(pseudonym of Alberto Pincherle). Born Nov. 28, 1907, in Rome. Italian writer.
The sociopsychological content of Moravia’s work was apparent from his first novel, The Indifferent Ones (1929), which depicted the spiritual vacuity of Italian bourgeois youth. The satirical antifascist tenor of Moravia’s writings in the 1930’s and the early 1940’s resulted in his persecution by the fascist regime. Moravia’s postwar novel The Conformist (1951) calls for the denunciation of fascism on ethical grounds. The influence of neorealism was reflected in the two collections Roman Tales (1954; Russian translations, 1956, 1959) and More Roman Tales, about the hard life of the Roman poor, and in the novel Two Women (1957; Russian translation, 1958), about the life of poor women during World War II.
Moravia’s works of the 1960’s and the early 1970’s, including the novels The Empty Canvas (1960), The Lie (1965), and Two (1971), and the short-story collection The Fetish (1963; Russian translation, 1964) and Paradise (1970; Russian translation, 1971) develop the theme of the alienation and spiritual impoverishment of modern man in a bourgeois consumer society. Critical realism in Moravia’s work is complicated by Freudian motifs and ironic skepticism. Moravia is the author of essays, plays, and travel notes, including Month,in the USSR (1958), and a book about Africa, What Tribe Do You Belong To? (1972; Russian translation, 1973). Moravia takes part in public life and is among the progressive representatives of Italian culture.
G. D. BOGEMSKII