italian short prose between 1922 and 1945 using the example of Alberto Moravia's early racconti. Romanist. Verl. Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-86143-064-9 . (= Treatises on Language and Literature, 106.)
  • Rocco Carbone: Alberto Moravia e gli indifferenti. Loescher, Turin 1992, ISBN 88-201-0017-7 .
  • René de Ceccatty : Alberto Moravia. Flammarion, Paris 2010.
  • Brigitte Chardin: Sollers - Moravia. Ed. Ramsay / de Cortanze, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-85956-909-X .
  • Alain Elkann; Alberto Moravia: Vita di Moravia. A life of conversation. Beck & Glückler, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1991, ISBN 3-89470-300-8 .
  • Franz Haas: Soul, Sex and Politics; For the 100th birthday of the Italian writer Alberto Moravia. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 28, 2007.
  • Erika Kanduth: Characteristics of modern Italian narrative literature. Content and design at Buzzati , Piovene and Moravia. Winter, Heidelberg 1968. (= contributions to recent literary history; F. 3; 5)
  • Janice M. Kozma: The architecture of imagery in Alberto Moravia's fiction. UP of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1993. (= North Carolina studies in the Romance languages ​​and literatures; 244) ISBN 0-8078-9248-3
  • Joachim Leeker: Existentialist motifs in Alberto Moravia's work. A comparison with Malraux , Camus and Sartre. Schäuble, Rheinfelden 1979, ISBN 3-87718-717-X . (= Romance studies; 17)
  • Dacia Maraini (ed.); Alberto Moravia: The boy Alberto. Conversations with Alberto Moravia. (= rororo 12606). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-499-12606-0 .
  • Giuliana Nuvoli: Uno sguardo al Novecento. Studi di letteratura italiana contemporanea. UNICOPLI, Milan 2003, ISBN 88-400-0857-8 . (= Testi e studi; 168)
  • Giancarlo Pandini: Invito alla lettura di Alberto Moravia. 7th edition. Mursia, Milan 1990, ISBN 88-425-0563-3 . (= Invito alla lettura; Sezione italiana; 20)
  • Renzo Paris: Moravia - una vita controvoglia. Giunti, Florence 1996, ISBN 88-09-20729-7 .
  • Thomas Erling Peterson: Alberto Moravia. Twayne, New York 1996, ISBN 0-8057-8296-6 . (= Twayne's world authors series; 861; Italian literature)
  • Giuseppe Rando: La bussola del realismo. Verga, Alvaro, Moravia. Bulzoni, Rome 1992, ISBN 88-7119-505-1 . (= L 'analisi letteraria; 28)
  • Wolfram Schmitt: Disgust and boredom. Aspects of an existential melancholy in Sartre and Moravia. In: Hermes Andreas Kick (Ed.): Disgust. Representation and interpretation in the sciences and arts. (Contribution to the symposium 2000). Guido Pressler Verlag, Hürtgenwald 2003, ISBN 3-87646-101-4 .
  • M. John Stella: Self and self-compromise in the narratives of Pirandello and Moravia. Lang, New York et al. a. 2000, ISBN 0-8204-4454-5 . (= Studies in Italian culture; 27)
  • Roberto Tessari: Alberto Moravia. Introduzione e guida allo studio dell'opera moraviana. Storia e antologia della critica. Le Monnier, Florence 1989, ISBN 88-00-64470-8 . (= Profili letterari; 13)
  • Pasquale Voza: Moravia. Palumbo, Palermo 1997, ISBN 88-8020-187-5 . (= La scrittura e l'interpretazione; 10)
  • Sharon Wood: Woman as Object. Language and gender in the work of Alberto Moravia. Pluto Pr. U. a., London 1990, ISBN 0-7453-0300-5 .
  • Peter V. Zima : The indifferent hero. Text-sociological studies on Sartre, Moravia and Camus (= literature, imagination, reality , volume 33). 2nd edition Wissenschaftlicher Verlag WVT, Trier 2004, ISBN 3-88476-600-7 .

Web links

Commons : Alberto Moravia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Ross : Classical boredom and baroque love of life. Two important Italian novels. Review in: Die Zeit № 47/1961.
  2. ↑ Died: Albeto Moravia, 82 . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1990, pp. 336 ( Online - Oct. 1, 1990 ).
  3. ↑ Honorary Members: Alberto Moravia. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 16, 2019 .
  4. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Book of Members ( PDF ). Retrieved April 6, 2016
  5. ↑ Moravia asks Claudia Cardinale PDF 1 page, 87 KB
personal data
SURNAME Moravia, Alberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pincherle, Alberto (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian writer and politician, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 1990
Place of death Rome