Alberto Moravia
Novels, such as
Time of Desecration
(1978), of Italian writer Alberto Moravia, pen name of Alberto Pincherle, explore the alienation and ennui of the middle class.
Alberto Moravia, pseudonimo di Alberto Pincherle (1907 – 1990), è stato uno scrittore, giornalista, sceneggiatore, saggista, drammaturgo, poeta, reporter di viaggio, critico cinematografico e politico italiano.
Considerato uno dei più importanti romanzieri del XX secolo, ha esplorato nelle sue opere i temi della sessualità, dell'alienazione sociale e dell'esistenzialismo.
Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle, was one of the leading Italian novelists of the twentieth century whose novels explore matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism. He was also a journalist, playwright, essayist and film critic.
Moravia was an atheist, his writing was marked by its factual, cold, precise style, often depicting the malaise of the bourgeoisie, underpinned by high social and cultural awareness. Moravia believed that writers must, if they were to represent reality, 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.
“Sai cosa si fa quando non se ne può più? Si cambia.”
“«Самолюбие - это загадочный зверь, который спокойно спит даже под градом самых страшных ударов и вдруг просыпается, раненный насмерть пустяковой царапиной.»”
“Every true writer is like a bird; he repeats the same song, the same theme, all his life. For me, this theme as always been revolt.”
“De la misma forma que una barra de hierro sometida a una llamapersistente se ablanda y dobla, sentía entonces que el metal de mi ánimo era gradualmenteablandado y doblado por las angustias que lo oprimían.”
“And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating.”
“This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive.”
“Vedi, non c'è coraggio e non c'è paura... ci sono soltanto coscienza ed incoscienza... la coscienza è paura, l'incoscienza è coraggio.”
“(...) aquilo que nos modifica não são os fatos extraordinários que acontecem uma só vez, mas sim esse hábito, essa longa aceitação das coisas contra as quais deixamos de nos revoltar.”
“...my boredom might be described as a malady affecting external objects and consisting of a withering process; an almost instantaneous loss of vitality--just as though one saw a flower change in a few seconds from a bud to decay and dust.”
“Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him...and as you know people can sometimes be absolutely loyal without loving. In certain cases, in fact, loyalty is form of vengeance, of black-mail, of recovering one's self-respect. Loyalty, not love.”
“You can't think on purpose about somebody or something. Either you think about them naturally or you don't think at all.”